What did he tell you?

Well, uh, I spoke to President Zelensky twice in the last, uh, few days.

The first time was right after, um, you know, this diesel, uh, deal, uh, was announced.

And, you know, he was pretty shocked, uh, at the time, uh, calling it, uh, unfair, uh, not honest, and a gift for Va- for Vladimir Putin.

But he was at least, uh, as shocked [laughs] by the announcement that, uh, yesterday that there's a cease- there's, there's an ener- energy ceasefire, uh, between Russia and Ukraine.

He, he heard it from, uh, Trump's, uh, Truth Social post, and he knew nothing, uh, about it, uh, before.

Um, and what President Zelensky told me is that, you know, "I'm ready for a, a ceasefire," but just, um, um, you know, he wanted, uh, President Trump and the White House to tell him what hour the ceasefire begins so that he can order his forces, uh, to stop.

Go ahead, Barak.

What did he tell you?

Well, I spoke to President Zelensky twice in the last few days.

The first time was right after this diesel deal was announced.

And he was pretty shocked at the time, calling it unfair, not honest, and a gift for Vladimir Putin.

But he was at least as shocked by the announcement yesterday that there's an energy ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine.

He heard it from Trump's True Social post, and he knew nothing about it before.

And what President Zelensky told me is that, you know, I'm ready for a ceasefire, but just, you know, he wanted President Trump in the White House to tell him what hour the ceasefire begins so that he can order his forces to stop.

Yeah,

Take us inside your conversation with the president of the United States yesterday.

Well, Wolf, uh, the president I think was very clear on the one hand that he's seriously considering going back to major combat operations in Iran and launching an operation that would be bigger than Epic Fury.

Um, and I think this is very meaningful.

At the same time, he said several times during our conversation that he hasn't made a decision yet, and that he's aware that taking such a decision for, you know, starting Epic Fury II, uh, will have major consequences on the region and on the US and on the global economy.

Um, and so I think that the president is still undecided as far as I know, uh, including, uh, um, last I checked was, uh, last night.

Uh, he still hasn't made a decision to escalate, to go on an all-out war.

Uh, and I think what the president wants to see still is if there's, if there is some kind of diplomatic off-ramp.

And, and Barak, uh, the president, President Trump, told you yesterday that Iran wants to negotiate, so why does, uh, the president, uh, not take that off ramp right now?

And Barak, what are you hearing?

Well, I think first, uh, what we see over the last 24 hours, I think, is, uh, uh, almost full disintegration of the US-Iran MOU that, uh, um, we're all, we are all old enough to remember was signed less than a month ago.

Um, and President Trump just 30 minutes ago on Hugh Hewitt's show called the MOU a test.

He said, "Oh, we just wanted to see if the Iranians were serious." So he tried to distance himself from the MOU.

And I think what we see right now with the reinstating of the, reimposing of the blockade and those strikes that according to what I hear from US officials, uh, the plans that CENTCOM has is for multiple days of strikes.

This, it's not something that, uh, uh, will end soon unless there will be some sort of a diplomatic breakthrough, which doesn't seem to, uh, be in the offing for now.

So I think what we see here is on the one hand, going back to the blockade and to putting, uh, economic pressure on Iran, on the other hand, uh, increasing the airstrikes.

What is your reporting saying about, um, about this idea that those negotiators could be at risk?

So I, I don't say this a lot, uh, and definitely not, uh, [laughs] not, uh, since the, this war started, but in this case, Netanyahu is right.

Um, I don't think this, uh, report, uh, um...

I don't think this, this ever happened.

Um, as far as I know from both, uh, senior Israeli officials and senior US officials who were deeply involved in the operational side of things and had full access to all the intelligence, to the most top secret intelligence, um, there was no Israeli intention to, uh, uh, at the time in the, in the first days of April, last days of March, to, uh, to kill either Araghchi or, uh, Khalilaf.

Uh, actually it was the opposite.

Um, the US and Israel got to some sort of an agreement that, you know, those people are, you know, because they're negotiating, uh, those people are, you know, are sort of, you know, have sort of immunity.

They're expected to pick up once this funeral is over.

What is your sense of the current state of the relationship between President Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu?

Well, I think that Prime Minister Netanyahu is very unhappy with the MOU that, uh, was signed between the, the US and Iran.

