CSPAN - Washington Journal Adam Weinstein
Aired: 2026-04-08
Duration: 04:59


=== Trump Administration's Iran Deal (04:52) ===

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[00:01:24]  And welcome back to Washington Journal.
[00:01:25]  We're joined now by Adam Weinstein.
[00:01:27]  He is the Middle East Program Deputy Director at the Quincy Institute for Responsible State Craft.
[00:01:33]  Adam, welcome to the program.
[00:01:35]  Thanks for having me.
[00:01:37]  You just heard the Pentagon press briefing.
[00:01:40]  What was your reaction?
[00:01:42]  My reaction is they're trying to, I don't want to say spin because that's too strong of a word, but they're trying to sell this ceasefire in the last month of operations in Iran as a win while simultaneously claiming that they destroyed Iran's industrial capacity, but they're also standing with the Iranian people.
[00:02:04]  But at the same time, it made sense to allow the regime to remain.
[00:02:09]  So I found it very inconsistent.
[00:02:12]  And your reaction to the announcement of the ceasefire yesterday, were you surprised?
[00:02:18]  Did you welcome that?
[00:02:19]  What do you think?
[00:02:20]  I welcomed it.
[00:02:22]  Part of me was surprised, but these negotiations had been going on for two weeks through Pakistani mediators.
[00:02:31]  So I do welcome the ceasefire because I think this war didn't have a clear end, end state that the administration was seeking.
[00:02:41]  I don't think they had clarity on that.
[00:02:43]  And actually, the briefing I just heard only solidifies that point.
[00:02:48]  And the deal that is, I guess, going to be negotiated, we've seen the 10-point deal, the 10 points asked for by Iran.
[00:02:59]  We've seen the 15 points asked for by the Trump administration.
[00:03:03]  They're very far apart.
[00:03:05]  So where do you see this kind of shaking out?
[00:03:09]  Is there a middle ground?
[00:03:10]  What do you expect out of a deal, if there is one?
[00:03:14]  Well, I think the most important thing to the Trump administration is the deal needs to allow for face saving and needs to allow the Trump administration to sell this war as a success at home, that in some way they made the Middle East more peaceful and they defanged the Iranian regime.
[00:03:35]  That's the kind of language they like to use.
[00:03:37]  I think for the Iranians, what's most important is they need to have money to rebuild the infrastructure that was just destroyed, and they want to have some kind of assurance that this kind of war won't happen again.
[00:03:54]  And so for the Iranians, the most important thing is some sort of leverage over the Strait of Hermuz and possibly a toll booth in which they can collect money through the ships that pass through, use that to rebuild the infrastructure that was destroyed and also enrich their regime, and also retain leverage over that strait so that if the United States or Israel decides to conduct attacks again, we're just going to repeat the same cycle.
[00:04:21]  And the Israelis and the Americans know that.
[00:04:25]  I think that's what the Iranians want.
[00:04:27]  I don't think the Iranians trust a third-party guarantor.
[00:04:30]  And I don't think countries like Russia or China or Pakistan are interested in playing that role.
[00:04:36]  So the only leverage the Iranians really have is the Strait of Hermuz.
[00:04:40]  So when you say operating it as a toll booth, what kind of a precedent do you think this could set for other waterways in the world and commercial shipping through those waterways?
[00:04:54]  Well, it would set the precedent of tolls.
[00:04:57]  Of course, having a toll booth doesn't