Listener Engagement and Closing Remarks

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From bright, energizing mornings to soft, relaxing evenings, makeake the invisible unforgettable this season Visit pure. com to find your new favorite summer scent Donald Trump is claiming victory in the war in Iran long before a peace deal has even been agreed But already there are lots of critics in America asking If we won, why are we waving sanctions on Iranian oil and effectively giving the regime money upfront? before safeguards and nuclear inspections have been agreed Just months before the midterm elections, Donald Trump's got to try and persuade his own party and voters that this is a really good deal for America, and he's facing a lot of skepticism. We're going to unpick the politics behind how he's going to try and sell this as a victory. Welcome to Americast Americaast from BBC News. You hear that J? I think when I hear that sound, it reminds me of money. We didn't start this war, but under President Trump, we are finishing it. This is a big cover up, and this administration is engaged in it. This guy has Trump arrangement syndrome. have for you, turn the volume up Hello, it's Sarah here in the BBC' Bureau in Washington. And it's Anthony sitting right next to Sarah here in Washington, DC. And let's recap Anthony where we've got to, because I wouldn't be at all surprised if people are confused about what the state of negotiations or the war with Iran is. I find it incredibly difficult to keep up myself The U.S and Iran have signed a memorandum of understanding, haven't they? whichich is not a peace agreement. It's basically an extended ceasefire deal that gives them sixty days to talk about what a final settlement might look like And it's a bit confusing as to what's in this and what the terms of this agreement are The things Donald Trump are telling us are completely different from what the Iranians tell us Do we know the truth There's a lot of gray area in this fourteen point memorandum of understanding. There's talk about ceasing hostilities, obviously, not even threatening hostilities. There's talk about lifting US sanctions on Iran, Iran reiterating that they're not going to develop a nuclear weapon. There's talk about opening the Strait of Hormuz, which obviously was one of big points that the United States wanted to accomplish here, even if it just goes back to the way things were before the war, talkalk about the United States lifting the barricade, the blockade on all Iranian traroffic, which the United States seems to do. It lays out the framework for some sort of lasting peace, as you say, but it is not the details about nuclear inspections, how to ensure that Iran is giving up its nuclear program. What to do with the enriched uranium, how to get it down to a level that is not so close to being ready for a nuclear bomb. All of that stuff still needs to be hashed out, which is one of the reasons JD. Vance, the vice president and a negotiating team went to Switzerland this last weekend met with Iranians there and it came out again with progress being made, but no concrete kind of developments, at least not yet And yet, some of the provisions that we do know about that have come into force already, like as you mentioned, Anthony, rolling back oil sanctions, have become incredibly controversial here in America because you you've got Democrats who were opposed to this war from the very beginning, but you've also got a significant haawkish strand of the Republican partarty who They didn't want him to stop until the Iranian regime had been to certainly very clearly defeated in a way they feel they haven't been, as well as of course, all the MAGA base who are deeply uncomfortable about the idea of getting embroiled in this war. And some of them seem to be united around the idea that it's not a great idea to lift sanctions on selling Iranian oil before they've been compelled to do anything else. It's like just in order to get the talks going, all of a sudden, they're going to be able sell oil on the international market for the first time since nineteen seventy nine Yeah when Obama and his team were negotiating the JCPOA back about ten years ago, they tied the sanctions lifting and the delivery of money, the assets that were frozen to Iran to the signing of the formal deal that set forth all of these details about inspections and enrich uranium and everything else. So this is different. This is essentially giving Iran something right off the get go. And Donald Trump says, it's not like that. It's not like that. We're not giving him all this money. Well here let's listen to him explain this in a clip from Monday in the Oval Office. If the sanctions go out, money iss going to be put into this country. All that money iss coming back in the form of purchases of food, which they desperately need They have ninety one million people they can't feed them So the money that that we lift is going to go to our farmers, largely to our farmers. Can you ensure that the Iranians won't use profits from oil sales to rebuild their military? We're supposed to be doing that, sir we'll say They're supposed to use money to buy food for their people because right now the people are Very hungry And they're buying it exclusively from us Corn, soybeans And there should be a lot of money. I hope it's. If a war with Iran could cause a worldwide depression, as you noted, mister