Ceasefire talks collapse and Trump blockades the blockade (04-13-2026–Hour1)

What's going on? Thank you so much for listening to this podcast. It is heard live every day from noon to three on WBT Radio in Charlotte. And if you want exclusive content like invitations to events, the weekly live stream, my daily show prep with all the links, become a patron, go to thepeakclendershow dot com. Make sure you hit the subscribe button. Get every episode for free right to your smartphone or tablet, And again, thank you so much for your support. Alrighty, so talks collapsed, as I think everybody kind of figured they would. The ceasefire with iron is still technically, I guess, in effect for a couple more days. But but the talks collapsed. They're trying to get some maybe some more talks or something going, I don't know. And then the strait of hormuzz hormas hormus. How do you pronounce it? I heard somebody mocking American pronunciation of horror moves because they don't say it like that. I think they say hormones. Anyway, the street was then going to be told and blockaded basically by Iran, and as I am seeing him referred to, now, don sue Donald Trump, Don sue break an enemy blockade by blockading their blockade. So say it, don sue, So that's what we're doing. Say look, didn't I say this like a couple weeks ago, and I've said it repeatedly. I have no doubt that the US military could reopen the Strait of Horror moves if it wanted to. They have the capability to do it, and they have been clearing the minds. They've got these little submersible drones that are going around to find any of the minds that Iran may. Have dropped in there. Still haven't seen any confirmation that they've blown any up, like they found any At this point, we got two navy destroyers that are blocking off the straight and not sure what's going to happen when a boat tries to traverse it. They're going to be told to turn back or they're going to get escorted through. And so what Iran thought was its biggest piece of leverage, which they were supposed to have opened as a condition for the ceasefire talks, and they didn't, right, They thought that was their biggest leverage, and now it's being used against them because guess who's not going to be able to get out of the Persian Gulf. Yeah, Iran. Iran's not going to be able to get out, and that's gonna jam up China pretty tightly. So after the talks collapse, here's what Donald Trump posted onto the Truth social So there you have it. The meeting went well. Most points were agreed to, but the only point that really mattered, nuclear was not effective. Immediately, the United States Navy, the finest in the world, will begin the process of blockading any and all ships trying to enter or leave the Strait of Hormuz. At some point we will reach an all being allowed to go in, all being allowed to go out basis. But Iran has not allowed that to happen by merely saying there may be a mine out there somewhere that nobody knows about. But then in fact they actually last or over the weekend, I saw a report that like they don't even remember where. They put them. They were like, we're not really sure where those minds might be. So but yeah, please allow us to be in charge of the maritime security in the Persian Gulf, because that makes sense, right, he said. Trump goes on and say this is world adortion, and leaders of countries, especially the United States of America will never be extorted. I have also instructed our navy to seek and interdict every vessel in international waters that has paid a toll to Iran. No one who pays an illegal toll will have safe passage on the high seas. We will also begin destroying the minds the Iranians laid in the Straits. Any Iranian who fires at US or at peaceful vessels will be blown to ag double hockey sticks. But he said it. Iran knows better than anyone how to end this situation, which has already devastated their country. Their navy is gone, their air force is gone, their anti aircraft and radar are useless. Komane and most of their quote leaders are dead, all because of their nuclear ambition. The blockade will begin shortly. Other countries will be involved with this blockade. Iran will not be allowed to profit off this illegal act of extortion. They want money, and more importantly, they want nuclear additionally, and at an appropriate moment, we are fully locked and loaded, and our military will finish up the little that is left of Iran, Signed President Donald J. Trump. Also, the Gulf of America is packed with tankers now because they started making their way to America in order to get all of the oil that we've been producing. And so all these ships that would have otherwise been in the Persian Gulf from Asia and Europe and such, they're all headed to. America. Joel Pollack is the opinion editor at the California Post, which is like the New York Post, their sister publication. They launched this earlier this year, I believe, and he writes, the only thing you need to know about the situation regarding Iran is that the United States has never, since the Barbary Wars, has never accepted that a foreign potentate would be able to control freedom of the seas and demand tribute. It's literally the reason we built a navy. Yes, it was our first war against the Barbary Coast pirates because we were paying the jijja. Right, that's the tax that. Islamic ruled territories apply to non Muslims. And Britain was paying the jigja in order to not have their ships attacked and their sailors kidnapped and sold as slaves. Or pressed into service. So Britain was paying it. Well. After we split away from Britain, then there was no longer that protection. And so Jefferson and Adams go and talk to