It's 100 days since the latest war in

the Middle East began. The Straight of

Hormuz is still blocked. Iran and Israel

are still lobbing missiles at one

another at times of their own choosing

and in places including obviously

Lebanon that spread the conflict. Donald

Trump, despite his vast military, dances

around on the sidelines shouting insults

in Netanyahu and Thran and endlessly

promising the peace that never quite

comes. I'm joined next tonight by

somebody whose insight and analysis are

always worth it. John Brennan, the

former head of the CIA. Mr. Brennan,

welcome back to the show. It's great to

have you here. Can I ask you to explain

to people listening first of all some of

the domestic pressures that are now on

Trump's shoulders as he desperately

tries to get this peace deal to work?

>> Well, Andrew, I think the pressures are

both on the political front and on the

economic front. I think on the political

front, there are members even of Donald

Trump's Republican party that are tiring

of what's going on in terms of the

continued war um that even if there's a

ceasefire, we still have a large

deployment of troops. It's expensive and

also there are these violations of

ceasefires that I think are bothering a

lot of the Republicans. And so we've

seen Republicans in the House of

Representatives split from the from the

party and vote for a war resolution uh

act that would in fact force the

president to stop the war. Um also

though I think more fundamentally is the

continued high price of oil and what

it's meaning as far as at the gas pump

is concerned particularly during the

summer months when a lot of Americans

are traveling uh on their vacations and

the price of oil has got gone skyhigh.

Uh this is something that I think is

putting pressure on Donald Trump and

even his advisers at the White House. So

they recognize that not only is there a

problem as far as no near-term

resolution of this conflict, but also

the continuation of it is having a both

a political and economic cost,

especially the concerns in the run-up to

the November midterm elections.

>> And in terms of how he's responding to

that pressure, uh President Trump seems

to be quite close to boiling point. I

mean the the profanity littered to phone

call that he had with Netanyahu and

other evidence is that he is getting

deeply deeply frustrated and worried

about his own inability to stop a war he

started.

>> Yes. Even though he says he doesn't care

really about the impact it's having

politically and even dismissed potential

impact on the midterm saying that the

economic pressures on the American

citizen uh is not a concern to him. Uh

it clearly is as you point out. I think

we see these outbursts of temper, his

frustrations. Uh he just walked off the

set of a a recent interview with Meet

the Press just the other day. Uh and

also these profanity profanity laced

tirades that he's reportedly having with

Netanyahu. So clearly the frustration is

getting to him, but you know publicly he

continues to say that everything is in

control. But again, I think it just

demonstrates that he doesn't have a good

sense of how he can get out of this

problem and also the fact that BB

Netanyahu is also complicating it even

more. Uh the Israeli lobby used to be

one of the most powerful forces around

Washington. What is all this doing to

that?

I think they're losing support uh again

because it's having such a political and

economic cost in the United States. Uh

especially when uh the Netanyahu

government continues to violate some of

these ceasefires uh these strikes in

Lebanon and on the outskirts of Beirut.

Uh the Israelis whenever they are able

to geollocate one of the leaders of

Hezbollah or Hamas uh they don't care

about any type of you know ceasefire.

They will go after them. And this is

something that causes then this recent

escalation and the the strikes between

Iran and Israel. And so this is

increasing danger that we could lead to

it could lead to a a full-blown, you

know, um outbreak of hostilities once

again. So, uh, Donald Trump has to find

a way to tell Netanyahu in no uncertain

terms not to take these actions because,

again, they just set back any prospects

for any type of near-term, not

resolution of this conflict, but a an

ability to make sure that this does not

uh flame up again.

>> And John, I noticed that President Trump

was, as it were, making nice to Thran in

some of his recent comments. Do you

think he's got any leverage there at all

at the moment?

Well, I think the Iranians know that

they now have more cards than Donald

Trump has. And Donald Trump's

traditional way of trying to get himself

out of these fixes is to flatter his

adversaries and to make promises to

them. But I I do think that there's a

real absence of trust. And I think the

Iranians know that they really can't

trust Donald Trump uh given that he was

the one that tore up the the previous

Iranian nuclear deal. But also I think

there's real suspicion on the part of

the White House that they can trust the

Iranians. Uh so I think that trust

deficit not just between Iran and United

States but also between uh Tel Aviv and

Washington. Uh I think this is again

further eroding the prospects for some

near-term progress. And so does this

mean that around the world all those

nations and businesses and consumers

desperate for the straight of Hormuz to

be reopened that the bleak but blunt

message is no time soon?

>> Well, I do think it's going to be up to

Donald Trump and Netanyahu to make some

concessions that they find difficult to

swallow. And on the US side, there has

to be concessions about some type of

sanctions relief on Iran, uh lifting the

blockade on the Iranian ports and maybe

unfreezing some of the assets. Uh and

unfortunately, I think Donald Trump is

realizing that he's not going to get a

better deal than President Obama got in

the joint comprehensive plan of action.

So, he's going to have to swallow some

pride. Uh again, Donald Trump will

misrepresent the facts. So, he can

always claim, you know, that he got much

more out of the Iranians than he

actually did. But again, he's going to

have to give the Iranians something

tangible. And it's really on the

economic financial front that the

Iranians really need relief. A tricky

and potentially humiliating moment for

the