But on the other hand, he's trying to, uh, to restrain himself mainly.

He's less successful in restraining his other coalition partners or members of his own party.

But, uh, Netanyahu, I heard from a, a senior U- Israeli official, during meetings, uh, with his advisors over the last 48 hours, one of the things that he reiter- reiterated again and again, that he doesn't want to get into a confrontation with President Trump right now, and he doesn't want to be blamed for any problem in the US-Iran, uh, negotiations.

And I think that yesterday, uh, Netanyahu was, uh, ready to move towards a ceasefire, uh, in Lebanon to try and stabilize this, this ce- ceasefire.

We saw President Trump, uh, announcing, uh, yesterday that he wants Israel and Hezbollah to hold their fire.

What's your sense right now of the optimism from the US side?

Do you think this will appease the Iranians? How will this impact the n- the, this 60-day window of negotiations?

So first, I would just add the word alleged [laughs] before renewed ceasefire, uh, because, uh, the ceasefire was supposed to come into effect at 4:00 PM local time, 9:00 AM Eastern.

Uh, and as we speak, I think just, uh, like half an hour ago, uh, they were still, uh, fighting, uh, they were still fighting in Southern Lebanon.

And what I hear from Israeli officials, from Israeli defense officials, is that the guidance, the directive that they got from Israel's political leadership is to halt their attacks northern of what's called the yellow line, which means a 10-kilometer buffer zone that Israel occupies in Southern Lebanon.

So everything north of that is a ceasefire, but everything, everything, uh, south of that is business as usual, and the, uh, the IDF Uh, has been directed to continue, uh, taking military action against, uh, threats in this area.

So I think that there's a, a quite d- quite a big difference in interpretation between Israel on the one hand and Hezbollah and Iran on the other hand when it comes to, you know, what this ceasefire actually includes.

Is that the view inside the Israeli government?

Well, um, the Israeli government, uh, is, uh, is not monolithic.

What's your sense of the next steps?

Well, there's gonna be a meeting on Friday, uh, in a very nice resort in Switzerland.

Um, it will be historic because we'll see, I think, of the vice president, uh, Vice President Vance and Speaker of Iranian Parliament, Khalibaf, maybe in front of the cameras for the first time shaking hands, something we haven't seen, uh, uh, since the Islamic Revolution in, um, um, 1979.

So I think it, on the one hand, it will be historic, but it will only be a launch.

Uh, this deal is v- highly technical, highly difficult to get those detailed negotiations over Iran's nuclear program.

I find it highly unlikely that you can m- manage to do such a thing in 60 days.

Highly unlikely.

Uh, do you think they're clear-eyed about the, uh, difficulty that lies ahead?

Can you p- just put that in perspective, how big a lifeline is that for the Iranian regime right now?

Well, it's definitely going to, uh, uh, generate a lot of revenue for the Iranians.

Um- Especially that, you know, those negotiations and, those negotiations are not going to end in 60 days.

This is a highly technical, complicated deal on Iran's nuclear program.

The deal itself says that those 60 days can be extendable by mutual, uh, agreement.

Uh, I predict that the, it will at least be extended, uh, at least once, maybe several times, which means that the Iranians will be able to sell oil for a long, long time.

And at least, uh, according to what I hear from US officials, this, uh, those sanction waivers that the Iranians will get to sell oil will take place, will, will be issued immediately after the agreement is signed on Friday.

How much skepticism are you hearing there is inside the Trump administration, or has there been among some top officials, that a nuclear deal or any deal, um, is gonna be good for the United States? Or is it even gonna be held to?

Tell our viewers what he told you.

Yes, Wolf.

When I spoke to President Trump yesterday, he was livid about Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

And, you know, he was so angry that in two separate calls he also had yesterday with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, he mentioned to them how difficult Netanyahu is and how he's taking steps that are creating problems to his effort to reach a deal with Iran.

And one of the things Trump told me is that he thinks that Netanyahu has no effing judgment.

He used the F-word, I think, three times during our call in the context of what Netanyahu did when he ordered the strike in Beirut.

And I think that Netanyahu heard directly from Trump later on that day when they spoke, and Trump made it clear to him that this needs to stop.

What's going on here?

A- a- and Barak, do we think at this point in time this is a deal that not only is going to have a signing ceremony, but will actually be accepted by all the parties involved here?