the caliphate out there and there like, hey, what's the deal, Like, we have no quarrel with you, We're a brand new country. Let's trade will be friendly in all this, And they the calfeder Sultan whatever it was, wrote back and he was like, no, no, we like, this is in our Qur'an. This is what we do to you. You're an infidel. And that's when it was like, okay, let's get together. Some guys are going to go create a navy and the marines, and that's where the line in the song the Marine Corps battle him to the shores of Tripoli. That's what that was about. It's why they got the name leatherneck too, because they would they would put bands of leather around the backs of their neck. Why would they do that to prevent beheadings? This is not a new fight. Like people, I know, Americans, we have a you know, very little grasp on history. But when you start looking into this stuff like it's been going on literally literally since the inception of Islam. Okay, then there's this fellow. He's a journalist and commentator. His name is Imtiaz Mahmoud. He says, the CIA and the Mosade knew from the very first second that the two sides were in absolute contradiction. Not ten percent, not fifty percent, it was one hundred and eighty degrees. So why did Trump send JD. Vance right into the middle of it? Two reasons. First, when the bomb drops, no one will be able to say the US didn't try. They'll have in hand the minutes of the meeting, the photo of the handshake that didn't happen, the return flight with empty hands, diplomacy as legal cover for what comes next. Second, and smarter Vance is against the war, right Vance was you remember the New York Times story came out last week, had this TikTok conversation that went on in the situation room, and everybody's like, oh, look at these people that were advising against it. And JD. Vance was one of the quote restrainers, right, that's kind of the name that people are using for them now. But he was one of these restrainers. No, we shouldn't go you know, military, I'm not this is not a good idea right now. Was that true? I don't know, but that's what was told to Maggie Haberman at the New York Times. So you send JD. Vance, well known against the war. So when a man like him comes back from Alman and says, there's no conversation to be had with these guys, no one in Washington can argue any more that all you know, all it would take is just sit down at the table. Right, the toughest skeptic in the cabinet became an eyewitness to the impossibility of a deal. And then he goes on to say, the US did not go to negotiate, They went to document. The Islamic Republic flipped the table as it always does, this time with the camera rolling. You know, stories are powerful. They help us make sense of things, to understand experiences. Stories connect us to the people of our past while transcending generations. 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Right on the Iran story, I'm starting with the negotiations. I'm going to get into the strait of horror moves stuff after that, and Lebanon, and then we're going to go to Syria and then we're going to go to Namkidda. So this is the American trick in negotiations, says Mtias Mahmud, journalist and commentator. He says for weeks, Trump kept repeating to the media that we don't know who's leading Iran. After the complete targeting of the Iranian leadership, the negotiations came to flush out the real Iranian leadership from their boroughs. Trump sent JD. Vance, the highest ranking American official after him to draw out the highest ranking Iranian leadership in return, and from there Washington learned who is actually leading Iran, especially after the Iranian media said that the negotiation committees affiliated with the Iranian leadership which accompanied the delegation consisted of eighty five figures. They sent eighty five people, and I saw some of the pro Iran or or regime media and Twitter accounts. They were like, this shows that they were serious and and you know, they wanted to get into like all these different aspects of all these different you know, industries that are hit by sanctions and that all these experts there and blah blah blah blah. But they sent eighty five people, as if that's some like why would you need that many people? Because again, the key part here is the nuclear program, and Iran refused to budge on the nuclear program and so and enriching uranium they wouldn't do it. So we're done, Like that was it, right? The report from Lucas Tomlinson at Fox News. Vice President Vance's final offer delivered to the Iranian delegation, which represent red lines that they would that the US is not crossing. So these are non negotiables, which number one end all uranium enrichment. Two, dismantle all major nuclear enrichment facilities. Three retrieve highly enriched uranium that's still in the country. Four except a broader piece security and de escalation framework that includes regional allies. Number five end the funding for the terrorist proxies Hamas has Bellah and the hoodies. And number six fully open the Strait of Hormuz charging no tolls for passage. That's what the demands were. Those are the demands from the US and Iran refused. Okay, good to know. Don't know why you needed eighty five people here to do that, but okay, Now, if war does break out again, if the fighting and the bombing starts up again, then I feel like we know like eighty five targets. Right. And by the way, did y'all catch that story last week about how we located the downed airmen with that technology that the CIA implemented. They call it ghost murmur and it could detect heartbeats. So was anybody I don't know, hanging out at the hotel or doing like heart