No deal
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
The U.S. did not get a deal with Iran this weekend.
What happened during the U.S. negotiations with Iran?
The bad news is that we have not reached an agreement. And I think that's bad news for Iran much more than it's bad news for the United States of America.
The bad news for Iran is an American blockade, effective as of this morning, of the Strait of Hormuz.
So that Iran will not be able to sell oil.
Which Iran, you may recall, is also blockading. Fox asked Trump about the consequences. Is this going to be enough to lower the price of oil and gas, sir?
Oil is up over $100 a barrel today.
Coming up on Today Explained, the art of no deal.
How does the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz affect Iran?
This is Today Explained.
I'm Dave Lawler. I'm the national security editor at Axios.
All right. So J.D. Vance was the lead negotiator for the U.S. Some classic good pictures of J.D. Vance came out of this, if little else. How did Vance do? What's the consensus?
So hard to say how he did inside the room. I think the fact that he put his hand up for this assignment is interesting. We reported that Vance personally told Trump that he wanted to be involved in the Iran diplomacy. He was one of the more skeptical voices inside the administration about this war to begin with. And the Iranians actually made clear that they preferred to deal with him than Steve Woodcoff and Jared Kushner, who led the two previous rounds of negotiations, which ended in Iran being bombed, right? So not a great track record from the Iranian perspective on dealing with those guys. We didn't get a deal from Vance. He certainly was brief in his public statements after the talk. I think it was a three-minute press conference.
We leave here with a very simple proposal, a method of understanding that is our final and best offer.
We'll see if the Iranians accept it. Thank you. So we don't have a lot of color in terms of what he was like inside the room. The Iranians have suggested they felt like they were making headway in the talks until the US moved the goalposts. That's their characterization. Vance also said that he spoke to Trump. a half dozen times, at least over the course of those 21 hours. They also spoke to Secretary Rubio, Secretary Besant. So he was making calls back to Washington to check in, which suggests that this didn't go nowhere. Right. I mean, if nothing was moving in the talks, you wouldn't have to keep checking in with the stakeholders back in Washington or in Trump's case in Miami, I should say.
Vice President J.D. Vance and his delegation were engaged in 21 hours of high stakes negotiations with Iran. President Trump flew to Miami to enjoy the UFC's light heavyweight championship fight. With us in the building tonight, the 45th and now 47th president of the United States of America, Donald J. Trump.
So, you know, Vance is still in charge of this operation. It's not over. Both sides have suggested that negotiations could resume at some future date. We have no reason to expect it won't be Vance in the room. And this is really by far the biggest assignment of his political career. Making peace with Iran is a pretty big thing for the vice president to take on. And somebody who clearly has ambitions beyond the vice presidency, this will be quite a big test for him.
Yes. And so the question really is, why him? Like, President Trump could have picked any number of people, including some who have expertise in Iran, although there are fewer in his administration than there were in the past. But why Vance?
So a couple different reasons for that. One is that Steve Witkoff has had this file for a while. He and Vance get along quite well. We have some reporting that he suggested that Vance be the one to take over if it wasn't going to be him. Again, Vance did tell Trump that he wanted to be involved in the diplomacy here. And, you know, I think part of it is that the Iranians don't trust this administration at all, but they have more reason to distrust some other people other than J.D. Vance, right? Even Secretary Rubio. It's interesting that the Secretary of State is not personally involved in these face to face talks, but he has a history as an Iran hawk.
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Chapters
6 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:01–0:04
2
What happened during the U.S. negotiations with Iran?
0:04–1:00
3
How does the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz affect Iran?
1:00–4:48
4
What role did Vice President J.D. Vance play in the negotiations?
4:48–16:40
5
Why did Trump choose J.D. Vance for this assignment?
16:40–22:57
6
What challenges did the U.S. face in negotiating with Iran?
22:57–26:37