Fox Anchor ‘Puzzled’ As to What Trump’s ‘Actual Strategy of Negotiation is’ With Iran

 

Fox News anchor John Roberts said he was “puzzled” by the Trump administration’s strategy in the ongoing talks with Iran while discussing Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s testimony in front of the Senate.

“The only reason why there’s a U.S. blockade is because Iran has closed it — they’re firing on commercial ships and they’ve mined large segments of Hormuz international waters. And so the blockade is only against Iranian ships. We can’t live in a world in which they get to close the straits and tell everybody, ‘Pay us a toll or we’ll blow you up,’ but their ships get to go out unfettered,” Rubio said in a clip Roberts played from his Senate testimony earlier in the day.

“Secretary of State Marco Rubio reaffirming the need for the United States naval blockade of Iranian ports in the Strait of Hormuz. The opening of the critical waterway — one of the focal points of the talks between the U.S. and Iran — as President Trump hopes a deal can be made within a week. Let’s bring in retired Navy captain and former Pentagon official Brent Sadler. So I was going to start this off by saying, Brent, that I’m a little puzzled as to what the actual strategy of negotiation is,” Roberts noted, adding:

But President Trump put this out seconds ago on Truth Social: “Fake news reports that the Islamic Republic of Iran and the USA stopped speaking a few days ago are false and erroneous. The conversations between us have been going on continuously, including four days ago, three days ago, two days ago, one day ago, and today. Where they lead, no one knows, but as I told Iran, it’s time — one way or another — for you to make a deal.” Does that give you hope that something’s in the offing?

“Not really. But again, it doesn’t really matter too much, as long as the president maintains the pressure, the leverage on the regime in Tehran. The blockade provides that, but it also provides pressure on Iran’s benefactors, notably China, which is not getting its cheap oil from the region because of that. So really, on our side, we have time — the benefit of time — to kind of wear this regime down. Despite, you know — set aside the issue of the gas prices. Again, the issues are bigger than that, quite frankly,” Sadler replied.

Watch the clip above via Fox News.

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Alex Griffing is a Senior Editor at Mediaite. Send tips via email: alexanderg@mediaite.com. Follow him on Twitter: @alexgriffing