scans in order to collect sort of a database of all the different hearts of the eighty five people that were there, Like, I'm not sure they thought this true? Well, I think. Then describes a lot of their behavior to the text line. Chris says that Iran is a threat to the homeland. Is subterfuge meant to cover our master's greed for Iranian oil? Who's who are our masters? Here? We are a net exporter of oil thanks to Donald Trump's drill baby drill program in. His first term. Thanks to the the fracking revolution, right, we are now an exporter of this stuff. So it's not and Venezuela's online, so it's not like we need the Iranian oil. I don't know who you're referring to by masters. Nine eight zero numbers, says Iran lyed, there are no minds in the strait, nor we're there. It's just scare tactics. Yeah, I mean that's kind of where I'm leaning on this now too. Steven says, uh, Pete, you make a lot of sense. Maybe you should be on the radio. Oh that's a good idea. I may look into that. Gary sends me a link from polymarket Twitter. Just in oil tanker bound for China reportedly forced to turn around due to the US naval blockade per ship tracking data, right, China's like they they're going to have to play some sort of a role here because they get a lot of their oil and they're going to get really hurt here. And so we're not directly fighting with China, but they're going to have to come to the table somehow in order to you know, get to try to maybe you know, get Iran to like just act normal, you know, just don't be like a terror sponsoring, you know, death to everybody around you. Kind of nutcase. Darryl says, did those eighty five Iranians leave their pagers unattended in the hotel rooms? Let's see, that would be a bad idea. And Kevin says JD knew from the beginning these negotiations would go nowhere, but like you noted, it's a necessity to be able to say we tried to talk, but they decided they need nukes and we can't have that. Israel has done a lot of negotiations behind the scenes over the years, but ideally it would have been better to publicize those negotiations a bit better. I know you think Israel doesn't need. Anyone, oh, I don't believe that at all, but Pete, they really do need to win in the court of public opinion, especially since seventy percent of their military hardware is just renamed US Hardware. Yes, I think though that after October seventh, what they saw was that, you know what, if it comes to us not being liked versus us all being dead, will take not being liked. I think that was their I think that was their decision. That's what it seems like. All right, I want to play a clip. This is a fellow by the name of Josh Wickoff, and he runs a Twitter formerly known as x a Twitter account called Inside Israel Intel. And he is. Also the author of a book called Contested Land Uncontested Truth, The Essential Guide to Israel's Legitimacy. And so this is one of the accounts that I follow in my war category. And he broke down in about three and a half minutes the situation in a way that I think will be quite beneficial for you to hear. So here is. Josh Wickoff aka inside Israel Intel. What we just saw over the last twenty four hours is being framed as a failure. Talks collapsed, no deal escalation. That's the headline, but it doesn't really explain what's happening, because what we're watching is not a failed peace process. It's the early phase of a war where expectations are completely out of sync with reality. Over the weekend, the United States and Iran sat down for twenty one hours of direct negotiations. They walked away without an agreement. Within hours, the United States announced it naval blockade targeting Irani and shipping. That sequence is the story, not because talks broke down, but because nothing moved. The reason nothing moved becomes obvious when you look at what's actually on the table. This isn't about pausing fighting. The United States is trying to roll back the core of Iran's power structure, it's nuclear program, it's enriched uranium, it's missile capabilities, and the network of proxies it uses across the region. It also wants full freedom of navigation through the Strait of horm Moves without Iranian control. Iran is trying to preserve those same elements, sanctions relief, retention of its capabilities, protection of its proxies, and continued leverage over the Hormos. There's no middle ground between those positions. One side is trying to dismantle the system. The other side is trying to keep it intact. What stands out is how quickly people are labeling this as a drawn out situation. This war is just over forty days old. That's not a protracted conflict. That's the opening phase. There's an expectation, especially in the United States, that something like this should be resolved immediately, that you can dismantle the regime's nuclear ambitions, degrade its military, neutralize its proxies, and stabilize the region in a matter of weeks. You can't do that without leveling the entire country. And that's not what's being attempted here. What's actually happening is a layered application of pressure. Israel is degrading Iran's regional architecture through Hesbelah. The United States is now moving directly against Iran's economic leverage through the Hormonets. Diplomatically, the US is testing whether Iran is willing to give up anything meaningful. So far, it hasn't, and that's because Iran is not negotiating to resolve the conflict. It's negotiating to survive it. The objective isn't to win a deal it's to hold on long enough for pressure to build somewhere else in global markets, in Western politics, or even within Allied coalitions. Time is Iran's strategy. The regional picture