President, are you willing to risk economic catastrophe and strike Iran again? Not the way I'm doing The way not going to cause depression? Yes, but if they don't abide by the memorandum ofing supersedes depression Depression is real bad nuclear weapons who will cause depression M much more qu The way we're doing it, we have the opposite of a depression doing really well. U The numbers are incredible. The oil is at a level that nobody's ever seen before Oil prices are way down, I think they're very comparable to what they were Chris So that was a little confusing, but essentially, what Donald Trump seemed to be saying there was that, yes, they are going to lift sanctions on the sale of Iranian oil And he hopes that they will use that money to buy food for the Iranian population, and he thinks that they have to buy it exclusively from American farmers, the corn and the soybeans. Whilst the Iranians have come out and said there's absolutely no requirement in the memorandum of undernderstanding to say that they're obliged to buy from the United States. So the one positive Donald Trump can get out of this The Iranians say isn't true. Yeah, it seems difficult for them to be able to require Iran to use the money for that. And Trump there you could sense a little bit of a doubt in his oice when he was saying that, But Iran sells oil to China, to India to all these different countries. There's no guarantee that the profits they get from that will, which they would control would be used for purchasing American Americ food But I think that gets back to what Trump is trying to do here. He understands that this is a bit of a political liability. He needs to be able to frame it in a way that benefits the United States. It seems like maybe he's getting out over his skis a little bit by saying this is exactly what's going to happen and we'll be able to see if that is exactly what's going to be happening. But he is trying to talk up benefits of this and try to talk about how things are going to go back to normal and oil flowing like it's never flowed before. all of this is exaggeration, but it's Trump trying to handled the political fallout from this war Yeah, and it's really interesting, I think. at the same time as he's spinning that, you've got Congress now actually managing to pass a war powers resolution. The Senate did this yesterday, Tuesday. essentially telling Trump that he can't continue hostilities against Iran without going to Congress. If he was winning the politics of this in the United States, he wouldn't have lost a vote like that in the Senate. wouldould? Becauseuse he had Republicans voting against Trump for there. Right, There wass a handful of Republicans. four some of the ones who have opposed Trump in the past, whousan Collins of Maine, who was is in, as we've discussed, a tough re election fight in November Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, who has always been willing to break ranks with the Republicans. We had Rand Paul of Kentucky, who has been very anti interventionist and Bill Cassidy, who was defeated by a Trump backed Senate challenger in that recent Louisiana Senate primary. So they broke ranks and because Mitch McConnell, who normally votes against these sorts of things is sicken in didn't show up. That gave enough of leeway for this thing to sneak through. It's a symbolic vote mostly, although there's a provision in the War Powers Act that could give this teeth, most people have concluded that it can't be enforced. and certainly Donald Trump is not going to abide by it, But it does show that there are Republicans and all of the Democrats who are willing Step forward and say this needs to stop. This war is unpopular. They feel like they have the public at their back. And that is a challenge for Donald Trump. The public, according to Plls, have never been super supportive of this war and their dissatisfaction with it has been steadily growing. So there was a classic truth ped from Donald Trump on Truth Social last night after that vote I'll read it out to you So I have aran on the ropes ready to go down for the fall, willing to give us practically anything and for the first time in decades, respecting the hell out of the United States and its president me And the US Senate decides to have a poorly timed and meaningless War Powers Act vote telling the number one sponsor of terror in the world that the United States doesn't like what I'm doing to them and I must stop. By doing so has provided aid and comfort to the enemy. and he goes on to complain about the Republicans who voted with the Democrats. Now that form of words, aid and comfort for the enemy is basically accusing them of treason, isn't it? Because that's taken from the legislation that they would be prosecuted under if they were being charged with treason Right, He's accusing these Republicans of treason. He has accused the media of treason also for their coverage, which he says is too negative of the benefits of the Iran war that is downplayed the successes that the United States has had. I mean, he goes from talking about how boasting about how Iran is respecting the United States to them painting them as an enemy and a sponsor of terror. So it's kind of a typical Trump tweet and that it meanders a little bit. But it shows that even if this vote was meaningless, he does does not like what it says about sentiment of for the war here in the United States. and