Well [clears throat] first about the ceremony, uh, uh, the Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi just, I think 20 minutes ago, uh, said on Iranian state TV that, uh, this deal might be signed remotely.

Um, it might be the Zoom Accords, uh, between the US, uh, uh, and Iran, uh, which was, uh, an interesting development because, um, Vice President Vance was getting ready to go, uh, possibly to Geneva.

Uh, two US Air Force planes were also, were already making their way with some of the equipment of the advance team of the vice president.

Uh, and what the Iranian foreign minister said that this deal might be signed remotely is definitely, uh, a new development.

And it seems from what I hear from both, uh, several sources in the countries that are mediating and in the Trump administration, uh, nobody says that this is a done deal, but all of them say that this is somewhere between 85 to 95% done.

This doesn't mean that the deal will actually be signed.

What, what are you hearing from your sources on that?

What do you make of this development with President Trump going from they've reached a great settlement to now saying Iran needs to get its act together because of what the state media there is reporting, which is different from what the U.S. has said?

Yes, I think what the U.S. has been told by the Qatari mediators and the Pakistani mediators and the Iranian negotiators themselves yesterday was that they're basically ready to sign.

That was the message that the White House got.

And preparation started for a possible signing ceremony during the weekend.

For example, four U.S. Air Force C-17 planes left Washington yesterday to Europe as an advance for a possible trip by Vice President Vance to Geneva to sign this agreement with the Speaker of the Iranian Parliament, Mohammad Bakr Khalifa.

uh but i think what happened in the recent hours is what happened several times uh during those negotiations that every time with the parties were close to a deal each side uh wanted to market the deal to its own domestic uh um audience and when you do that then each size obviously um you know, gives the deal its own spin, emphasizes the things that it's going to get and downplays the things that it's going to give.

And I think that's, again, what happened today when the Iranian presented their narrative or their spin on what has been agreed.

What does that say to you about the Trump-Netanyahu alliance, at least right now?

Uh, what do you make of this development with, uh, President Trump going from they've reached a great settlement to now saying Iran needs to get its act together because of what the state media there is reporting, which is different from what the US has said?

Yes.

I think, uh, what the US has been told by the Q- uh, [coughs] Qatari mediators and the Pakistani mediators and the Iranian negotiators themselves yesterday, uh, was that they're basically ready to sign.

That was the message that the White House got, and preparation started for a possible signing ceremony during the weekend.

For example, four US Air Force C-17 planes left Washington yesterday to Europe, uh, as an advance for a possible trip by Vice President Vance to Geneva to sign this, uh, agreement with the speaker of the Iranian parliament, Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf.

Uh, but I think what happened in the recent hours is what happened several times, uh, during those negotiations, that every time when the parties were close to a deal, each side, uh, wanted to market the deal to its own domestic, uh, um, audience.

And when you do that, then each side's obviously, um, you know, gives the deal its own spin, uh, emphasizes the things that it's gonna get, and downplays the things that it's gonna give.

What does that say to you about the Trump-Netanyahu alliance, at least right now?

Barak, what are you hearing about the US response at this point?

point?Uh, what I heard, Anderson, that so far the US launch, uh, three waves of strikes against the air defense and radar systems in several sites in Southern Iran, close to the, uh, Strait of Hormuz.

All the targets are on the Strait of Hormuz.

And at least at the moment, as of a minute ago, uh, the Iranians still, uh, haven't launched, uh, any retaliation.

And I think what the US is waiting to see, what the US military is waiting to see, is whether there is going to be an Iranian retaliation.

They think there, they think there's going to be, so I think that they're also preparing in defense to, uh, try and intercept any Iranian attack when it's launched.

Um, what, what is the latest you are hearing on that?

So I think it was, uh...

Your sources seem to be describing it a little bit differently.

No.

First, the call was productive because it ended with Netanyahu not going forward with, uh, a bombing Beirut.

So I think that for President Trump, it definitely ended up in a productive way, and especially with a, an announcement of a ceasefire.

We'll still have to see if this ceasefire actually happens and doesn't stay on paper again.

But, uh, US officials describe me, to me this call as one of the worst calls between Netanyahu and Trump, uh, since Trump came back to office.

One US official told me that maybe there was one call that was worse than the call today.

