Trump: Iran is 'NEGOTIATING ON FUMES'

Added: 2026-05-28

[00:00:00]The economy is in free fall.

[00:00:03]They have 250% inflation.

[00:00:06]Their money has no value.

[00:00:08]And their whole economic system is broken down.

[00:00:12]They thought they were going to out wait me.

[00:00:16]The commander-in-chief today assuring that the regime wants to make a deal but is negotiating on fumes at this point and team America aka the big boss is not yet sold on their version of an arrangement.

[00:00:31]Iran is very much intent. They want very much to make a deal. So far they haven't gotten there.

[00:00:36]We're not satisfied with it but and we will be. We will be either that or we'll have to just finish the job.

[00:00:45]What's the real story from the negotiations?

[00:00:48]Few know. Trump surely does but the rumor mill having a field day anyway.

[00:00:55]Some reports suggesting that the president is open to concessions like sanctions relief in exchange for Iran giving up its enriched uranium. What do you say Mr. President?

[00:01:08]No, we're not talking about any easing of sanctions or giving money. No sanctions, no money, no nothing. But they are starting to give us the things that they have to give us and if they do that's great and if they won't then the man on my left is going to finish them off.

[00:01:24]You heard the man and as for the other word on the street that Iran and Oman are in talks to impose a permanent Strait of Hormuz toll system for vessels. Well, good luck on that front, too.

[00:01:37]It'll be open to everybody. It's uh And who would control it?

[00:01:40]>> It's international waters. Nobody's going to control it. We're going to watch over it. We'll watch over it but nobody's going to control it. It's part of the negotiation that we have. They would like to control it. Nobody's going to control it. It's international waters and uh Oman will behave just like everybody else so we'll have to blow them up. They understand that. They'll be fine.

[00:02:01]The market taking the president at his word that the straight is going to be open, wide open. All three major stock market gauges hitting new all-time highs today. And the most important gauge of what happens in the Middle East when it comes to the Strait of Hormuz, oil. West Texas Intermediate falling below 89 bucks a barrel, settling at a 6-week low. Let's bring in former National Security Council Chief of Staff Alex Gray and Foundation for Defense of Democracies founder Cliff May.

[00:02:33]Gentlemen, great to see both of you.

[00:02:35]Chris Lowe, who's an economist, was writing earlier talking about optimistic headlines, but past those, it's difficult to see what a sustained peace agreement looks like. Naturally, neither side wants to admit any sacrifices to their constituencies, but how does this come together? What does a successful agreement look like at this point, Cliff May? And is it as optimistic as maybe the stock market and oil market might suggest right now?

[00:03:07]Well, I think we know what the President Trump wants to achieve here, and it's worth it's worth recalling and emphasizing. He understands that this regime, this Islamist regime, has for 47 years vowed, as its policy, as its commitment, death to America, and that it's killed more than a thousand Americans over that time. And so, he does not want to allow this regime to have nuclear weapons and missiles that could deliver them to targets anywhere in the world. That's, I think, remains and should be his primary goal. A secondary goal, though an important one, which he just talked about, is that the Strait of Hormuz is an important international waterway, a choke point for commerce.

[00:03:49]Iran can't just say, "It's ours now. We take it over. We let those we want come through, others we don't. We'll put in a toll booth if we want to. It's up to us.

[00:03:59]He's not going to allow that freedom of the seas, freedom of navigation. It's a basic international law. Either we enforce it or it's not enforced and the bad guys take it over. If Iran takes over this one, other choke points in the world, say the ones the Houthis want, the Bab el Mandeb, which connects the Red Sea out there, he'll take that, that'll be taken over too. So, this is basic principle, basic US interest. This is America first. This is make America great again. We don't let our enemies intimidate us, threaten us, and possibly attack us. Alex, an open Strait of Hormuz is music to my ears, but I do not see how you make that happen unless this thing gets kinetic again, unless our military gets engaged again. Is that what you're expecting?

[00:04:45]You know, I actually think, Brian, we have more ability to force the Iranians to reopen the strait, back to the table in an actually serious way, not through the usual just push us along, trying to buy time. And that's because this blockade, which the mainstream media refuses to cover, is extraordinarily effective. It has forced the Iranians to literally put oil in bathtubs and pots and pans because they don't have places to store their oil without destroying the facilities themselves and permanently undermining their oil industry. They have had to reroute their supply chains through Central Asia because the blockade has prevented them from using their traditional maritime ports. This is an extraordinary success by President Trump and his administration. And as the president always says, don't be a panicking. We don't need people in Washington to tell the US Navy it's time to abandon this, you know, let let's let's cut and run. We need to give the blockade time to force the Iranians to the table, and I'm confident that if we give that time, we will get the strait reopened, and we will have the leverage we need to succeed in these negotiations. Well, Alex, stay on the Strait of Hormuz, and what do you make of Iran attempting to lay mines in the strait, and then we, the United States military, firing on two um IRGC boats, and there was an exchange of fire. Iran then uh firing surface-to-air missiles at two of our aircraft, and then the United States um um firing back on Iran. Like, is that that can't possibly be the end of I think the Wall Street Journal editorial board called it a a skirmish, but is this just kind of a rolling issue for us unless we take greater action militarily?

[00:06:47]Yeah, look, Dagan, I I >> me, [clears throat] okay.

[00:06:50]>> No, I I asked Alex just stay on that real quick.

[00:06:53]>> That's fine.

[00:06:54]Yeah, Dagan, I I think that basically the Iranians are going to take as much as they can. This is what they do.

[00:07:00]They're going to take potshots at our guys. They're going to do everything they can to try and and push the boundaries, and the only way that we're going to be able to keep them in their box is for President Trump to do exactly what he just did, which is a strategic surgical strike in retaliation for that kind of misbehavior, and it tells the Iranians they can't get away with things that they would have gotten away with under a Joe Biden or a Barack Obama, and that's how we have the kind of deterrence to keep the ceasefire going while the blockade takes effect, and while the president's negotiators do their work.

[00:07:34]Uh Cliff, I got about 30 seconds for you, but I want to get you on this one.

[00:07:37]The president seems to be putting the Abraham Accords right at the center of all of this. I was sort of surprised by that. I think a lot of people were. Is he serious and do you think he can help break the logjam?

[00:07:51]Well, I think he's serious. I don't know that it's going to break the logjam. The logjam is the regime in Iran. And even during a ceasefire negotiations, they're laying mines. And the ideal was the idea was supposed to be that there was a ceasefire in exchange for them opening the straight, but they didn't. How do they close the straight? They threatened it. How do they threaten it? They say we're going to send missiles and drones at commercial vessels. Then the insurers in London say, "Okay, we can't insure."

[00:08:15]Then the captains throw out anchors. At the end of the day, we should have America's allies keeping the peace in the Middle East so we can do other things. And that means a coalition of the states that are pro-American. We know which those are. We know which those are not. There are a few that are on the fence. They should be They should make up their mind real real quick. Mhm.

[00:08:35]Great to see both of you, gentlemen.

[00:08:37]Thank you. Cliff May, Alex Gray. We'll see you again soon.