Name: Iran sends mixed signals as US pushes diplomacy with military pressure
Uploaded: 2026-03-25T23:02:24.000Z
Duration: 7 min 58 s
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He's live for us from the Iranian capital.

And Ali, the Iranian foreign minister says Iran has no intention of holding talks.

How about responding formally through Pakistan to that U.S. proposal?

Well, it's clear that, uh, despite the rhetoric, there is also an attempt by the Iranian diplomacy to, um, express readiness to for dialogue.

I mean, yes, it might be that the Iranians have reservations on the 15 points that the Americans offered,

but at the same time, the Iranians are offering their own points on the table.

So there is already a table, regardless whether there is direct, indirect, or just, uh, a message is being conveyed through friendly countries, just as Arakchi said.

Another issue is that, uh, despite what the sources were telling us during the day, um, I heard Arakchi speaking in this interview,

and I had the impression that he said that still the paper is being studied by the higher authorities.

So this contradicts what the, uh, state TV was saying and what other sources, um, in the country were telling, uh, journalists, including us.

So we are here in front of, uh, conflicting, uh, let me say because I need to choose the words here, conflicting, uh, feelings maybe, conflicting, uh, uh, signals.

So the, the sources are giving certain signals.

The foreign minister, in an interview with the n-national television, with the state television, is giving also another signal.

Yes, he had a he used a very strong, uh, rhetoric, very harsh rhetoric when it came to the United States.

Yet when he mentioned that this war is not a war of the United States, it's the war of Israel, this gives an indication that he is still preserving one of the bridges.

So the idea of helding or holding negotiations is still on the table.

threats to hit Iran even harder, you know, as, um, as bleak as that picture looks?

Is it also being seen as a sign of just how keen, if not desperate, Donald Trump is and the White House is to try and end this war quickly on its terms?

Yes, I mean, I think it's fair to say that Trump is very much trying to bring this to an end.

You know, he's he's got a lot of pressure here domestically because, uh, prices have gone up, not just of oil and gas, but

of all products that are transported or use any of those, uh, sources of energy.

And he has been offering positive statements day after day,

and it successfully boosted stocks and pushed oil down after a significant series of rises in oil prices.

But Trump has been talking a lot of sort of more happy talk, whereas from Carolyn Levitt, what you heard was the other side of that.

You know, if you look at the seal of the United States, it's an eagle,

and he's got an olive branch in one, uh, talon and arrows in the other.

And Trump seems to be wielding both of those.

It seems like the military threat is a way to try is, is, is the stick, and,

and the carrot is some kind of a agreement that would stop this conflict.

And as it continues in the Gulf area and in Israel, uh, the U.S.

has, uh, paused the attacks on the Iranian energy program.

There are talks of a meeting in Islamabad, uh, as soon as Thursday.

But, uh, yeah, I think it's fair to say that what Trump is trying to do is trying to use his, uh, trying to use negotiations to bring this to an end and using military power as a threat in case the Iranians don't do that.

A threat to Ali in Tehran, which the speaker of the Iranian Parliament is saying, is taking shape in the form of, of what they expect to be an attack on an island, an attempt to take an Iranian island with regional help.

Well, given what's been, uh, circulating about Khark Island, the island where, uh, most of the Iranian oil gets, uh, uh, exported from, it could be one of the, uh, possibilities.

The Greater Tomb, uh, Smaller Tomb, and Abu Musa are other ones.

And here, in case these are the ones, then he might be hinting towards the UAE.

However, it's just as Arakchi was signaling diplomacy, uh, with a with a crust of, uh, harsh rhetoric.

Ghalibov, who is said to be the person that might meet with J.D.

Vance, the American Vice President in Islamabad, just in case this meeting is going to happen, is projecting power, uh, at the same time, uh, with a crust of, uh, warning to the United States, not and to the regional, uh, country he is mentioning, that there's no need for, for such an adventure because such an adventure is going to be faced with, uh, Iranian resistance.

And John, any sign from the U.S., if that is what they're sending troops to do, to try and take an island, as, as, uh, Ali was outlining?

What it looks like is that President Trump is, is keeping his options open.

There is the threat of military force, which the U.S.

presumably hopes will in itself be enough of a motivator for Iran.

But there's also the capability that comes with that.

The 5,000 the 7,000 troops that are on their way are two Marine Expeditionary Units and, uh, the 82nd Airborne.

That's significant because the 82nd Airborne are paratroopers who specialize in, uh, dropping down on land and then seizing it.

Those Marine Expeditionary Units are units that work on land.

They're foot soldiers that work with, uh, air and sea assets.

So together, they carry the capability to take over land, key land like Khark Island, which is the port of 90% of Iran's oil exports.

That would give the U.S. a massive control over, uh, the oil exports of Iran.

But the problem there is not seizing the island.

The problem would be holding it under constant fire from Iran.

And that's the kind of thing the U.S. is hoping not to do.

Donald Trump has always tried to avoid always been critical of big, extended military conflicts like Iraq and Afghanistan.

And all signs suggest he doesn't want to get into a pro uh, protracted conflict,

And, uh, Pentagon officials say that is what the military is there for.

If they don't act, they have still been effective in many cases, if their presence causes the enemy to act.

And that's John Hendron for us, uh, from Washington, D.C.