All right, Alexander, let's talk about Iran and the Financial Times article, which claims that Trump's policy towards Iran, is going to be one of maximum pressure.

Are those the words that the Financial Times used? Yeah, maximum pressure, right?

It absolutely was sanctions. It's going to be in effect another return to suffocate the Iranian

economy by strangling its oil exports. But a lot has changed now. A lot has changed since when

Trump was president and they implemented this maximum pressure policy towards Iran.

We've now got bricks.

Iran is a full member of bricks.

Iran is integrating their payment systems with many BRICS nations.

Russia.

They've integrated the payment cards, the MIR card, and the Iran payment card.

They're exporting a lot of oil to China.

A lot has changed.

So why would maximum pressure, why would a maximum pressure policy,

which didn't work in 2016 during his first term,

when Iran was more vulnerable, why would something like that work now when Iran is much, is in a much better position?

I don't think it will work, is the short answer. I think you've sounded up exactly correctly.

It didn't work before in 2018 at a time when Iran was

still largely isolated. Today, Iran is not isolated to anything like the same extent. Its economic

position is much stronger. Its economy has been growing quite rapidly recently.

As you've rightly said, it's become a full member of the bricks. It's involved in the setting up the various financial and trading systems that were discussed in Kazan.

It's recently agreed a payment structure with the Russians and of course it's exporting oil to China in a big way.

And China has proved very resistant to all attempts to try to persuade it to stop importing oil from Russia.

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