Friday Focus: America and Iran inch toward a deal as Trump’s corruption hits new depths

About this episode

The episode discusses the complexities of U.S.-Iran negotiations and highlights recent controversial actions by Donald Trump.

Another strange ping-pong week in America's conflict with Iran — and irresponsible reporting has given us so many mixed messages. Are we any closer to a deal? And why is Iran so hung up on the issue of nuclear weapons? Also off the negotiating table — much to the dismay of Israel — is one of Washington's original war aims: ending Iran's ballistic missile program and its support for terror proxies in the region. Meanwhile, Trump is delaying a weapons shipment to Taiwan on the heels of his visit with Xi Jinping in China. Is this a signal of weakening U.S. resolve to stand up for Taiwan? And how will this be read by American allies in Southeast Asia and Europe? In the second half of the show, Rudyard and Janice turn to one of the most outrageous moves Donald Trump made this week — one that pales in comparison to past indiscretions: negotiating a $1.7 billion settlement to compensate the January 6 rioters who supported the president's false election claims. This is corruption on a scale we have never seen before in the United States and a crippling blow to the independence of government institutions. Will Republican loyalists to Trump finally speak out against…

People in this episode

Hosts: Rudyard, Janice

Topics covered

• America and Iran relations
• nuclear weapons
• Trump's corruption
• Taiwan weapons shipment
• political loyalty
• government institutions

Keywords

• Iran deal
• nuclear weapons
• Trump corruption
• Taiwan
• ballistic missile program
• January 6
• political scandal

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Taiwan, China, Israel, United States

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