Trump's Iran gamble: madness or masterstroke?
The Daily T
The Telegraph
4.1 • 705 Ratings
🗓️ 24 March 2026
⏱️ 46 minutes
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Summary
Donald Trump says he is negotiating with Iran – but won’t say who with – while, at the same time, thousands of US marines are arriving in the Middle East. Iran says reports of negotiations with the US president are “fake news” and it has placed mines in the Strait of Hormuz.
Camilla and Tim attempt to get inside Trump's mind and ask whether he truly is negotiating with Iran with the aim of pulling off an extraordinary feat of international statecraft, or buying time to prepare for a ground invasion.
They also speak to Greg Swenson, the chairman of Republicans Overseas, who says the president does have a plan and does not want to telegraph his every move.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The Telegraph. |
| 0:09.8 | What is Donald Trump thinking? |
| 0:12.2 | He says he's negotiating with the Iranians. |
| 0:14.6 | The Iranians are laying minds in the strait of Hormuz. |
| 0:17.6 | Is the US president lying, gambling, or about to pull off an extraordinary |
| 0:23.2 | feat of international statecraft? And we're going to be joined by Greg Swenson, Chair of Republicans |
| 0:28.7 | overseas. His nephew serves in the US military, and Greg knows the president. Welcome to the |
| 0:34.3 | Daily Tea with me, Camilla Tominy. And me, Tim Stanley. |
| 0:37.0 | Thank you. Welcome to The Daily Tea with me, Camilla Tominy. And me, Tim Stanley. |
| 0:52.0 | Tim, we're going to attempt in this Daily Tea to get inside the mind of Donald Donald. The mind, the mind. |
| 0:53.2 | The mind of Donald, which is a frightening place. Now, you and I, we came into the studio yesterday. We said, oh, he's announced a ceasefire. He's negotiating with the Iranians. Yes. He's going to stop the bombing of key infrastructure and oil fields. Isn't this great? The markets have rallied. Could our mortgages be saved? |
| 1:12.0 | But when pressed on who it is he's talking to, he said this. A top person, don't forget, |
| 1:17.7 | we've wiped out the leadership phase one, phase two, and largely phase three. But we're dealing |
| 1:23.9 | with the man who I believe is the most respected and the leader. |
| 1:29.4 | You know, it's a little tough. |
| 1:30.7 | They've wiped out, we've wiped out everybody. |
| 1:33.1 | Is that the Supreme Leader? |
| 1:34.9 | No, not the Supreme Leader. |
| 1:36.5 | We don't, well, nobody's ever, nobody heard of the second Supreme Leader, the Sun. |
| 1:41.2 | Are these direct laws? |
| 1:42.2 | Nobody, we have not heard from the Sun. |
| 1:44.8 | Every once in a while you see a statement made, but we haven't. |
... |
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