Dan, I wanna start with you since you're on the ground there. Part of the problem

throughout this conflict has been different messaging from both within these parties and cross talking between

them. We heard the White House press secretary say they are gonna have talks. Iran has

said they haven't agreed to talks. Will they be talking? What's going on? What are you

hearing?

Yeah. I mean, the confusion is absolutely palpable here on the ground in Islamabad as well.

The Iranian foreign minister of Assarrahi is indeed in Islamabad having meetings with Pakistani officials as

we speak. Now what remains to be seen is if the foreign minister will be meeting

with The US delegation, which as you mentioned, is expected to arrive in Islamabad at some

point this weekend. The two sides are really far apart on on a lot of issues.

Of course, the control of the Strait Of Hormuz remains the sort of central sticking, sticking

point that's that's holding off talks between the two sides. I think what you may end

up seeing here in Islamabad is is sort of, you know, each side kind of arrives,

passes messages to the inter to to the Pakistanis who are acting as the intermediary in

these negotiations, and then they go their separate ways and sort of continue to talk about

talking, if you will. But, again, much remains to be seen. It's still only Saturday here

in Islamabad, so so we'll see what happens.

Joshua and Greg, let me go to you next. I'm curious about who's going and who's

not going. So we have secretary of state Marco Rubio, also the national security adviser, archivist

as well, I should note, remaining here in Washington DC. JD Vance, the vice president, not

going as well. Here's what the White House press secretary Caroline Levitt had to say about

that yesterday.

The vice president, the secretary of state will be waiting here in The United States, for

updates, and the vice president, I understand, is on standby and will be willing to dispatch

to Pakistan if we feel it's a necessary use of his time.

Josh, you're traveling with the president, and I'm curious what the administration's perspective on these talks

is, how much optimism they have that this is gonna lead to, not only a a

ceasefire, but I guess before that, just a meeting, the meeting itself.

Yeah. David, good morning, and thank you. Yeah. I am traveling with him. Unfortunately, I'm not

on the Mar A Lago guest list. You can imagine. So I apologize. I look like

I'm being held in a in a nondescript location by the emperor of Marriott. Bear with

me. Here, this is life in Westin

from points, and we're happy for that, judge.

Yes. That's right. That's right. The White House, on the one hand, I think, wanting to

signal disinterest in these talks. If they wanted to put a foot down on them, they

would have sent Vance. The fact that they're not, I think, is a signal they want

to send. I don't know how material it is, though, because Wittkow and Kushner, of course,

have a pretty direct literally direct line to the president and are pretty empowered to do

that. There's been some sort of frustration in American circles that they believe that their delegation

is being sent and, you know, empowered to talk and negotiate there. Of course, one of

the stags we've heard from American officials is they think that the Iranians are not able

to do that in part out of security concerns in the undisclosed location of the supreme

leader. They don't you know? So they they think they're hitting a logjam on that. And

so I think expectations are low. The fact that the on the American side of sort

of some sort of immediate breakthrough, the fact that talks are happening, I suppose, are a

positive. I think it's important just to remember, as we noted there, but just to emphasize

it, the standoff on the straight is sort of is a chicken and egg scenario. Right?

Like, what we have here is the Strait was closed suddenly again by Iran because of

the blockade. Trump says the blockade is until they get a deal including opening the Strait.

So, you know, it's it's a battle of wills right now whether that particular piece will

open, and there were a lot of great things up on the on the terminal, in

the past few days about the mounting pressures on the energy markets in particular and how

long we can sort of, you know, run on reserves until this thing really starts to

cascade through the economy.

And, Abir, I wanna ask you about how this is being perceived in the region because,

obviously, we talk about The Gulf is not a monolith, and we know that. But the

GCC states, you know, recently, they've been a little quieter than they were when, you know,

they were actively under fire from Iran. I don't know what you've heard, but diplomats I've

spoken to in the region don't have a lot of confidence in these talks. They don't

have a lot of confidence in Pakistan as a mediator. Do they think The US is

approaching this the right way to end this conflict anytime soon?

Yeah. Good morning. So, look, mean, you're absolutely right, and Josh and Dan sort of alluded

to this perfectly. First of all, the Strait Of Hormuz remains the sticking point here, but

I've been back in Dubai for a week now. And I've been meeting some officials and

trying to understand what the perspective is or how it's changed over the past couple of

weeks or so, certainly since the, ceasefire was announced. And the what really stood out to

me was we reported earlier about a week ago that Gulf officials and some Western officials

believe that reaching a deal between The US and Iran would take about six months, and

that was solidified to me when I when I arrived in Dubai. Speaking to some officials,

they don't think that things are gonna go back to direct firings over capital cities in

the GCC, but they do think that the Iranians will take this as long as possible

and not come to concessions. And I'm just seeing some Arabic media outlets reporting here on

my screen, and this is you know, Dan is obviously there, but this is not verified

reporting by Bloomberg. But some media Arabic media reports suggest that a Rakshi in Islamabad is

suggesting that the Iranians would rather deal with, JD Vance, that the Iranians are not gonna

come to concession concessions, and that they're sticking, to the 10 points that they've laid out

initially. Essentially, no compromise. That brings into the question the double blockade that we're seeing across

the Strait Of Hormuz and what contingency plans those GCC countries are considering to sort of

avoid that and get their oil shipments across.

