Speaker 1: This is breaking news from Bloomberg.
Speaker 2: Now to a story that just crossed the Bloomberg terminal
Speaker 2: moments ago on a red headline. Russia agreeing to assist
Speaker 2: the Trump administration in communications with Iran on issues including
Speaker 2: its nuclear program and support for regional proxies opposed to
Speaker 2: the US were told the President relayed that interest directly
Speaker 2: in a phone call last month to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Speaker 2: Goldnar multi Vali heads Bloomberg's Iran coverage and broke this story.
Speaker 2: Goldnar is here with us now get us up to
Speaker 2: speed on just what we have learned about this phone call, which, interestingly,
Speaker 2: according to your reporting Golnar came before US and Russian
Speaker 2: negotiators met in Saudi Arabia last month.
Speaker 1: Is that right?
Speaker 3: Yes?
Speaker 4: So this was also helped by our colleagues who are
Speaker 4: covering Russia very closely and people that who they spoke
Speaker 4: with based in Moscow.
Speaker 5: VISA story is said that during the US first round
Speaker 5: of talks with Russian counterparts in Riad, there was apparently
Speaker 5: an ask from on behalf of.
Speaker 6: The Trump administration for President Putin's government to get involved
Speaker 6: on some level with President Trump's desire or stated interest
Speaker 6: in broker in some kind of nuclear agreement with Iran,
Speaker 6: and apparently this request.
Speaker 5: Was then also repeated during a meeting between Sergei Lavrov,
Speaker 5: the Russian foreign minister, and his Iranian counterpart at boss
Speaker 5: Arachi when he then subsequently flew to Tehran for bilateral talks.
Speaker 6: So the crux of.
Speaker 5: The story is that President Donald Trump wants putin help
Speaker 5: on some level to broke engagement with Iran with a
Speaker 5: view to then securing a new nuclear agreement. But the agreement.
Speaker 3: Apparently won't just cover Iran's nuclear program, which is what
Speaker 3: the Obama.
Speaker 5: Administration had already broken in broken in twenty fifteen, but
Speaker 5: as we know, Trump exited in twenty eighteen and effectively.
Speaker 6: Jettison But he wants he wants a deal that also in.
Speaker 3: Some way covers.
Speaker 5: Iran's support for its allied groups such.
Speaker 6: As Hamas and Hezbola in.
Speaker 5: The Middle East, and this is something.
Speaker 6: That would be you know, it would be a major
Speaker 6: development in the ongoing saga that is Iran and US relations.
Speaker 6: But the background to this, obviously is that crucially Trump
Speaker 6: has sending some mixed messages on what he wants to do.
Speaker 5: With Iran, because we know obviously, on.
Speaker 3: The day that he signed his directive revising that maximum
Speaker 3: pressure strategy on Iran and broadening sanctions on its oil
Speaker 3: industry within hours, he also said that he would on
Speaker 3: history to social website, he said that he was very
Speaker 3: much interested.
Speaker 5: In a nuclear deal with Iran and he wants those
Speaker 5: talks to happen quote quote unquote immediately. So there's a
Speaker 5: lot going on here with this story.
Speaker 2: Do we have any indication, Golnar, about how Israel might
Speaker 2: feel about a development like this, because haven't Russia and
Speaker 2: Iran increased cooperation over the last several years, Yes.
Speaker 5: They have. That's another another crucial lay to this, and
Speaker 5: it's a great it's a great question because since Russia's
Speaker 5: started its invasion of Ukraine, the relationship between Tehran and
Speaker 5: Mosco has deepened and broadened significantly. They are two of
Speaker 5: the most.
Speaker 6: Sanctioned countries in the world.
Speaker 5: So they're the two most countries by the US Treasury,
Speaker 5: and that has kind of brought them closer together. They're
Speaker 5: doing much more trade, they're doing more bart agreements together.
Speaker 5: Since since the Putin Putin's invasion of Ukraine started, they're
Speaker 5: also they've also signed agreements to start trades corridors, the
Speaker 5: kind of very ambitious project to develop a very a
Speaker 5: substantial trade corridor linking the Caspian Sea to the Northern.
Speaker 6: Indian Ocean using Iran as.
Speaker 5: The as the throughway.
Speaker 6: Lots going on there, and of course Iran's military supports
Speaker 6: purported military support of Moscow in the shape of thousands
Speaker 6: of Iranian cheaply made Iranian drones. That's another dimension to this.
Speaker 5: And as you said, Iran is de facto in a
Speaker 5: locked in a shadow wall with Israel that it's said
Speaker 5: that it's and the continue fighting, especially in light of
Speaker 5: the Hamas attacks on Israel in October seventh and the
Speaker 5: subsequent Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip and southern Hezbola
Speaker 5: targeting sorry, southern Ebanon targeting Hezbola and Hamas. So that's
Speaker 5: also possibly a play here. It's going to be interesting
Speaker 5: to see how Trump squares that circle his kind of
Speaker 5: extremely close and sort of unconditional support for Israel with
Speaker 5: his desire to, according to what he said on his
Speaker 5: truth social.
Speaker 3: Account, to have a verified.
Speaker 6: Nuclear peace agreement with Iran that doesn't involve any kind
Speaker 6: of military confrontation with Iran.
Speaker 2: Thank you for this Golnar Monti Valia Bloomberg News, leading
Speaker 2: our Iran coverage on the breaking news this morning, the
Speaker 2: President Trump asked Russian President Vladimir Putin to get involved
Speaker 2: in talks with Iran on its nuclear program and support
Speaker 2: for regional PROCs.
Speaker 1: He's, Golnar, thank you for this. We want to get
Speaker 1: more reaction.