reinforces that dynamic. Israel has not achieved its objectives and is continuing to fight. The Gulf States were directly attacked and now view Iran as a more aggressive adversary than ever before. They have determs to restore, in credibility to re establish. They are not pushing for a quick end, they are pushing for an outcome Outside the region. The pressure moves in the opposite direction. China is heavily dependent on Gulf energy, Russia is aligned with Iran. Europe continues to favor de escalation over anything, So the conflict is being pulled in two directions. At the same time. The economic layer adds another dimension. The disruption is global, but it isn't evenly distributed. Asia, especially China, is far more exposed to hormones than the United States. That creates an imbalance where the immediate pressure falls more heavily on US adversaries. The same time, there's a scenario where shifts in global energy flows could benefit the United States that's not guaranteed, but it's part of the strategic landscape. The failure of the talks reflects all of this. Not a lack of communication, not a lack of time, a lack of alignment. One side is trying to fundamentally change the balance of power. The other is refusing to accept that the balance is already shifted. This is what the next phase hinges on. Iran's position has been degraded, its leverage is narrower than its posture suggests, but it's still acting as if time is on its side. The United States is now starting to challenge that directly, beginning with the HORMONEUS. There is always the possibility that Washington changes course, but based on current actions, the direction is the opposite. Pressure is increasing, not decreasing. What's unfolding is not a stalled conflict. It's a situation where one side is still waiting for time to work in its favor, while the other is beginning to demonstrate that it won't. Yeah, I agree with everything, Like his summation is where I am at in watching this. Then there's John Spencer. He's ah, was it the Institute for the Study of War? I think, yeah, I have his title someplace in here, but he says the goal of the negotiation should not be an end to fighting for its own sake. It should be a better piece. History shows that wars that end without resolving the underlying drivers do not really end. They just produce the conditions for the next round of fighting. A better piece here is not hard to define. It means in Islamic regime in Iran that is not on the threshold of a nuclear weapon. It means a regime that cannot use control of international waterways as a tool of coercion. It means a regime that is not building missiles capable of reaching Europe or the United States, missiles to attack its neighbors or to shield its nuclear weapons pursuit. And it means a regime that is no longer funding, building and sustaining proxy terrorist armies in Lebanon, Gaza, Yemen, and Iraq. If those conditions are not met, then whatever agreement comes out of any negotiation is only temporary. Many people only focus on stopping the fighting. That's not the same as achieving the purpose of the war. The real measure is whether Iran's behavior changes when the war is over. I'm going to go out on a limon say no to that. If the capabilities remain, the intent will follow, and if both remain, the conflict will start again later. Ending the war is not the objective. Ending it on terms that will hold, that's the objective. Iran International. They said the US did not come to Pakistan to reach an agreement with Iran, quoting Mahmud Nabavian. Nabavian Nabavian. He's a member of parliament. He was part of the eighty five person delegation. He spoke with the IRGC affiliated Farce News. He said there were serious disagreements on three issues, and then he posted on Twitter that Washington had demanded a shared stake with the Islamic Republican the benefits of the Strait of Hormuz, the removal of sixty percent enriched uranium from Iran, and the suspension of Iran's right to enrich uranium for twenty years. Again, he is a member of the Iranian regime. And so you know, my rule, when you know, listening to anything that they're saying is just always keeping in mind. Rule number one is that they lie. They lie about everything all the time, so nobody really I don't believe this. Like I'm seeing now there are people that are these Iranian cutouts and spokespeople and they're like, oh, I can't believe it. They made this demand about the nuclear enrichment and how dare they? And that's what really tanked everything. It's like, yeah, that's been the goal from the very beginning, Like do you remember Midnight Hammer, right, Like that was the whole point. The nuclear program is the whole point. All of the missiles and all that stuff, like that's just that's gravy. We're taking all of that out so we can get to your nuclear stuff. That's the point. Let me read one of these, uh, one of these apologists for the regime, allegedly Trita Parsi, executive director of the Quincy Institute and found under of the National Iranian American Council. He went on Steve Bannon's podcast and he said, if jd Vance is right that the US went into the negotiations demanding zero enrichment, then of course this blew up. That was Israel's red line, not Trump's original red line of no nuclear weapons, push for surrender and you guarantee escalation again. No, that is that's the Iranian play is to try to turn attention to Israel. Say, oh, Israel's calling all the shots, like the fact that jd Vance was talking with Trump on the phone during the negotiations and the fact that he called Ntton Yahoo is somehow supposed to be proof that, like Bibbi is the puppet master here, which is