Trump: Iran war could end with a deal

87.396 - 112.62 Janet Jalil

That has not stopped kids learning them. Why should we not have a thousand planets? We'll hear why Pluto could be designated a planet once again. Just a couple of days ago, it looked as if the fragile ceasefire between the US and Iran was on the verge of collapsing after the American military began trying to guide ships through the Strait of Hormuz.

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In response, Iran began firing at US military and commercial vessels and at the United Arab Emirates. Then, in an abrupt about-turn, President Trump announced he was pausing what he called Operation Freedom. Now, as we record this podcast, there are US media reports echoed by Pakistan, which has been mediating peace discussions, that the two sides are close to agreeing a deal to end the war.

140.954 - 165.37 Janet Jalil

Mr Trump has posted that if Iran doesn't agree, then the bombing will start again at a much higher level and intensity than before. But given that hopes have been raised before only to be dashed, how likely is it that a deal will be reached this time? I put that question to Jia Gol from the BBC's Persian service. Right now, what we are hearing, Iranian hasn't responded yet.

165.791 - 186.283 Janet Jalil

We are hearing that still they are working on the draft one-page memorandum, which means removing the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz and also Iranian suspend the nuclear program. But we know, Iranian, since 12 days war in June last year, the nuclear facility was damaged severely and even it was damaged more in recent wars than

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There hasn't been report about any nuclear activities in Iran in the past few months. So what we are hearing, I think President Trump and also Iranian leadership, they are sharing the same trait. They don't want to go back to war. This is very clear. But both sides are trying to keep pace. Both sides are trying to weigh out of this conflict.

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And widening the scope of those attacks into the east of the country and also beyond the Litani River, which is the kind of cutoff point for the south, which Israel has largely occupied now and calls a security zone. Also, the continuing clashes between Hezbollah fighters and Israeli soldiers, according to Hezbollah, down in that region.

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So, yeah, there's no real ceasefire, except in the sense, you know, for people in the big cities in Beirut, they haven't come under attack during the ceasefire. But there were, again, drones overhead. This sense of Israeli presence is there all the time, which people feel very, very keenly and gives them a sense that, you know, it could break out into a much bigger conflict again at any moment.

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So we have to see whether Lebanon, which was meant to be included in the original Iran ceasefire, whether there's a real impact on that with whatever deal may or may not be done in the coming days. Yes, because events in Lebanon seem to be going their own way apart from events in Iran. What are the Israeli military objectives here? What are they trying to achieve?

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I mean, it's an objective that they've had for a very long time and has never been able to achieve, which is essentially the elimination of any threat from Hezbollah to the north, essentially, of Israel. There was a large scale evacuation of those areas during almost two years of a war in Gaza because Hezbollah had essentially supported the Palestinians by firing missiles into that area.

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People have largely moved back now. So what the Israeli government wants to avoid is there to be another evacuation. But again, it's a promise. But I think a lot of people in Israel, you know, understand and be skeptical about Netanyahu who's sold this for prime minister, as this time we will go through to the very end. Sebastian Ascher.

944.643 - 965.57 Janet Jalil

We know that some of them, the children, were born in those refugee camps, born to mothers who'd gone out there during the war in Syria at a time when it was illegal to travel from Australia to there because it was a war zone, and they did go out there, it's understood, to marry IS fighters. So they are all Australian citizens, as we heard from Tony Burke.

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The government doesn't want them here, but the reality is they all have Australian passports and they're all Australian citizens, and there's actually not a whole lot that the Australian government can do to stop them coming back. And they've spent a long time in this camp, which also hosts many citizens from other parts of the world.

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They've spoken kind of quite openly over the past sort of seven or eight years to various media organisations who visited the camps, and we sort of know a fair bit about some of their stories. But it's true, it's sort of quite difficult conditions. The discussion here on Australia at the moment is particularly the situation around the children.

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The Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, has been quite outspoken. He doesn't seem to have a whole lot of sympathy for for these young people. He effectively says their parents got them into this situation. And there's a lot of political pushback as well.

1010.043 - 1030.894 Janet Jalil

I think because the attack at Bondi Beach, which happened at the end of last year, was allegedly IS-inspired, that has kind of hardened the rhetoric against this group. And so although they do look like they are going to be coming back to Australian shores, the overwhelming message from all sides of the political spectrum and certainly large chunks of the community is that they're not welcome.