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U.S. and Iran agree on extension as MoU deadline expires · THE DAILY BRIEF

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  Speaker 1: But for now, let's get smarter with the help of
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  Speaker 1: our leadoff panel at MS now senior White House correspondent,
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  Speaker 1: My dear friend Von Hilliard is here, Susan Glasser, staff
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  Speaker 1: writer for The New Yorker, and Dasha Burns, my former
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  Speaker 1: colleague now political playbook chief correspondent and White House Bureau Chief.
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  Speaker 1: Mister Hilliard, we turned to you first. A sixtieth day
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  Speaker 1: deadline for a broad piece deal always seemed like it
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  Speaker 1: was a tall task, But you have to say, the
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  Speaker 1: White House had to think they were going to be
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  Speaker 1: in a way better place today than they are right now.
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  Speaker 2: Right, remember what was supposed to happen at the sixty daymark, right,
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  Speaker 2: that is where the conversation about what nuclear enrichment capacities
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  Speaker 2: Iran was going to be able to have going into
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  Speaker 2: the future was going to be determined.
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  Speaker 3: We're so far from that.
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  Speaker 2: We're not even at step one about opening up the
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  Speaker 2: straight of horror moves, let alone any negotiations about the
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  Speaker 2: nuclear enrichment capacities of Iran. And so that is where
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  Speaker 2: you go to these lists of demands that Iran has
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  Speaker 2: made very clear that the US and IS must remove
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  Speaker 2: troops from Lebanon, for instance, must end its engagement with
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  Speaker 2: its proxies in other countries, that it must release the
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  Speaker 2: frozen assets to Iran. And the terms of this memorandum
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  Speaker 2: of understanding are just such in a difficult place for
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  Speaker 2: this administration that even the administration is debating over what
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  Speaker 2: the agenda and what the goal of the Iran war
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  Speaker 2: here is moving forward. And I think that is why
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  Speaker 2: you find the Trump administration in such a predicament at
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  Speaker 2: this point, because there has been no indication that Iran
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  Speaker 2: is willing to give at all in terms of what
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  Speaker 2: they want out of these negotiations, that they are willing
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  Speaker 2: to play the long game. And in turn, people like
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  Speaker 2: Stephen Miller have even said that they're willing to go on.
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  Speaker 2: And Donald Trump has said to Americans that this is
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  Speaker 2: a form of patriotism, high gas prices, that it'll be
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  Speaker 2: worth it in the end. So we find ourselves in
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  Speaker 2: the stalemate here at the sixty day.
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  Speaker 1: Mark, to go on, how long, one might say forever.
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  Speaker 1: A forever war is the last thing Trump said he
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  Speaker 1: would get himself into, Dosha. Can you explain what do
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  Speaker 1: we know about these supposedly unprecedented economic pressures? The Treasury
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  Speaker 1: Secretary Scott Besson says he is going to impose on Iran.
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  Speaker 1: Iran is not a trading partner with us. What exactly
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  Speaker 1: can we do so if.
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  Speaker 4: We don't know details precisely to your point, But Scott Besson,
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  Speaker 4: the Treasury Secretary, is becoming even more of a key
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  Speaker 4: player in this now than perhaps Pete hexf this Secretary
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  Speaker 4: of Defense, because the President does not want to restart
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  Speaker 4: kinetic action here, and most people in his circles at
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  Speaker 4: this point don't want to restart kinetic action unless they
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  Speaker 4: go all the way, as folks say, to finish the job.
