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U.S.-Iran peace talks on hold during Ali Khamenei's funeral · INSIGHT TODAY

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  Speaker 1: Peace talks with Iran. They're on hold today as that
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  Speaker 1: nation begins funeral services for Supreme Leader Iotola Ali Khamanee.
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  Speaker 1: He was killed in the first wave of US Israeli
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  Speaker 1: strikes in February. You'll remember CBS News National Security contributed
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  Speaker 1: to Sam Vinigrad joins me to discuss this, which is
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  Speaker 1: also a former Assistant Secretary for counter Terrorism at the
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  Speaker 1: Department of Homeland Security, Sam Happy fourth in July weekend
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  Speaker 1: to you, let's talk about this important national security issue.
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  Speaker 1: You've got the funeral for the Iotola unfolding over the
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  Speaker 1: next week, and reportedly a powerful general who leads Iran's
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  Speaker 1: Revolutionary Guard, you know, emerged from hiding and said some
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  Speaker 1: inflammatory things about enemies of Iran who will die soon.
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  Speaker 1: I'm just paraphrasing, and that's likely to be expected now
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  Speaker 1: and over the next few days. But what do you
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  Speaker 1: make of this specific threat from the Revolutionary Guard general
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  Speaker 1: and how is the US kind of using this as
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  Speaker 1: an intel opportunity.
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  Speaker 2: Well, certainly, the fact that this funeral is happening in
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  Speaker 2: the first place, and second that these key figures, including
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  Speaker 2: General Vahiti, who is the head of the Iranian Revolutionary
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  Speaker 2: Guard core, previous Minister of Defense, a Minister of the Interior.
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  Speaker 2: Just the fact that he and other senior figures are
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  Speaker 2: showing their faces, that they're emerging from hiding to attend
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  Speaker 2: the funeral really signals to me that they have some
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  Speaker 2: kind of reassurance from the United States that the United
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  Speaker 2: States is not going to take the opportunity to assassinate
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  Speaker 2: all of them while they're literally above ground and not
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  Speaker 2: in hiding. So certainly the Iranian regime feels confident that
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  Speaker 2: they have basically safe passage and safe harbor over the
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  Speaker 2: coming days. From the Iranian regime perspective, this funeral is
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  Speaker 2: really accomplishing two things at once. Certainly, the funeral is
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  Speaker 2: meant to bury the Supreme Leader, decade long leader of Iran,
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  Speaker 2: but it is also a show of force, a show
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  Speaker 2: of force to the people of Iran into the world
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  Speaker 2: that the regime is functioning, that it is intact, and
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  Speaker 2: as that heat, he said that it continues to share
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  Speaker 2: rhetoric publicly that aligns with the hardliners within the regime.
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  Speaker 2: So the regime is using this funeral for both of
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  Speaker 2: those purposes.
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  Speaker 1: Eryl, and we also heard from President Trump, who's been
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  Speaker 1: doing a number of interviews recently that the war with Iran,
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  Speaker 1: according to him, is not a war per se, but
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  Speaker 1: rather a denuking of the country. What do you make
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  Speaker 1: of that shift in messaging from the US president.
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  Speaker 2: We have seen such a range of different messages from
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  Speaker 2: the US president since this war began. Certainly, many members
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  Speaker 2: of Congress disagree that this is not a war, which
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  Speaker 2: is why there have been war powers votes since February
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  Speaker 2: when this war began. The multi billion dollar price tag
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  Speaker 2: associated with this war is also a very clear signal
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  Speaker 2: that it is in fact a war among multitude a
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  Speaker 2: multitude of other factors. At the same time, the fact
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  Speaker 2: that President Trump is calling this a de nuking exercise
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  Speaker 2: is a little bit miss leading. Certainly, denuclearization has been
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  Speaker 2: one of the priorities of this endeavor of this war,
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  Speaker 2: but President Trump himself and the hours after this military
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  Speaker 2: operation began lifted several listed several others, including of course
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  Speaker 2: getting rid of the regime, getting rid of Iran's support
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  Speaker 2: for proxies, and more. And certainly, this memorandum understanding doesn't
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  Speaker 2: just focus on denuclerization. The MoU between the US and
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  Speaker 2: Iran focuses on a range of other objectives. While, of course, Errol,
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  Speaker 2: it is important to note that as this funeral is
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  Speaker 2: taking place that we just discussed, talks are on hold.
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  Speaker 2: So Iran is continuing to receive a significant amount of
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  Speaker 2: additional revenue because sanctions have been paused and lifted during
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  Speaker 2: the course of the negotiations. But these negotiations are on
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  Speaker 2: hold over the course of this funeral. So Iran is
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  Speaker 2: really winning in multiple respects.
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  Speaker 1: A delicate moment for shul Sam Vinagrad joining us from
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  Speaker 1: Befesta Sam.
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  Speaker 2: Thank you, thank you, Rol.