absurd. Again, the nuclear the enriched uranium, I should say, sixty percent enriched uranium serves only one purpose in that to get to ninety percent enrichment civilian purposes, you don't need to enrich I mean even if you're doing like medical stuff like that's I think like twenty percent, but for civilian use in like nuclear reactors, that would be like two to three percent. That's it. That's it, and that's what. And remember before the strikes, before Operation Epic Theory even began, when the US had talks with Iran over this stuff, they said, we will give you, the US will provide you with the nuclear fuel, and you do no enrichment. We will give you for free the nuclear fuel if you're claiming that's why you want it, And Iran said no, Why would you say no if you truly wanted it for peaceful purposes. Here's somebody saying we will give you the fuel for your reactors for free, and they wouldn't do it, indicating what Yes, they're not actually interested in enriched uranium for civilian purposes. They want it for weapons obviously. All right, let me jump over to the text line here, get to some more messages. This is from Dana. Oh, here you go, Dana and the dem jd Vance had no bargaining powers. He kept calling Benjamin NINTANYAHUO and Donald Trump because he didn't have the authority to put anything in place. Okay, well, Donald Trump is the president. Jd Vance is the vice president. I expect him to call both Trump and Nettan Yahoo. They're fighting the war together against Iran. Why wouldn't he talk to them. That's like, this is the stupidest line of attack in all of this. It's just it's demoralization. It's like, oh, yeah, see, we can't do anything right. They didn't get anything. Everything is from a perspective of defeat. Let's see hear this from Alan. I am sick and tired of all the war for oil crowd too. They can always choose to live without it, their choice. As for me, I'm good with keeping the world going. My perspective comes from both military and oil field experience. Yeah, I mean I remember writing. An editorial for the school paper in high school when the first Gulf War broke out, and this is what everybody was screaming, No blood for oil when we went and liberated Kuwait, right, no blood for oil. And I took on this argument as a high school junior or something. It's such an absurd argument, Like it's like, oh my gosh, Like who cares if they're going to control the waterway? Like do you not understand? Like all of the global trade right now operates under safe and free passage. That is a protection, and it's now being tested, and you don't give in to the extortion demands. If you do, then everybody will do it and then global trade collapses. Jennifer says there's going to be an unscheduled press conference. I did not see that. I'll take a look during the break. What's with the. Wait? Okay? So Joseph says, the left thinks we fight Middle East wars for oil? What a bunch of dummies. The neocon warmongers would be blessed if those morons were the only opposition they had. And what's with the Trump as Jesus picture? Yeah, it is weird. I don't understand that. I think he deleted it too, Pete. We just have to remember we need to flatten the curve, says Rodney. The Rolling Stones Sung time is on my side, but it's not on Iran's side. We won't allow possession of the weapon period. Right, and I talked about I've been talking about this from the beginning, which is the Iranian regime was already being stabilized because of the sanctions. Right, Economically, they're in ruin. You've got these different factions that are fighting each other inside the regime. Some are more hardline than others. Some are like, hey, what's going to happen? Like if we do survive all of this, Like our economy is in the tank. We can't sell any oil, we can't do anything. Our petrochemical plants are all blown up, Like we have no revenue. We like, how do we rebuild? How do we pay our soldiers? Like, and you know, you have others that are like, you know, I'm going to die for a lah this is the project? You know? Do you see any parallels between nineteen forty five Japan and Iran. Hmm, yeah, I. Don't Yeah, I don't know a lot about nineteen forty five Japan, so I don't want to comment on that. I don't know. If China has been buying oil below market rates from Iran and now has to buy at market and the higher market, what does that do to their economy? Me Indeed, Gary especially manufacturing, must much less if they now have a shortage of oil. China's economy has already been reported as weakening over the last two years. Okay, the press conference is already over and there was nothing major. Okay, good to know, Thank you, Jefer appreciate that. Richard Goldbirn a senior advisor at the Foundation for Defensive Democracies. He says, this is the new information op zero enrichment is supposedly an Israeli demand, not Trump's. Joe Kent says it. Treat a Parsi says it. It's completely false. There are speeches and there are posts on truth social that refute the lie. The COMMS was no nuclear weapons. The policy is zero enrichment, right because nobody knows what enrichment means. Right, So if you're just trying to dumb it down. For people, you say they cannot have nuclear weapons. That's it. That means enrichment. Yes, all right, that'll do it for this episode. Thank you, thank you so much for listening. I could not do the show without your support and the support of the businesses that advertise on the podcast, so if you'd like, please support them too and tell them you heard it here. You can also become a patron at my Patreon page or go to thepetecleanershow dot com. Again, thank you so much for listening, and don't break anything while I'm gone.