Franco Ordonez

Franco Ordonez, NPR News, the White House.

Good morning, Michelle.

Yeah, President Trump reviewed the proposal with his national security team, but he's been really adamant that a nuclear deal must be part of all this.

And he was asked yesterday about the apparent standstill, but insisted that the Iranians want to make a deal while also acknowledging difficulty determining who's actually in charge.

Yeah, it's really testing the U.S.

strategy.

And as Steve mentioned, instead of resuming a bombing campaign, the U.S.

has launched its own blockade of Iranian ports.

Alexander Gray served as chief of staff at the National Security Council in the first Trump administration.

He says the blockade gives the U.S.

maximum leverage.

You know, one thing, though, is Trump administration has been at this for a while, you know, expecting if they just put enough military pressure, economic pressure that Iran will capitulate.

But so far, it just hasn't.

Yeah, I mean, Trump's threatening to pull U.S.

troops stationed in Germany.

And it's not just Germany.

He's also threatened to pull troops from other European countries.

Constance Stutzemuller, who studies transatlantic security at the Brookings Institution, told me that much of Europe feels Trump kind of mishandled these negotiations and now worry that they're going to have the burden of fixing the problems.

But she also says they need to be careful.

Now, the U.S., of course, needs Europe where it has military bases, and Europe needs the U.S.