You know, as we're already seeing what's happening with the Strait of Hormuz, what's your sense of, of what's at stake here as these talks are either paused or playing out or both in the same day?

Uh, Barak, I wanna start with you because you have sources throughout the Middle East, and I'm wondering what you're hearing about this meeting that happened today in the Situation Room and just where everything is with this potential deal.

Well, I wanna be very careful because I think these are very, uh, sensitive and crucial moments at the moment.

Um, and I think there's quite a good chance that over the next, uh, 24 hours there will be a decision, um, maybe even, uh, in the next, uh, maybe even later today.

Um, and I'm not sure this decision has been made yet, but I'm told from several sources that, um, this is very much on the table.

Um, and, and I think if there's one thing that, um, President Trump has been thinking about, or as, and he has been told in the last few days according to US officials, is that even though a deal will not be perfect, uh, the alternative, um, that's at least what the President's been told, the alternative is another six to 12 months of the Strait of Hormuz being closed, with all the implications for the global economy and for the US economy.

And I think this is one of the main things that the President was and is thinking about when he's making the decision.

Do you see that happening, especially if Israel continues attacking Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza?

Gaza?Well, th- the answer is twofold.

What have you learned since your reporting came out this morning?

Good evening, Kaitlan.

I think the, the most interesting, uh, thing I've heard today from, uh, very senior US officials is that at least as of today around noon, President Trump was leaning towards signing off on this deal.

It doesn't mean that he will sign off on this deal.

It doesn't mean that he made a decision.

But at least today he was leaning, uh, towards approving it.

Um, and what the, what US officials heard from the mediators and through various, uh, back channels is that the Iranians told the mediators that they're ready to sign, meaning that this deal has passed through all the different levels of approvals that they needed to make.

I've heard from Trump officials that they feel like they're close." Do you think that this time is different based on what you hear from your sources?

What are you learning about why President Trump hasn't yet signed off on this memorandum of understanding with Iran?

So what I hear from US officials is that Trump is definitely at least, let's say as of today at noon, [laughs] Trump was leaning towards, uh, signing off on the deal.

He hasn't done it yet, and he could change his mind, and we all know that he tends to change his mind from time to time.

Um, but as of today at noon, he was leaning towards signing off.

The, one of the reasons he's waiting is that first, I mean, he wants to see that the Iranians are not, you know, backing away from the whole thing, uh, after it's, it's been published in the media.

Uh, I have to say that until now the Iranians haven't really commentedpublicly and officially about it.

There was one report that was, you know, one, uh, Iranian media, government media outlet that quoted an anonymous source.

But, like, when it comes to this core issue, Barak, what are you hearing as you speak to so many people deeply involved of truly how willing Iran is to give up this nuclear program right now?

What can you tell us?

Yes, Wolf.

Uh, US and Iranian negotiators have reached a deal on a memorandum of understanding that will extend the ceasefire by s- by 60 days and launch negotiations, direct negotiations on Iran's nuclear program.

Uh, this I hear from two US officials and another regional diplomat involved in the mediation efforts.

Uh, the US officials told me that President Trump still hasn't s- gave the final sign-off on this deal.

Uh, the US officials told me Trump has relayed to the mediators and through the mediators to the Iranians that he wants, quote, "A few days to think about it." Um, but US officials are optimistic that this deal is likely to go through unless some surprising thing happens over the next 24 to 48 hours.

This deal, uh, will basically, uh, include a statement by Iran that it will not pursue nuclear weapons, an affirmative statement.

What about the details of this deal, uh, this tentative deal? What are they? What are the new or different details? Because President Trump said on Saturday the US and Iran had, quote, "Largely agreed," his words, "largely agreed on a deal, but it was subject to finalization." What is he saying that is different now? Has the haggling over language concluded?

So what's your reaction to that, Barak?

So I think that, uh, a lot of what Mr. Bolton said is, is, is accurate.

I think Mr. Trump wants a deal.

President Trump wants a deal.

Uh, it's very clear.

By the way, I think the Iranians also want a deal, but they want the deal on their terms.

And while the gaps have been somewhat narrowed, including yesterday in the talks that the Iranian negotiators had in Doha, uh, there's still no deal.

Does that threat undermine efforts to bring the war with Iran to an end?

