Richard Arnold: US Correspondent on Iran War updates, President Biden's health and

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The Mike Hosking Breakfast 5 min 2 speakers 6 chapters transcribed 1 month ago
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What are Iran’s new demands and why does the U.S. call them ‘ridiculous’?

Mike Hosking 0:00
Stateside Richard Allen, very good morning to you. Good morning, Mike. Where were this thing that was coming all last week between Amman and Iran? Well, what's going on here?
Richard Arnold 0:08
Uh, nothing much, it seems. Trump's former defence chief now is calling the latest Iranian ultimatum that came out in the last few hours on the Strait of Women who's ridiculous. Mark Esper, who uh was um Trump's defence secretary in his first term, is speaking far more directly than anything we hear from the White House of late, saying this Iranian listed demands now is a clear setback all these months, almost six months on into the war.
Mark Esper 0:31
they've put forward demands of the United States which frankly are r ridiculous and should be rejected out of hand.
Richard Arnold 0:36
Well, what Iran is demanding is that the US must end its blockade for the Oil Channel, pay Iran damages for the war, unfreeze Iranian assets, lift all sanctions onto Iran and never, ever again say any bad word about the Iranian government. So are the peace efforts going okay? Well, just hours, literally just a few hours before these Iranian demands. Uh J.

How did Vice President JD Vance describe the recent peace‑talk struggles?

Richard Arnold 0:55
D. Vance, who has been spearheading the peace efforts for the American s team, says this.
J.D. Vance 1:00
They're hurting in a big way. They want this thing to be over. The question is whether they're able their system is able to give the things that are necessary for us to be happy, for us to feel like we've gotten what we need out of this particular engagement. That is still to be determined, but I do think that we've made some progress over the last few days.
Richard Arnold 1:20
Made some progress. What progress? Iran is hurting economically. Its inflation rate is through the roof, but how much does the Iranian Revolutionary Guard care about the economic problems of everyday folks? Not at all, you would think. Esper says this Iranian ultimatum shows their thinking now.

Why does former Defense Secretary Mark Esper want to tighten economic pressure on Iran?

Mark Esper 1:37
It shows that they believe that they have the upper hand, they believe they are winning, and they are emboldened. And that's what we're up against right now after what, five and a half months of conflict.
Richard Arnold 1:45
Espera's view is that the best approach for the US right now is to tighten the economic squeeze even further on every front.
Mark Esper 1:51
We should multalize it, multilateralize it, get our Asian allies on board, our European allies, others around the world, and really put economic pressure on this country and slowly strangle it.
Richard Arnold 2:00
Work with European allies, that would be new. As well, Esper is confirming those reports uh last week that the Pentagon is short on some missiles. Trump responded, saying it was fake news. Is it? says Esper.
Mark Esper 2:11
It is a serious situation. It that goes back to the end of the Cold War and decisions we made between them and then with the onset of the Iraq and uh Afghanistan wars. And and frankly, it uh accelerated during the Biden administration we w when we were expending munitions or giving munitions to Ukraine.

What impact is the Iranian economic crisis having on the conflict?

Mark Esper 2:26
And it's of course in the last uh six, seven months, it's really uh taken a toll that we've now find ourselves uh considerably low with regard to uh interceptors such as patriot. And that and to some uh ground attack weapons as well.
Richard Arnold 2:39
The Pentagon also seems to be confirming this. They're asking defence companies to ramp up production. The current defence sec deputy f uh defence secretary Steve Feinberg is calling on defence suppliers to provide far more aggressive delivery timetables and to submit those plans within twenty one days, while Esper says
Mark Esper 2:56
When you're talking about taking two years to build a patriot missile, uh whatever we do now is not going to help in the short term, uh but nonetheless needs to be done for strategic reasons.
Richard Arnold 3:04
But the war is ongoing, attacks continue, and on the Palestinian front, Israel's Netanyahu has rejected Trump's fifteen point plan for Gaza. Trump announced a breakthrough the other day, saying Hamas agreed to lay down their arms. Netanyahu says doesn't believe it.
Mike Hosking 3:19
Right, and then we get Joe Biden's update over the weekend.
Richard Arnold 3:23
Yeah, Jill Biden, the former First Lady, is adding to the accounts of Joe Biden's cancer. She says he is doing okay.

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