Trump, Iran and why he’s glad Harry left America - Washington Insider

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0:58a real dedicated person to get you set up and switched over for free. So when peak season hits, you're ready to go. Switch today at ShipStation.com code audio. Hello, I'm Katie Balls, co-host of the State of the USA, usually with you alongside Jerry Baker. However, this week, our various travel plans and planes means that this is impossible. So instead, I'm bringing you this Washington Insider update of the conversations driving the agenda here in DC. Spoiler, they include Prince Harry. This conversation is with Carol Walker, and you can hear me every week with Carol Walker on Wednesday nights and with Hugo Rifkin on Tuesdays.

1:39I'll be back with you next week alongside Gerry, where I'll be dialling in from Dallas, Texas, from the Republican Midterm Convention. Do join us then.

1:54Iran is threatening to hit America with cyber attacks on critical computer systems controlling energy, telecommunications and water supplies following tit-for-tat strikes. After a month's pause in fighting, tensions between Iran and America are escalating, with the US president now suggesting that the Strait of Hormuz should be renamed the Trump Strait. Well, to hear the latest on this and a roundup of all the other big stories in the United States, I'm joined by Katie Balls. Really good to have you with us. Look, we've had this escalating round of attacks and counterattacks between the Iranians and the United States forces.

2:33We've now got this direct threat from Iran to hit the United States, to hit its critical computer systems. I mean, that would be a new dimension to the war, wouldn't it? It would. And we also have reports that Iran has attempted cyber attacks on a range of US infrastructure. And so far, this has not been successful. But to have a sense of, you know, what they're looking at, you know, water being one of them, telecommunications, energy. And therefore, the question is, if Iran is successful, what does that do to the war? It already feels as though we're back to a ramping up of rhetoric and tensions and action in terms of strikes between the two sides after a relative period, not of calmness, I wouldn't be the right phrase, but just a sense where it looks as though the US wasn't looking to further escalate.

3:27But this also comes at a point where I think there are many in Washington, D.C. asking how long can America keep up the current status quo? Because we have reports in terms of missile shortages. We also have concerns from various senior U.S. defense figures about how sustainable it is to have the number of soldiers and the number of army personnel, military personnel in their current positions and to hold that for a long period of time. time and therefore it does feel as though the clock is ticking as to Donald Trump having to make a decision in terms of some form of you know action or negotiation something else to try and break the deadlock because can it really go on as it is yeah and I mean we've had the sense for a while haven't we that President Trump wants to find a way out of this not least because it's so unbelievably unpopular with the US public.

4:25But he's still left with this situation where Iran effectively controls the Strait of Hormuz and this latest round of attacks seems to have been sparked by Iranian attacks on shipping going through that vital shipping channel. He's now talking about renaming the Strait of Hormuz the Trump Strait. I mean, I'm not sure how much difference, Katie, that's really going to make, is it? No, I feel like it is more kind of a pep talk to make yourself feel better about a situation, the renaming, than something that's going to have a tangible benefit for the US. But it obviously fits into a pattern. And I think, to be fair, this was, I think, Trump's attempt at a joke, but you never know with Trump when he's joking if he's actually going to then do it.

5:09Because you have had, obviously, the Gulf of Mexico, Gulf of America, and then most recently, amid a trade war with Canada, renaming Lake America. And so I think that, you know, there is just a sense where Trump quite likes putting his name on things, particularly buildings. And would he want, but I suppose, would he want his name on the Strait of Hormuz? Probably only if it was open. And right now we have a situation where Trump, again, will say how well the war is going, that ships are being able to move much better than they had been previously. But I think you go back to comments J.D. Vance, his vice president, made a few weeks ago, where he said, you know, the number one priority of this war at this point is all the conflict and is effectively bringing down oil and gas prices, which comes back to the Strait of Hormuz.

5:58And then number two is nuclear weapons and trying to prevent Iran from having those. And this led many to say, well, hang on a minute. Number one is a problem that didn't really exist before the war started. Donald Trump then said, actually, no, this is wrong. The number one aim is always nuclear. But it speaks to what many are saying behind the scenes, which is, has it now become a damage limitation exercise where it's all about world trade and trying to fix that, particularly ahead of the midterms? And I think, therefore, Trump will only want his name on something when it is doing what he wants it to do.

