Mike Baker

And that helps explain what we're seeing play out in real time.

It's not necessarily chaos, it's pressure inside the system.

And that creates a real challenge for any negotiations.

Because even if some push for a deal, those positions still have to survive inside a system where ideological hardliners can raise the political cost of compromise or block it altogether.

At the same time, external pressure from Washington only tightens those constraints making any sign of flexibility harder to sustain domestically.

The result is a system with less room to maneuver and fewer ways to de-escalate without appearing to give ground.

So while talks may or may not move forward, the bigger question remains, not just who speaks for Iran, but whether anyone inside that system has both the authority and the political space to make a deal that actually holds.

All right.

Coming up next, Russia publicly identifies European firms linked to Ukraine's drone program as Japan moves further from post-war pacifism.

I'll be right back.

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