Kurt Mills

Yeah, so obviously the starting gun on the week was shot, so to speak, by the president's attempt to calm the markets by saying that he was not going to basically see through his ultimatum to the Iranians.

And from there, it's sort of a guessing game.

It's very clear that the White House wants to talk with Iran.

What's less clear is if it's going on and with whom they are speaking.

The reality of the Iranian government at this point is that they have effectively a junta around Moshtaba Khamenei, the new Supreme Leader.

Whatever Moshtaba Khamenei's status and health, there's rumors, a flurry about potentially lost a leg, et cetera, et cetera.

What matters is that there are eight to nine decision makers involved.

within Tehran that D.C.

would have to deal with.

And so if Trump wants to deal, he's got to figure out who to extend it to.

There's also reports, again, South Asian reports, so not exactly the, let's say, Anglo-American commitment to the truth in that part of the world, journalistically.

There are reports of a potential VP meeting with the speaker of the Iranian parliament, Ghalibaf.

I think that actually would be a very generative idea.

something that I think that would be a useful maneuver by the administration.

I think, frankly, at this point, at this juncture, it could change.

Kushner and Wyckoff are seen as agents of Israel, effectively, as you allude to, for better or worse.

Look, it's going on on both sides.

I mean, I saw over the weekend in Axios and Barack Ravid.

You know, the Americans are on background calling, you know, the Iranian foreign minister, Arachi, a fax machine.

So like everybody's angry at everybody, but who to talk to?