Abir, I wanna ask you about, the state of Iran today, Iranian leadership, and something the

president brings up here in The US a lot is that there's a lot of fraction

fractions there. There's it's not a a unified voice coming from from Iranian leadership right now.

There was a great piece in the Times this week about the supreme leader, just about

his health, how he's doing, and I'll quote a bit from it. He was gravely wounded.

He's mentally sharp and engaged according to four senior Iranian officials familiar with his health. One

leg was operated on three times. He's awaiting a prosthetic. He had surgery on one hand

and is slowly regaining function. His face and lips have been burned severely, making it difficult

for him to speak, the official said, adding that eventually he will need plastic surgery. So

confirming what we've heard from the administration here in The US that he was, injured in

one of these, attacks, What is the latest that we know about sort of who is

in control, who is kind of leading the charge for the Iranians when it comes to

these talks and trying to find some solution here?

Yeah. And, look, I I saw that piece as well, and it sort of, again, brings

into light the conversation that we've had earlier. The start of this, we're about to enter

the sixth the sixtieth day of this war and no sign from the new Khamenei as

of as of yet. And this article sort of explains why that is, and he remains

in a hidden location. There were a lot of reports about his health and where he

is, but it remains, the the people that remain, in charge that president Trump refers to

as the new people that are sort of more rational, the new regime that he refers

to, are those ones that are going to Islamabad at the at the forefront of those

are foreign minister Abbas Arajji, who is, in Islamabad today. There are reports about him likely

going to Oman next, possibly Russia as well. Those are unverified yet. Oman was obviously a

a key mediator before all of this started. But at the forefront, those people are the

people that we keep hearing about. You've got, actually, you've got Kailey Leinzker who's also, part

of the delegation that is in charge of those talks, in, in Islamabad this week, David.

Dan, you heard Abir say that people are thinking this could go on for six months.

Are you ready to hang out in Pakistan for six months? And I also wanna ask

you, what is at stake for the Pakistanis? They've really put themselves out there. They're very

proud of hosting this talks. This is I don't wanna say a first first, but in

recent memory, this is the first time they've been in this position. If it doesn't work

and if it continues not to work, do they lose face on the diplomatic stage?

Well, to your first question, I mean, you know, Islamabad is just absolutely overrun with journalists

at the moment sort of in this wet wet you know, hurry up and wait mode

just waiting to see what happens. So we'll be here as long as as long as

we're welcome. You know, that being said, I mean, for Pakistan, you're absolutely right. I mean,

so much is at stake here. Know, this government has really positioned itself, going out of

its way to position itself as the the the go between between these two, warring nations.

It's it's in a really, quite unique position right now in the world of having, positive

relations with all sides of this conflict, essentially. Of course, president Trump and the leadership, in

Pakistan are quite close. Pakistan has good relations with Iran as well. Pakistan has good relations

with China and other a large number of the Gulf countries as well that are all

deeply involved in this conflict. So it is in a unique position. It has invited the

the two sides here once already and is is really sort of putting all its chips

on the table and and trying to to bring everybody together. And and Pakistan itself also

has a lot to lose if this war continues. I mean, this is a country that

is itself economically on the rocks. It's on an IMF program. It's it has fuel shortages

that are being exacerbated by the blockade in the Strait Of Hormuz. So it too has

a has a has an interest and a and a and a stake in ending this

war. So so it definitely does want things to to wind up soon. Now whether that

happens in the coming days, we'll we'll certainly, wait and see.

Josh, we don't have a ton of time left, but we talked earlier about the fact

that Vance and Rubio are not going. And Abir referenced this a little bit. It's it's

the inadequacy of the players even going to these talks. You know, in diplomacy, little things

really matter. And the fact that Iran's foreign minister is there, The US secretary of state

is not. His equivalent is not going to these talks. How does the White House think

they're gonna get progress if they're not showing up kind of seriously for the debate?

I mean, Trump likes leverage. I'm sure he sees potential leverage and sort of holding back

a chess piece that he can then deploy. But at the same time, Witkow has a

remarkably unusual role by comparison to past administrations. So, you know, this is

That's a good point.

And to say nothing of Kushner. So, you know, this is not, I suppose, in some

ways, all that. While, you know, secretary of state Marco Rubio has not played a huge

role in these talks that has left the impression that he is somewhat, you know, removed

from this, I think that that's an interesting dynamic in the palace intrigue sort of perspective.

But as for the president, you know, sources have insisted that he's not bored with this,

but he does not appear overly interested. On the flight down last night, he did not

talk to us. He was truthing or tweeting about, you know, the renovations of fountains and

what they're doing to the reflecting pool in Washington DC. He was talking about crowds at

his inauguration the day before that. I mean, he he is on so many other different

subjects right now. It does not feel like he's, you know, facing a ton of urgency.

Meanwhile, he is starting to really feel a pinch, not only of energy prices, but a

pull, declines right, domestically at home. So that is, speaking of leverage, what Iran thinks it

has.