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Netanyahu have been lecturing us for decades about the Iranian octopus, and he was attacked

by one arm of this octopus.

Now, for Netanyahu, after almost defeating Hamas, totally defeating Chisbalah, handling the chutis, to attack Iran, thus dismantling its nuclear program, is the decisive victory.

This is his raison d'etre almost.

On the other hand, if this war ends with Israel stealing Gaza, bleeding one, two, three soldiers a week. And with Iran having a nuclear deal with President Trump, thus keeping its nuclear program alive with enough uranium for six bombs, this is what will be written on the first sentence in Netanyahu's Wikipedia.

It's 10 a.m. on Wednesday, May 21st here in New York City.

It is 5 p.m. on Wednesday, May 21st in Israel, as Israelis wind down their day.

A lot has unfolded in the past few days. Most notably, Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Chamini publicly dismissed the potential for nuclear negotiations with the United States, calling

the American demands to halt uranium enrichment entirely, quote, a big mistake.

This comes as the U.S. Special Envoy, Steve Whitkoff, who's overseeing Iran negotiations, has been signaling, in fact, doubling down on the idea that any deal with Iran would have to be conditioned upon zero enrichment of uranium inside Iran.

Speaking of Steve Whitkoff, just as it seemed that there might be some progress, as we indicated in our last episode in the introduction, There might be some progress in the hostage negotiations.

Prime Minister Netanyahu has just recalled Israel's top negotiators from Doha. The talks are built

around what was, what we think of, as the original Whitkoff framework that Israel's

cabinet unanimously approved in January. but ultimately those talks fell apart

after the first phase of the hostage release. Meanwhile, over in the UK, British Foreign Secretary

David Lammy has announced a pause in trade talks with Israel, a diplomatic slap amid intensifying international pressure on Israel.

Now, there are other countries who have signaled increased pressure as well, notably France and

Canada with its newly elected prime minister. The UK, while it has been critical of Israel in the

past, this step it has taken is definitely seen as an

escalation in a way that the UK has not historically engaged on these issues. And of course,

we are hearing through reports that President Trump, on the one hand, is concerned about the humanitarian

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