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  Speaker 4: And at this point, given our munitions, given what we've
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  Speaker 4: already seen with the USS Lincoln, even that is becoming
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  Speaker 4: less and less of a real possibility. And so now
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  Speaker 4: you have the Economic Fury operation as folks and Treasury
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  Speaker 4: have been calling it, and Scott Besson as that key player,
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  Speaker 4: But as you said, they have not laid out what
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  Speaker 4: they can clearly do there either. And every single day
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  Speaker 4: that this war goes on step it gets worse for
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  Speaker 4: this administration. Between munition stockpiles, between the mental health and
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  Speaker 4: physical health of the military, and of course the midterms,
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  Speaker 4: every single day we inch closer to that, and every
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  Speaker 4: single Republican operative I talked to Steph is absolutely tearing
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  Speaker 4: their hair out about this. I was on the road
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  Speaker 4: with Speaker Mike Johnson in Arizona a few weeks ago,
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  Speaker 4: and he was touting all of the achievements that the
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  Speaker 4: Republican Congress has as done, mostly the big beautiful Bill that,
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  Speaker 4: of course you can debate how effective that has been.
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  Speaker 3: But the big looming thing, the war with.
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  Speaker 4: Ron, that has raised gas prices, raised fertilizer prices, and
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  Speaker 4: made Americans extremely concerned. That part was really difficult for
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  Speaker 4: him to talk about, as it is for every Republican
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  Speaker 4: candidate in a vulnerable district, because all they can say
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  Speaker 4: is basically the message that the President himself delivered, which
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  Speaker 4: which is, Yeah, suck it up with the high gas
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  Speaker 4: prices because we're dealing with this power. A lot of
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  Speaker 4: voters aren't buying it.
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  Speaker 1: All Right, Susan, let's talk about this MoU, because the
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  Speaker 1: Wall Street Journal has got this new reporting that said
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  Speaker 1: after the MoU was signed sixty days ago, Iran's hardline
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  Speaker 1: leaders met to actually escalate the war, ramping up their
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  Speaker 1: weapons production and potentially launching new attacks. What does that
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  Speaker 1: say about how the US has approached this and even
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  Speaker 1: how they've communicated with the American people about where things
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  Speaker 1: have stood.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, Steph, I think this is a really important point.
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  Speaker 5: First of all, there was an incredible amount of credulousness
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  Speaker 5: on the part of many with this memorandum of understanding.
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  Speaker 5: I can't think of a single serious expert on the
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  Speaker 5: middle true thought that it was a.
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  Speaker 3: Viable path toward a long term piece deal.
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  Speaker 5: It collapsed of its own way, even arguably sooner than
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  Speaker 5: many people expected.
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  Speaker 3: And yet you know, you had a lot of people.
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  Speaker 5: Amplifying the idea that the administration was putting out that
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  Speaker 5: this is some kind of historic, sweeping, massive peace deal,
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  Speaker 5: when in fact it was a very unrealistic program that
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  Speaker 5: really spoke to the increasing desperation of President Trump and
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  Speaker 5: his advisors to find a way out of a conflict
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  Speaker 5: they started without a clear plan that backfired in some
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  Speaker 5: serious way on them.
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  Speaker 3: I think right now what you're looking at is.
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  Speaker 5: The extent to which this could become a much bigger
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  Speaker 5: strategic blow to the United States in the region. You
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  Speaker 5: mentioned the prospect of more widespread conflict. Clearly, President Trump
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  Speaker 5: was stunned when Iran chose the path already of escalation
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  Speaker 5: and going to attack you a centrist in Jordan, for example.
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  Speaker 5: One thing we don't talk about a lot right now
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  Speaker 5: that's important is the extent to which American basis that
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  Speaker 5: we spend billions of dollars on in the Middle East
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  Speaker 5: is not just a question of the aircraft carriers. It's
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  Speaker 5: the bases are now functionally inoperable. Not to mention unraveling
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  Speaker 5: relations with many of our allies in the Gulf, across
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  Speaker 5: the region, they are unhappy about the conflict. They are
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  Speaker 5: unhappy about the blows to their economic but also their
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  Speaker 5: security interests. And so what you have is Iran looking
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  Speaker 5: at a situation where they might find further advantage by
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  Speaker 5: continuing the conflict and opening up an even bigger gap
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  Speaker 5: between the United States and its allies in the Gulf.
