00:02After President Trump said the United States and Iran would hold new talks today,
00:07Tehran is pushing back, saying there are no direct negotiations with Washington underway.
00:13In his weekly news conference earlier this morning, Iran's foreign ministry spokesperson said,
00:18quote, we are not negotiating with the United States at this time.
00:22He said Iran is holding talks with Oman about the Strait of Hormuz,
00:26but added that under no circumstances will the waterway return to its pre-war status.
00:32That directly contradicts what President Trump said Sunday night after announcing he had called off new strikes
00:38because he believes the two sides are closing in on what he called the perimeters of a deal,
00:43including reopening shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.
00:47I was asked to by Saudi Arabia, by UAE, by Qatar, and by Iran.
00:55We were all set to go, just about at this time right now, and it would have been a massive
01:02attack.
01:03We were all set to go, but when the allies ask to call it off, you've got to sort of
01:10say, well, let's see.
01:12And the reason they ask is I think there's a deal.
01:15There's a deal on Hormuz, and then there will be a deal on the nuclear, or you might call it
01:20the denuclearization of Iran.
01:22Meanwhile, CNN reports U.S. Central Command has asked troops for new, creative, and unconventional ways to pressure and punish
01:31Iran,
01:31even as the White House says it is giving diplomacy more time.
01:35Arizona Democratic Senator Mark Kelly, a member of the Armed Services and Intelligence Committees,
01:41says the administration has no clear strategy.
01:43Well, I don't think it's the president's vision.
01:47Here's a guy who got us into this without a strategic goal, without a plan, without a timeline.
01:52He's got a secretary of defense that doesn't know how to manage this war,
01:58who decided a good metric at the beginning was just to drop as many munitions as he could on as
02:03many targets.
02:04And now we've got a munitions shortage.
02:06Big surprise.
02:08So they're flailing.
02:10They're stuck.
02:11They're responsible for this.
02:14And the president is the one that has to try to figure out a way out of this.
02:18Kelly also voiced concerns about the Pentagon's request for $67 billion to fund the war.
02:24Sometimes the most interesting part of a story never makes it into the headlines.
02:29That's why we created Unbiased Updates Offscript, an exclusive show where we turn off the prompter for smart insights about
02:36the stories shaping your week.
02:38There is evidence, right, that it's foreign actors who are creating these accounts.
02:44Unscripted conversations, transparent reporting, and the context behind the headlines from the people who know the stories best.
02:51No spin or agenda.
02:53That website was only created one day before announcing his candidacy.
02:58Unbiased Updates Offscript, Thursdays at Straight Arrow.
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