he does think it undercuts maybe his negotiating with Iran a little bit. Let's let's listen to to Bill Cassidy, one of those senators who voted for this war powers resolution explaining why he did. We are left Weaker, our allies are left weaker Iran gets three hundred billion dollars to rebuild, which they'll use some of it to support things that we don't care for. I think that we had thirteen Americans de. We spent anywhere for twenty five to one hundred billion dollars in munitions. and it turns out we lost a credible threat of attacking them again. There's a lot of stuff in there. It's bad Yeah, Bill Cassidy never been a fan of this war. And as you pointed out, Anthony free to speak his mind given that he's not standing for reelection again in November. Now it's a very different story with another Republican senator Ted Cruz. He's always been one of Trump's closest Republican allies, but he also has been speaking out voicing his concerns about this deal. If we give billions of dollars to Iran Money will be used to murder Americans So I don't believe we should do that. And the idea that we would have effectively a marshall plan for Iran and come in and rebuild Iran after they've been the leading state sponsor of terrorism for forty seven years. They've murdered nearly a thousand Americans, I don't think that makes any sense. Listen, I support President Trump, and I think his leadership on Iran has been extraordinary I believe he is getting or advice And I think sending billions of dollars to Iran is a mistake. The terms of the MOU that have been released start off at the outset with tens of billions of dollars immediately being released to Iran before they make a single nuclear concession I think that's a mistake So there Ted Cruz talking about the lifting of sanctions. Cruz also mentioned and Cassidy mentioned in that earlier clip was this three hundred billion dollars fund to rebuild Iran. That's another provision of the MOU that we should mention. It's this fund that Trump says is not going to be funded by American dollars at all, but it's this big fund that the United States is promising in this memorandum to be used by Iran as a rebuilding an infrastructure building, almost a compensation for the war, whether it's funded by other Gulf states, whether it's funded by corporations looking to invest in Iran. That's all unclear. But these Republicans are worried that somehow this is going to be money that essentially will help secure the Iranian leadership and they can use it in order to recover from the war that the United States started You spoke to Trump about this yourself, didn't you? Yeah, on the Tarmac in Paris after his G seven meetings in Vienne France, I asked him about this memorandum of understanding. And onene of the first provisions in that memorandum of understanding was that neither side would use force, neither side would threaten to use force. And just earlier in the day, Donald Trump had talked about dropping bombs on the heads of Iranians and I asked him whether this threat of force violated the terms of the memorandum. and he dismissed my question, said he would do whatever he wanted anyway. I mean, let's listen to what he said. If they don't If they don't come through Is it a threat that we'd bomb You can call it whatever you want, but It'll probably happen. Thank you. I will see you at Versailles. I don't know what's more impressive from that, Anthony, The fact that you're standing on the tarmac talking to the president of the United States or the fact that you were doing it in France. I'm very envious of that trip. You got r around Versailles as well, didn't you? I did. That was he left Avion after having a full day of meetings and running behind schedule Heavy on at like seven o'clock and I got into Paris eight thirty, motorcated to the palace of Versailles, had a tour of the palace by Bacron, the French president and his wife, and then sat down to dinner until like eleven o'clock at night. They didn't leave, we didn't leave Versailles until one in the morning, got back into DC at about three thirty AM. I didn't get home until four thirty in the morning. It's really long day and Dond Trump's eighty. I'm you know not eighty and it still exhausted me. although I will say the one treat was we got whileile Donald Trump was having dinner in Versailles, the press pool and a few other White House officials got to go into Versailles and see the Royal Chambers and the Hall of Mirrors and Marie Antoinette's bedroom, all without all the tourists there ariv a private tour of the palace after ours. So that was that almost made the exhaustingly long day of chasing Trump around and asking him questions and covering all these events worthwhile. Now, back to the matter in hand and whether or not he has succeeded in any way in this deal with Iran. He's trying to tell us that America has won. Not everybody's believing it, but Republican Senator Lindsey Graham He's always been a real around haul, hasn't he? So he will be the one who didn't want Trump the war until the Iranian regime were on their knees. But he's sounding reasonably supportive of this deal talking to CBS face the nation on Sunday, although not optimistic about whether or not it willll work. The money Iran gets is not going to change the future of Iran. It's not enough to reconstruct the country If you don't have a diplomatic path through the MOU, then you have to go to