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  Speaker 6: And I think that speaks to the extent to which
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  Speaker 6: it's absolute fantasy to have some of these discussions that
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  Speaker 6: the White House is claiming it to having about peace
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  Speaker 6: negotiations which aren't happening, economic sanctions which they can't even
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  Speaker 6: outline what those would be. And so I think it's
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  Speaker 6: important to look at what's happening in the region. It's
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  Speaker 6: a big blow to US interest not only in the
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  Speaker 6: Middle East, but potentially around the world.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, it's absolutely fair to be concerned about more widespread conflict.
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  Speaker 1: Just this morning, Suason, Donald Trump told Fox News that
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  Speaker 1: if ohman, I want to make sure, if Oma gets
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  Speaker 1: in the way, he says, will bomb the you know
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  Speaker 1: what out of them? What in the world are we
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  Speaker 1: talking about here?
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  Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean, Steph, I wouldn't I wouldn't hold their
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  Speaker 5: breath that Donald Trump is going to widen the war
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  Speaker 5: himself by going to bomb the nation of Oman.
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  Speaker 3: But it speaks to a man who is cornered.
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  Speaker 5: Donald Trump loves to portray himself as this unconstrained, unfettered, you.
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  Speaker 3: Know, most powerful man in the world.
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  Speaker 5: And yet it's very clear that he's backed himself into
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  Speaker 5: a corner right now. If anything, I would say, what
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  Speaker 5: you're seeing is the frayme of the coalition that started
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  Speaker 5: the war. He's on bad terms right now with Israel
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  Speaker 5: in ways that we can talk about. He's on increasingly
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  Speaker 5: worsening terms with his allies across the Gulf Saudi Arabia, UAE, Jordan, Bau, Rain, Cutch, Kuwait,
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  Speaker 5: which is very vulnerable right now. So the idea that
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  Speaker 5: he's going to start to threaten war against Oman, which
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  Speaker 5: had played a mediating role in this conflict, again speaks
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  Speaker 5: to an American politician who seems to help in a corner.
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  Speaker 3: And doesn't have a viable way out of it.
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  Speaker 1: It's absolutely insane as well, Susan, that we're saying, well,
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  Speaker 1: maybe we shouldn't take the president that seriously, or don't
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  Speaker 1: take him at his word when he's telling a major
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  Speaker 1: news outlet that he may bomb the you know what
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  Speaker 1: out of another country. The fact that we've gotten to
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  Speaker 1: a place where we're like, oh, he's probably not serious.
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  Speaker 1: This is the president of the United States now that
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  Speaker 1: I want to talk about these sailors, though, Dasha, because
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  Speaker 1: the US is rushing to ship to replace the USS
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  Speaker 1: Lincoln and sending a top commander to visit the carrier
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  Speaker 1: to make this statement, is it fair to say they're
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  Speaker 1: just trying to do some damage control. I mean, these
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  Speaker 1: sailors are suffering.
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  Speaker 4: I mean this requires so much more than just damaged control.
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  Speaker 4: This story speaks volumes about exactly what was Susan just mentioned.
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  Speaker 4: The way that the United States has been backed into
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  Speaker 4: a corner to where we have had these sailors deployed
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  Speaker 4: for so much longer with so many fewer resources than.
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  Speaker 3: Is typically required.
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  Speaker 4: I have had a number of sources across the military
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  Speaker 4: reach out and say, we are in a bad spot.
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  Speaker 4: We are sounding the alarms internally, but to be frank,
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  Speaker 4: they are not being heard.
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  Speaker 3: And it took a story.
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  Speaker 4: Do you think that if these headlines, if this fantastic
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  Speaker 4: reporting hadn't been put out there, that Bradley Cooper would
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  Speaker 4: be visiting the US's linking, that the swap with the
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  Speaker 4: USS Washington would be happening right now. I highly doubt it,
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  Speaker 4: because it takes this being brought to the public attention
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  Speaker 4: in order for action to be taken here, because right
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  Speaker 4: now the administration is just trying to find its way
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  Speaker 4: out of this hole and doing that regardless of the
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  Speaker 4: human hole here.
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  Speaker 2: Assass