Speaker 4: Now.
Speaker 2: We're joined by Wendy Schiller, director of the Alfred Taubin
Speaker 2: Center for Politics and Policy at Brown University. And Wendy,
Speaker 2: this news of President Trump's call with Putin is coming
Speaker 2: on top of the President halting military aid to Ukraine
Speaker 2: until we're told President Vladimir Zelenski shows that he's committed
Speaker 2: to peace.
Speaker 1: Your reaction to all these developments this morning.
Speaker 7: Well, Trump is disrupting again and disrupting the world order again.
Speaker 7: But this, you know, this is not that unpredictable. You know,
Speaker 7: when he undid the Iran deal, he kept saying, this
Speaker 7: is a bad deal. You know, we struck a bad deal.
Speaker 7: We didn't get enough for it. There isn't enough reassurance.
Speaker 7: Plus it was it prior President Obama, and he wants
Speaker 7: to undo it and do it again, similar to what
Speaker 7: he did with NAFTA and renegotiated that and retitled it.
Speaker 7: You know, this is a guy that wants to get
Speaker 7: done things that prior presidents didn't do. We know that
Speaker 7: approal rams import in him, but we also know that
Speaker 7: he wants to be seen as an effective president. It's
Speaker 7: driving his everything he's trying to do. People may disagree
Speaker 7: with what he's doing, but this is what he wants
Speaker 7: to do. So if he can manage I mean, Iran's
Speaker 7: pretty close. You know, I'm non nuclear expert, but they
Speaker 7: have gotten closer to getting a nuclear bomb. So if
Speaker 7: he can prevent that somehow and reduce some of Iranian's
Speaker 7: energy and support for terrorist groups, he will claim credit
Speaker 7: for that. And he wants to build a record. Whether
Speaker 7: he wants to be president again, we don't know, but
Speaker 7: he wants to do what other presidents have not been
Speaker 7: able to do, and he sees Russia as a potential
Speaker 7: ally to get that done. Whether that's a reliable ally
Speaker 7: for US in all measures and Russia and Iran, these sanctions,
Speaker 7: you know, we can argue whether they matter or they don't,
Speaker 7: they hurt Russia or they don't, but certainly economically they
Speaker 7: get in the way, and so I think both Russia
Speaker 7: and Aron would like to see these sanctions reduced or
Speaker 7: eliminated somehow. Trump will try to claim that he's not
Speaker 7: doing that, but obviously that's going to have to be
Speaker 7: on the table if there's any new agreement.
Speaker 2: Is this closer to you full US realignment with Russia.
Speaker 7: I don't think anybody should jump the gun on that.
Speaker 7: Trump is not someone who aligns with anybody but Trump.
Speaker 7: This is the way he rolls this. He's been very
Speaker 7: candid about this. Trump does what Trump thinks is in
Speaker 7: Trump's best interest, and right now as president, he's making
Speaker 7: the argument that these are all things that are in
Speaker 7: the United States interest. So whether he's looking for some
Speaker 7: long standing alliance or not, whether you know we're trying
Speaker 7: to balance against China, you know, we have no idea.
Speaker 7: Normally would say, oh, this is part of some grand strategy,
Speaker 7: but it's not. It's Trump being able to broke or deals.
Speaker 7: He loves to do that, walk away and claim a win,
Speaker 7: and he's doing that across the board. And right now
Speaker 7: he doesn't see the utility in making Russia the enemy.
Speaker 7: He doesn't see the utility in basically paying US weapons
Speaker 7: and manufacturers by the way get to make weapons for
Speaker 7: Ukraine and getting nothing for the d He wants something
Speaker 7: from Ukraine. He's trying to get some stake in minerals
Speaker 7: and national resources in Ukraine, which might prove to be
Speaker 7: a bullwark against further Russia incursion in Ukraine if the
Speaker 7: United States has a vested steak in their territory. So
Speaker 7: this is the way he thinks, and it's on brand
Speaker 7: for him. We're going to see if he explains it
Speaker 7: or talks about it tonight. In his joint.
Speaker 2: Address, the President did say on true Social He's going
Speaker 2: to tell it like it is tonight before Congress. What
Speaker 2: will you be listening for this evening and reaction from Democrats, Well, I.
Speaker 7: Mean, you know, basically, I'm not planning to listen to
Speaker 7: anything in particular because I never know what Donald Trump's
Speaker 7: going to say. But this will be about again, how
Speaker 7: he will negotiate deals that are in a better favor
Speaker 7: of the United States, how he is already prom he's
Speaker 7: already doing what he promised to do, and that he's
Speaker 7: going to basically be It's a campaign speech and you're
Speaker 7: going to see a lot of Republican unity. This is
Speaker 7: what this is. This is a show. And this is
Speaker 7: also the President reminding the Republican Party that he won,
Speaker 7: that he brought them in, that they owe him and
Speaker 7: they should stick with him. And this is a public
Speaker 7: display for that reason, going into very difficult I think
Speaker 7: tax cut and debt ceiling and budget negotiations in the
Speaker 7: next couple.
Speaker 2: Of weeks, I really appreciate the perspective ahead of that
Speaker 2: address nine pm.
Speaker 1: Wall Street Time on Capitol Hill.
Speaker 2: Our coverage begins at eight on a special edition of
Speaker 2: Bloomberg Balance of Power on Bloomberg Radio, Television and the
Speaker 2: Bloomberg Podcast YouTube page. Wendy Schiller ahead of all that
Speaker 2: with us this morning, head of the Alfred Taubman Center
Speaker 2: for American Politics and Policy at Brown University,