Trump Seeks Leverage With Iran as Hormuz, Lebanon Threaten Talks

Insight & analysis on the White House and Capitol Hill.

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President Donald Trump sought to ratchet up pressure on Iran to cut a deal as the two sides prepared for direct talks in Pakistan to turn their fragile truce into a lasting peace.

Trump posted on social media Friday that Tehran’s only leverage is “short term extortion of the world by using International Waterways” — a reference to the Strait of Hormuz, a critical shipping lane for oil and natural gas that remains largely shut — and declared that the “Iranians don’t seem to realize they have no cards.”

While the two-week ceasefire was broadly holding across the Middle East, the continued closure of the strait and fighting between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon threatened to complicate negotiations due to begin over the weekend in Islamabad.

Bloomberg Washington Correspondents Joe Mathieu and Kailey Leinz deliver insight and analysis on the latest headlines from the White House and Capitol Hill, including conversations with influential lawmakers and key figures in politics and policy. On this edition, Kailey speaks with:

• Bloomberg Washington Correspondent Tyler Kendall.
• Republican Congresswoman Nicole Malliotakis of New York.
• Harvard Kennedy School Ash Center Visiting Democracy Fellow Jeanne Sheehan Zaino and Friday Reporter Public Affairs Founder Lisa Camooso Miller.
• Former Acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney.
• Bloomberg Europe Correspondent Oliver Crook.

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