The U.S. and Iran abruptly paused their attacks. Is this why?
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Good morning. The U.S. and Iran paused fighting after nearly two weeks of strikes. Reuters explains where things now stand.
We're in this really critical, difficult situation where neither side wants to give up almost anything.
Why did the U.S. abruptly pause 13 nights of strikes against Iran?
And yet both will have to if this conflict is going to end.
How an exam leak brought tens of thousands of young Indians to the streets and forced Narendra Modi into a rare retreat. And the latest on an attack near Berlin's Pride Festival. It's Monday, July 27th. I'm Gideon Resnick, in for Shamita Basu. This is Apple News Today.
After 13 consecutive nights, the bombing has stopped, at least for now. On Friday, the U.S. suddenly paused its campaign in the Gulf and hasn't carried out any attacks over the weekend. And yesterday, Iran said it would hold off as long as the U.S. stuck to their word. The U.S. ambassador to the U.N., Mike Waltz, told NBC's Meet the Press the president was keeping all options on the table.
What the president is doing right now, as we've seen all along, is giving some talks some space. Talks are ongoing. They're happening at every level, from the more technical aspect of it all the way to the highest levels, of course, within both the Iranian government and the U.S. government.
Behind the scenes, Reuters reports that U.S. officials had warned President Trump about the risks of further strikes.
It seems that... Top advisers are cautioning that the lists of targets that they had selected for these 13 nights of pretty heavy strikes have sort of reached their limits.
Phil Stewart is chief national security reporter for Reuters.
And the next step would be returning to major combat operations, which would be a major escalation and a return to a much bigger scale war than we've seen since April.
The U.S. resumed the conflict after Iran began attacking commercial vessels passing through the Strait of Hormuz. But as Stuart told us, the two weeks of strikes that followed used up a lot of air defense munitions, without changing the fundamental picture.
It's been a war about returning freedom of navigation to one of the world's most critical waterways, a choke point for 20% of the world's crude oil. And all the strikes have been geared toward eliminating Iran's ability to, or at least diminishing it, to threaten ships. And actually, military analysts often say you can't eliminate Iran's ability to strike those ships.
The decision puts the spotlight back on negotiations, but without an obvious path forward. The last deal collapsed over drastically different interpretations of the agreement by both sides.
That MOU was championed by the administration. The Iranians thought it was great, but then both sides claimed different interpretations of it, so it fell apart. The Iranians thought it meant that they could turn the Strait of Hormuz into their own kind of Panama Canal, and the U.S. absolutely did not think that, and so there was a fundamental misunderstanding about what they had negotiated.
Tomorrow, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will visit the White House, marking his seventh appearance at the Oval Office since Trump began his second term. Stewart told us that Israel has actually been on the sidelines of the conflict in recent weeks. Iran has avoided Israeli targets, instead opting for U.S. military bases in neighboring countries like Kuwait, and Israel has not been involved in the U.S. bombing campaign.
It always seems like when there's a conversation between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Trump, it always seems to be at one of these pivotal moments. And here we are again, right? I wonder whether this is not going to be one of those pivotal weeks when Israel really seeks to try and get its message across to President Trump and influence his thinking on these discussions.
Stewart told us that conversations between the U.S. and Iran are still happening, but it won't be easy for negotiators to come up with something that both sides can agree on and to interpret consistently.
And so the real test here is what happens next in these talks and whether both sides can come to some understanding that they can both talk about in public.
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Chapters
4 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:05–0:18
2
Why did the U.S. abruptly pause 13 nights of strikes against Iran?
0:18–5:03
3
What evidence suggests behind-the-scenes talks influenced the pause in attacks?
5:03–8:25
4
How have munitions use and target limits shaped U.S. military options?
8:25–14:03
Speakers
10 identifiedMore from Apple News Today
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