6:30And to add to that sense of the fact that it is just spiraling out of control, that it's not going the way that the president had envisaged. We've had Iran now accusing the US of a war crime after officials said that a missile strike killed four people, including two children, at a wedding celebration. And, I mean, that's led to some quite difficult questions, hasn't it, for the administration about another attack, which seems to have caused significant loss of life to Iranian civilians. Yeah, exactly. I mean, the loss of civilian life, The fact it's a wedding, I think, makes it even more emotive.

7:10But certainly this is being cited by the Iranians, as you say, war crimes. If you go back to much earlier on the conflict, there was obviously a conversation that bore some resemblance to this about a school that was hit. And then the US had to answer questions about that. What did they know at the time? Do they have the right data in front of them? Are they making those decisions? But I think bigger picture was just adding to that sense that, you know, if both sides, you know, turning one another, accusing each other of, you know, malign activities, malign intentions, and, you know, threats of cyber attacks, talks of war crimes, Trump saying he's won, but he's not going to back down.

7:52You know, we have been him many times before over the past six months. This was always by the White House's own definition meant to be a couple of weeks at most. And a lot of the time when you have this ramping up, you know, it hits a point and then actually the US declares that they're back to very successful negotiations and talks. I think the question is, does it get to a point where, you know, things get so bad between the two different sides, it's hard to do that. And I suppose the counter to that, but you know, it's not just the US economy that's hurting here. The Iranian economy is obviously taking a huge hit as well.

8:26And not to mention the damage to other economies around the world from the rising energy costs. And in the midst of this war, there appears to be, I mean, a certain amount of turmoil within the Defence Department. We've had the resignation of the US Army Secretary, Dan Driscoll, perhaps not a name that's particularly familiar this side of the Atlantic. But I mean, he's just the latest, isn't he, Katie? Yeah, and also he is a senior figure in the Department of War, but also particularly when it's come to the Iran war. But at the same time, it wasn't that much of a surprise when he finally announced he was leaving, because we had various reports, various briefings in recent weeks of tension between Driscoll and Hegseth, Pete Hegseth, the Secretary of War, and talk that he was going to go.

9:17So there's two ways of looking at it. As you say, since Pete Heggs' appointment, a former Fox News host, he was not seen as an establishment choice, to put it mildly, by military figures. He was one of the more controversial figures that the Trump administration had to get confirmed when Trump returned for his second term. They spent quite a lot of political capital on doing that at the time. Critics of Pete Heggs have brought up, you know, claims about drinking in the past, interactions with women, but they got Pete Heggs through. But I think the largest piece of opposition to Pete Heggs's appointment was if you put kind of the more salacious kind of claims aside, was actually did he have the required experience to be in that role, to be leading the department?

10:04And since then, you have had a steady stream of departees. Now, you'll speak to some in Washington and they will say, well, these people were never on board with Trump administration. They are part of the deep state. I think with Driscoll, it's harder to say that. This is someone who I think is, you know, respected cross-party. And I think when you loop it back to the Iran war, too, it's just another sign, I think, just being a bit red that, you know, things are not going to plan for the US side. And there are some who do not feel as though, you know, Trump is getting the truth or perhaps there is sometimes hearing the difficult things he needs to hear to make clear decisions when it comes to what's been happening.

10:46Now, I do want to turn to the story picked up on the front page of The Times. President Trump saying that he's actually happy that Prince Harry and Meghan have left the US to return to Britain. I thought they treated the royal family with great disrespect. I didn't like it. I didn't like the way she acted. I thought she was terribly disrespectful to the Queen, to King Charles. Maybe I'm different. I wouldn't have taken him back. President Trump, he never holds back, does he, from giving his opinions on anyone and everything? No, well, what's funny is he does occasionally hold back, and that actually really only tends to be when the royal family is involved.

11:30So I think when he is on his best behaviour, it tends to be related to his state visit. So I always remember the state visit when Donald Trump last year visited the UK and there was the press conference with Keir Starmer at Chequers. And you had a press pack ready for this to be one for the ages in terms of what they were expecting and fireworks, straight talking. And Trump being so well behaved, you almost see the disappointment among some journalists' faces. But then you just give him a week or two after it ended and he was back to saying, you know, why Keir Starmer wasn't good enough on X or Y.

12:04so we do know he's a straight chalker he often tries to please the royal family though and we also know that he's a big fan of the royal family and less so of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle I think there have been signs of that through these comments but I think to so bluntly say that he's glad they're gone, well we know that Meghan Markle is probably going to be going back a fair bit it doesn't bode too well if Prince Harry, while Donald Trump is president, which is obviously a finite amount of time, decides that he does want to return Thank you.

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