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As we've been reporting, the Iranian government is reviewing the latest US proposal to end the war.
The conflict has remained unresolved for nearly 3 months, and in the meantime, gas prices have skyrocketed.
According to AAA, all 50 states are seeing gas prices above $4 a gallon ahead of the Memorial Day weekend.
President Trump was asked about talks with the Iranians earlier today.
Right now we're negotiating.
And we'll see, but either we're going to get it one way or the other.
They're not going to have a nuclear weapon.
You will have uh a nuclear war in the Middle East, and that war will come here.
That war will go to Europe.
Uh we cannot let that happen, and it won't happen.
It's not going to happen.
CBS News national security analyst and Marine Corps veteran Aaron MacLean joins me now.
He's also host of the School of War podcast.
It's great to see you, Aaron.
Just to start off with, what are the main sticking points holding us back from a deal?
Well, it seems that despite getting bombed for quite a few weeks back there in March and April, uh the current Iranian regime really would like to retain at least some vestiges of a nuclear program, and President Trump is on the other side of that issue.
This is a war aim that he enunciated on the first day of the war back on February the 28th, and he enunciated some other war aims as well regarding Iran's support for terror proxies, uh its missile program.
Those issues seem to have at least reduced in significance, but he is sticking to the nuclear issue.
Uh you saw the new supreme leader of Iran uh purportedly announced this morning uh that the new what the president likes to call the nuclear dust, the remaining highly enriched uranium, needs to remain within Iranian borders, no matter what shakes out uh in this deal that is apparently being negotiated right now.
So, that's one of the major things holding the two sides apart.
So, Aaron, where does that leave us?
What options does the US have at this point to pressure Iran to accept a deal?
Well, But president said a number of times that he believes that the economic pressure being brought to bear by the US blockade of Iranian ports is is itself sufficient.
That time is on the American side in this question, but that's far from clear.
The blockade is certainly causing a lot of economic pressure and pain within Iran, but there's there's no way really to judge the timeline of when that pain actually gets to the point where it's affecting the decision calculus of a of a man like the head of the IRGC, for example, Vahidi, a true radical.
Of course, there's the option to return to military action, which the president has threatened repeatedly since early April.
He's not acted on it yet.
The question then would be to what end?
Would the president, for example, try to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, which is being blockaded by Iran to reduce the economic pressure on the United States and the rest of the world while continuing to impose it on Iran?
That's one option.
You could imagine some others as well.
Any way to judge how long Iran may be able to hold out?
Well, you know, it's really a question of two competing clocks.
At at some point the pressure brought to bear, not only by the blockade but the sanctions regime on an Iran that was in pretty bad economic shape going into this war, is going to bite in a serious way.
And you can imagine financial crises emerging from that.
You can imagine cash flow issues with paying salaries and the security forces, but I can't tell you if that's 2 days from now, 2 weeks from now, 2 months, 6 months, etc.
Meanwhile, you have the clock of economic pain on the rest of the world, including the United States, being generated by the Strait of Hormuz.
At what point do the American people start to see 5 dollar gallons of gas, for example?
At what point do food prices start to inflate?
These are all potential coming attractions for the summer and the fall should the situation continue.
No, no one's looking forward to any of that.
Aaron McQuaid, thank you.
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