Ceasefire hopes tested as US–Iran clashes escalate and talks stall – The Front Page
The US and Iran are exchanging the biggest strikes in months amid ceasefire talks.
It comes days after a call between US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu apparently got heated as negotiations over the war in Iran continue.
Iranian media signal talks between Tehran and Washington are ongoing, despite reports that Iran suspended them.
Meanwhile, Trump has said negotiations are going “very well” and a ceasefire could happen “over the weekend”.
University of Otago international relations professor Robert Patman told The Front Page it’s clear there is a strain on the pair’s relationship.
“They’ve had their tiffs in the past, Netanyahu and Trump. But I think this is the most serious and open disagreement between them.
“What I think prompted these expletive-laden comments from Trump was that the strategic goals of Israel and the United States are different. Their best chance of convergence was to quickly overthrow the Iranian regime. But once that became unachievable, unobtainable as this conflict goes on, a divergence was always going to set in.
“Israel, unlike the United States, is not a status quo player in the Middle East, and it wants to expand the boundaries of Israel to satisfy its security objectives. And so Israel has invaded Lebanon, and it occupies 20% of Lebanon. From Trump’s point of view, the Israeli involvement in Lebanon is becoming a serious obstacle to concluding a deal with Iran, and the Iranians know this.
“They’ve made it quite clear since the first shaky ceasefire was put in place that any settlement would have to include all the different fronts and areas involved in this conflict.
“So the Iranians have said they suspended their participation in the talks recently, and they said unless there’s agreement on all fronts, there’ll be no agreement between the United States and Iran.
“The Iranians know far more about American politics than I think the Trump administration knows about Iranian politics. They are aware of this tension, and of course, they are taking advantage to some degree,” he said.
Listen to the full episode to hear more about:
- Global economic fallout
- Domestic US consequences
- Hezbollah and broader regional tensions
- How negotiations might end.
The Front Page is a daily news podcast from the New Zealand Herald, available to listen to every weekday from 5pm. The podcast is presented by Chelsea Daniels, an Auckland-based journalist with a background in world news and crime/justice reporting who joined NZME in 2016.
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