war. or some other form of coercion Let's try this Let's try a diplomatic solution I think it's going to fail What happens next? I spent four and a half hours with President Trump Friday. Here's what I think will happen next this deal fails President Trump is going to take the strait of Hormuz over by force. Well that may be a bit of wishcasting on Lindsey Graham's part because he wants that regime in Iran totally toppled. He's supported know a more extensive US incursion into Iran to accomplish regime change. One of the coping mechanisms I think a lot of these arean war haawks have right now is, well, Donald Trump's just doing this to bring the price of oil down to help Republicans going into November's midtermss. And once the midterms are behind him, he'll turn the jets back on and start bombing again. and at this time really put it Iran whether that's realistic or not. I don't know, but it is something that the Iran hawks are kind of hanging their hats on right now in order to make peace with what Donald Trump is doing Yeah, Lindsey Graham obviously doesn't think his mission accomplished yet at this point I'm really interested in your sense of where other senators who might not be as public about it are Donald Trump's going to go and have lunch up on the Capitol Hill with these senators today with his Republican team How many of them do you think have misgivings about what he's achieved here. Certainly more than those who have spoken out publicly. I think on one side, you have the Hawks who feel like this memorandum of understanding concedes too much that this is starting to look a lot like that Barack Obama deal, where you have inspections in exchange for lifting sanctions, you have a regime where people are going in looking at the at the uranium and making sure that Iran is enriching it some sort of a way of downgrading the current stock of uranium and it all is kind of an exchange and a process and nothing close to the regime change and the total changing of Iran's government and its role in the region that they were hoping for. I mean, two things that this memorandum of undernderstanding doesn't address, which we hear from the Hawks time and time again, one of their biggest critiques of that Obama deal is it doesn't address ballistic missiles And Donald Trump just a few days ago said, well, they have to have some ballistic missiles. You know, everyone has missiles there, so they need to be able to have some military, which is kind of astounding to hear after he was calling for the total annihilation of Irq. No, I want I'm saying that if other countries have them It's a little bit unfair for them not to have some Ballistic missile is not the same thing as what we're talking about. When we talk nuclear. but if Saudi Arabia and Qatar and they all have some, I would say in relative proportion, I think it's okay. That's what I mean. And then also Iran's role in supporting these proxies like Hezbollah and others in the region that have been destabilizing the area and causing problems for US Arab allies and Israel for decades This doesn't really deal with any of that. So there's a concern that, well, what did this get us? If it just gets us back to where the US was beforehand or the region was beforehand, where Iran's military definitely degraded, but no fundamental changes, then they're not going to be happy. and they might make that apparent behind closed doors. And then there are others in the Republican Party who think All of this was just a waste of money and a distraction when Trump should have been focusing on affordability and cost of living and the economy and all these kind of things that voters have said time and time again are the things they care about the most. And of course, the war in Iran pushing up the price of oil and other goods, that certainly I mean it made the affordability issue considerably worse. And you mentioned the Obama deal there It's really interesting because of course Dond Trump ripped that up in his first term, said it was going to allow Iran to get a nuclear weapon. It was a positively dangerous deal. And he was very, very critical of the lifting of sanctions and unfreezing some Iranian assets around the world. And these are all the things that he's now put into this deal. So it is going to be an incredibly difficult seell Not just to the people he's having lunch with on the hill today, but to the rest of the country. I mean, he's got to try and say in advance of these midterm elections that this was a victory. Yeah you talk about this meeting, this lunch meeting with senators and it might be a little acrimonious behind closed doors now. They all really want Donald Trump to pivot towards affordability and get the party on better footing the midterm elections I'm just reading a Trump trruth Social post that just came out now. and he says that today's housing newews conference in signing, this is a signing of a bipartisan bill that Republicans were hoping would show that they're addressing the cost of housing and affordability in all of what we just said. It is now canceled until such time as we pass the desperately needed Save America Act, which is this election reform legislation that he has backed and they don't have the votes to pass in the Senate. Which I consider to be a national emergency. Thank you for your attention to this matter. President DJT. So if Senate Republicans were frustrated that Donald Trump keeps