Day 558 - US moves Iran nuclear redline, inching closer to Israel

The Times of Israel Daily Briefing

The Times of Israel

News

4.4 • 864 Ratings

🗓️ 16 April 2025

⏱️ 26 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Welcome to The Times of Israel's Daily Briefing, your 20-minute audio update on what's happening in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world.

US bureau chief Jacob Magid joins host Amanda Borschel-Dan for today's episode.

On Saturday, US Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi “briefly spoke” together in Oman to kick off nuclear talks in what marks the first time the two nations have spoken directly to each other since the Obama administration. We learn about the US's evolving "redline" and the Trump administration's expected timeline.

Hamas has reportedly turned down an Israeli offer for a six-week ceasefire in Gaza, which demanded the group to disarm. Magid weighs in on the stalled process, including what he's hearing from one of the Arab negotiators.

The Palestinian Authority has formally invited the Trump administration to certify that Ramallah’s reform of its controversial welfare system viewed as incentivizing terror is being implemented, a US official and a PA official revealed to Magid on Friday. Magid explains the provisions of the Taylor Force Act, a 2018 congressional legislation that barred US economic aid that directly benefits the PA, and how the PA is attempting to comply.

Please check out The Times of Israel's ongoing live blog for more updates.

For further reading:

In swift reversal, Witkoff says any nuclear deal must ‘eliminate’ Iran’s enrichment, weaponization

Trump says he expects to make a decision on Iran’s nuclear program ‘very quickly’

Gaza hostage talks still stalled, official says, amid reports of incremental progress

Hamas said to reject Israeli proposal that it disarm as part of 6-week ceasefire

Hostage’s father to PM: How do you plan on freeing last captive without ending war?

PA invites US to verify that controversial prisoner payment system no longer in place

Subscribe to The Times of Israel Daily Briefing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by the Pod-Waves.

IMAGE: A handout picture released by Iran's Atomic Energy Organization on November 4, 2019, shows the atomic enrichment facilities Natanz nuclear research center, some 300 kilometres south of capital Tehran. (HO / Atomic Energy Organization of Iran / AFP)

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Welcome to the Times of Israel's daily briefing.
0:05.0	Today is Wednesday, April 16th, day 558 of the war.
0:11.0	I'm Amanda Borchelle Dan here with our U.S. Bureau Chief Jacob Magid.
0:15.0	Hi, Jacob. Thanks for joining me today.
0:17.0	Hi, Amanda. Good to be with you again.
0:19.0	Always a pleasure. And we're going to get caught up on what
0:23.0	is happening in all sorts of talks. First of all, the Iran nuclear talks, and then we're going to
0:29.0	talk about the hostage release negotiations. We'll also hear about the Palestinian authorities
0:34.7	pledge that it has stopped the controversial pay-to-slave program
0:39.5	and what they are promising in order to have it checked.
0:43.7	All this and more when we're back.
0:51.6	Listeners of this podcast might be familiar with Sapir, a quarterly journal devoted to ideas for a thriving Jewish future, edited by Brett Stevens of the New York Times.
1:01.5	Every issue of Sapir focuses on a theme relevant to Jewish life and offers practical solutions to the problems facing the Jewish people and the Jewish state.
1:10.7	Past themes have included Zionism, anti-Semitism, and the war in Israel.
1:15.0	If you live in the U.S., you can now receive SIPIR delivered directly to your home free of charge,
1:19.9	which is kind of amazing, considering how high quality it is.
1:23.4	The current issue on diversity even includes an article in English by Israel's president Isaac Herzog,
1:28.4	who is himself an avid reader.
1:30.1	Go to superjournal.org slash Times of Israel and sign up for your free subscription.
1:35.4	That's S-A-P-I-R-Journal.org forward slash Times of Israel.
1:40.8	And start receiving this excellent publication in the mail absolutely free.
1:54.4	Jacob, let's take a couple steps back and discuss the talks the first round of direct nuclear talks that happened between the
	...

Transcript will be available on the free plan in 9 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The Times of Israel, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of The Times of Israel and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.