How close are negotiators actually to a deal, particularly on this issue of Iran's nuclear material?

I think they, they closer than they've ever been.

Uh, it doesn't mean that there will be a deal.

I think, uh, a lot depends on what the Iranian Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, will decide.

Um, it will take, I think, some several more days until we will know what his position is on this.

I think that over the last few hours, there have been significant negotiations in Doha, uh, in Qatar between Qatari mediators and Iranian officials, the Iranian foreign minister, the Iranian speaker of parliament.

Those talks focused on the two main sticking points.

What are the challenges there?

What, what are you hearing, Barak, about these, uh, these strikes and the likelihood that the ceasefire, such as it is, may be scuttled?

Uh, well, first, those strikes took place when, uh, the three US destroyers that, uh, basically crossed the Strait of Hormuz a few days ago into the Gulf, uh, as part of, um, uh, Operation, uh, Project Freedom that, uh, since then was, [laughs] uh, suspended, uh, made their way back, uh, to the Arabian Sea to join the US, uh, blockade.

And while they were moving through the Strait of Hormuz, the Iranians launched missiles and drones, uh, against them.

None of the ships, uh, was, uh, hit, according to US officials, uh, but that's what led to the, you know, US retaliation, the strike against, uh, Iranian, uh, positions and targets on the, on the coast, uh, in the, um, uh, in the Strait of Hormuz.

Uh, US officials claim, and then we heard it from President Trump himself, that this is not going to influence the, the ceasefire, if we can still call it a ceasefire, that it's not gonna influence the negotiations that are going on.

But I think we'll have to see in the next, uh, few days.

But at least what I hear from US officials is they see it as an isolated incident that they hope will not, uh, influence the bigger picture.

Does it seem to you that the US, that the administration just wants out of this?

What are you learning?

Well, what I hear from State Department officials is that next week, on Thursday and Friday, Israel and Lebanon are going to hold a round of negotiations at the State Department in Washington.

This is going to be the third such meeting over the last few weeks, but I think that the hope is that this time it's not just going to be some isolated meetings specifically about the issue of the ceasefire in Lebanon, but while it's gonna deal with this too, the hope that I think the State Department hopes that it will be able to get the party to actually start negotiating on the issues that have to do with starting to formulate a peace deal between the two countries and not just talk about some specific ceasefire for a week or two weeks or three weeks, but something much, much broader.

That's the hope of the Trump administration.

I'm not sure it will be possible.

We saw just the other day Israel attacking in Beirut for the first time in weeks, killing a top Hezbollah commander.

The IDF thinks that Hezbollah will retaliate today with possible rocket fire against Israel.

Is that timeline realistic?

So Barak Ravid, can you, uh, just walk us through your latest reporting and understanding of the dynamics that the secretary was pointing to that are driving this? I mean, where are the Iranians? What are they willing to talk about? How long are they going to hold out? How do you see it, uh, from your vantage point?

So I think the main reason that, uh, the war hasn't ended yet is because, uh, Donald Trump, uh, and, and his team until now couldn't reach a deal with Iran on the key issue, uh, that they're concerned about, and maybe that's the issue why they went to war in the first place.

And this is i- the concerns about Iran's nuclear program, especially the s- stockpile of highly enriched uranium and, uh, Iran's, uh, enrichment capabilities.

And I think that until now, the Iranians, uh, um, their, their position, their maximum position, uh, does not meet, uh, Trump's minimum position.

I think the gaps are still pretty wide.

I think there's still a disagreement about the list of issues that should be discussed and the sequence and order of those discussions.

Um, and until they don't reach such a deal, I don't think Donald Trump can, can get out of this war.

But does Iran consider the ceasefire intact?

I'm not sure, Wolf.

Just a few minutes ago, the Emirati Ministry of Defense announced another Iranian attack against the UAE, the first one today.

Yesterday, there were three ballistic missile and drone attacks from Iran against the UAE, unprovoked.

And I think today it seems that there's another attack.

So I'm not sure Iran sees things exactly as uh secretary of defense hexeth and the chairman uh general kane uh see it uh and again yesterday we had two uh u.s flagged merchant ships that passed through the strait of hormuz today as far as i know uh no ships uh across the strait so we have on the one hand um Iran continues its attacks.

On the other hand, no ships went through the Strait of Hormuz.

How significant is that?