derailing their attempts to pass legislation that his fixation on election security and this Save America act and his own personal predilelections derailing their efforts. Well This is the latest example of that. So I would love to be a fly on the wall at this Senate lunde, assuming it still goes on and and see what they have to say to Donald Trump about about blowing up the one big thing they had to tout in this midterm elections coming up about affordability Yeah, he's finding some of the scapegoats though for the cost of living. Here's a different post on Truth Social where he's blaming oil companies for the high gas prices, not his war in Iran and the closing of the Strait of Hormmuz. He wrote The big oil companies are not dropping their price at the pump commensurate with the sharply lower prices they're paying for oil. Those prices are dropping like a rock In other words, customers are being gouged. And he says he's instructed the Department of Justice to start looking into this. gasoline prices better start going down a lot faster than what I'm seeing. So I don't think anyone's going to fall for that, blaming the oil companies for not reducing the price of petrol fast enough when it went up Thanks to his actions Iran in the first place. It sounds lot like Joe Biden, who was frustrated also at the high prices of gasoline after the Ukrainian war spiked gas prices here in the United States and across the world. And they go up fast and they go down slow. We knew this coming into this. A lot of people predicted it just it takes for whatever reason more time for it to get through the refineries and show up in the pump. And yes, it Donald Trump is not the first president to be bedeviled by this, but it also this is a recognition That it might take some time for Americans to feel the benefits of the war winding down a bit. And the longer it takes, the closer we get into November and the fall campaign season, the more Americans are going to be fixated on. that at some point, their frustration about the economy gets baked in At some point, it becomes too late to change their minds before they start casting ballots in October and November It was a busy night on Truth Social for Donald Trump as well, he had plenty to say, not just about gas prices and the war in Iran. He started posting about some of the Democrats who'd been winning primaries in New York. So yesterday Tuesday was voting in New York for the candidates who are going to stand both in state elections and and for Congress there. And Donald Trump posted, America, the Beautiful will never be a communist country, President DJT. So that was a reference, wasn't it, Anthony to some of the more left wing candidates who were winning some of those primaries. Yeah, this is a story that I was watching closely last night and writing about today And that is Zohan Mamdani, the Democratic socialist mayor of New York City, who you have talked about multiple times in the past. He put his reputation on the line and endorsed ree candidates for the House of Representatives out of New York City districts, two of which were running against incumbents. and all three of those candidates, Democratic socialists, left wing candidates, like Mumani, all three won. They unseated two incumbents, including one who was chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus had served in Congress for ten years And the third one unseated someone who was kind of the establishment or beat someone who was the establishment endorsed favorite. So this was an example of Mam Dani flexing his muscles that the movement that shocked everyone and shot him to the mayorship of New York last year now is translating into something that will affect national politics. It's not just New York anymore. There are going to be three very liberal members of Congress out of New York City next year because these are virtual locks for election come November. And that is going to pull the Democratic Party farther to the left. These are people who are talking about socialized healthcare, Medicare for all, government run healthcare for everyone, tackling income inequality, taxing the rich. All the things that Mamani successfully campaigned on. Now there are going to be people in Washington, DC who are going to be advocating for that as well. And yes, it's just three out of four hundred and thirty five seats in the House of Representatives, but it still is going to be new voices and it's going to be something that Democrats are going to have to address because there is clearly D satisfaction with the status quo among Democratic voters clearly dissatisfaction with incumbents among Democrats. And it'll be interesting to see how that plays out in the weeks and months ahead. Yeah, I think it tells us lots of fascinating things, doesn't it? Mandami clearly has long coattails that his endorsement was able to help these candidates win, but that he's not alone in advocating these kinds of left wing that deemocrat socialism in New York at least is an active force. He wasn't just an outlier. And as you say, voters who are not happy with the Democratic Party and certainly how they've been operating in Congress. because this is a real slap in the face for the Democrat congressional leaders, Hakim Jeffrees and Chuck Schumer, isn't it? They had endorsed other candidates. They didn't want to see Le wingers making it in here. And so you can see the party is still wrestling