Hello and welcome to Background Briefing available 24-7 at Background Briefing.org. I'm Ian Masters, and today we'll look into a number of stories and issues in the news.

We'll begin with more erratic moves from Trump, who suddenly paused his Project Freedom

Initiative to have the U.S. Navy Guides shipped through the Straits of Lamours a day after announcing

it and assess who really holds the cards since Trump appears desperate to make a deal,

while the Iranians can string

things along as oil prices rise and domestic pressure on Republicans increases.

Joining us is Nicholas Grossman, a senior editor at Arc Digital and a professor of political

science at the University of Illinois.

He's the author of drones and terrorism,

asymmetric warfare and the threat to global security, and is a contributor at MS Now,

where his latest articles we will discuss include Trump's credibility problem is now America's

and three reality checks about Trump's Iran's strategy.

Then we'll examine how long Iran can write out the blockade,

as well as tensions between Saudi Arabia and the UAE,

which just pulled out of OPEC.

Joining us is Sarah Vashkuri,

who is the founder and president of SVB Energy International,

a strategic energy consulting firm with

offices in Washington, D.C., and Dubai.

She's also a professor's energy security at the Institute of World Politics.

Hannah's advised U.S. and European governments and financial institutions on energy markets,

trading and pricing, the geopolitics of energy and investment patterns.

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