with how to respond to Donald Trump, how to come up with an answer to this. And this probably just complicates the question as you have some democratic socialists coming in. And one in particular, I'm sure you were watching Anthony, Daraiza Avila Chevalier a candidate who won one of those primaries and almost certainly heading to Congress who has a history of statements that will be being brought up again and again again by Republicans against her, won't they where she talked about openening the borders, abolishing the police, all kinds of things that people will say show not just that she's that she's a left roing, but she's a communist effectively. there's a communist trying to get into Congress. And highly critical of Democrats. She used an expletive directed at Kamala Harris, the vice president twenty twenty four Democratic presidential nominee. She called Joe Biden a rapist in twenty twenty as he was running to clinch the Democatic nomination She hasn't held her tongue when it comes to talking about the Democratic Party condemning the Democratic Party. So she gets into Congress She could make waves there even if she's on the backbench. And also she is going to be held up by Republicans who want to make her the face of the Democratic Party. They want to show her as an example of the kind of people who would be in power if Democrats win a majority in the House of Representatives. We'll see how effective that is. but you can already hear Republicans licking their chops and trying to use her as a campaign campaign tool. The way they initially thought they were going to be able to use Mamani, but then again, you know Mandani ended up hitting it off with Donald Trump that kind Yeah because these now deleted tweets and she says they don't represent her views these days that they're from five years ago and that she's a different person now. But they're talking about the issues that Republicans still want to pin on Democrats. She said things about a world without borders just like a world without prisons or police is possible, necessary and the only moral way forward talked about literally abolishing the border and saying that old deportation is wrong. I mean even if those aren't issues that are front and center in the midterm elections or the next presidential election, being able to dig up these old posts pin them on somebody who is now well by then will be an elected Democrat. That's just giving them a golden opportunity to talk about the issues they want to talk about and say that the Democrats are dangerously left wing Dfinly Before we go, just a quick update on this. Pedgge allegiance to the United States of Americas Yes, Now, as you've probably heard by now, we are building up a map of Americast listeners state by state. We're putting together our very own United States of Americast. We want as many of you as we can get in all fifty states to be represented. On Monday, we said that we still needed to hear more from some that we were pretty unrepresented and we had a great response including Jessica from Pennsylvania Hello Americast, Longtime listener and fan here. I'm Jessica, originally from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania now living in rural Virginia. Fun fact, Pittsburgh is the city of bridges. We have more bridges than Venice Italy. We also love fries or chips on everything. Our almost famous sandwiches come with fries and coleslaw. We even put them on salads Thanks for the great work you do. Chips on salads, even Scotland hasn't quite reached that yet. Have you had chips on salad in Pennsylvania? I haven't although I had chips on sandwiches. The Primounti Bothers is a famous sandwich, almost famous sandwich shop in Pittsburgh and they put French fries right there on their hamburgers. I have a soft spot for Pittsburgh. My son just graduated from the University of Pittsburgh. so I hadn' been there before he enrolled in that college and now I'm in love with that town. It is beautiful The bridges are remarkable. It's got great neighborhoods. It's a fun place to visit. So thank you, Jessica for letting us know about Pittsburgh. And yeah, I hope some of our listeners maybe go there and catch a ball game and go to see the Andy Warhol Museum. The undernderwarhall Museum iss fantastic. You, as we were saying earlier have been further afield in France this week But you're well traveveled around the United States. How many US states have you not been to yet? I'm down to four. North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, and Kansas. So I gott to find a reason to swing through the middle of America. I'm going on holiday to Montana in two weeks time. All right. one off. I'll say I'll say hello from you, but South Dakota, you mentioned that remains elusive on our United States of Americast as well. So anyone Who can lay claim to that? You don't have to live there, You don't have to be from there, just some connection to South Dakota to tell us something interesting we hopefully didn't know about that state before, and you can claim it in our United States of Americast. All right, yeah, mayaybe I should remind people how they can get in touch with us. They can send a message or a voice note. The email for sending messages is Americast at bBC. co. Ukaba. And WhatsApp for a voice note is plus four four, three, three, zero, one, two, three nine four eight zero. So however you want to do it, get in touch with us. Bye y'all