A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
President Trump says he's willing to wait a little longer for an agreement with Iran before deciding whether to strike the country again.
LEILA FADEL, HOST:
Iran says it's ready for either scenario - peace or more war. It comes as Israel pushes for the war to resume and several Arab countries push back.
MARTÍNEZ: Joining us to discuss the latest from the Gulf is NPR international correspondent Aya Batrawy in Dubai. So earlier this week, President Trump said he held off on striking Iran because the leaders of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates asked him to. But how much longer is Trump willing to wait?
AYA BATRAWY, BYLINE: Well, Trump told reporters yesterday the U.S. is dealing with impressive and talented Iranian negotiators now and that it could be several more days before he makes a decision, but he wouldn't commit to a timeline.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Hopefully, those people will make a deal that's going to be great for everybody.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Do you get (ph) tired of the back-and-forth with Iran?
TRUMP: But I don't know. I don't know. I don't - do I get what? I never...
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Do you get tired of the back-and-forth with Iran?
TRUMP: I never get tired. But what I like to do - if I can save war by waiting a couple of days, if I can save people being killed by waiting a couple of days, I think it's a great thing to do.
BATRAWY: Now, Iran's position is that they are negotiating the terms of a permanent ceasefire in good faith through mediators like Pakistan but that they also have suspicion, given that the last two times they were in the midst of talks with the Trump administration, the U.S. and Israel launched war. Now, Iran says it prefers diplomacy, but its armed commanders are threatening an even wider war if Iran is attacked again.
MARTÍNEZ: Do Gulf Arab states have much leverage with President Trump right now?
BATRAWY: So these countries were not consulted before this war was launched by the U.S. and Israel back in February. Some only got a short notice to prepare their air defenses, while others got no warning at all. But the thing is, they have borne the brunt of Iran's counterattacks in this war, and countries like Saudi Arabia and Qatar want to see this war end.
But Trump has also been speaking regularly with Israel's prime minister. And just this week, they had a tense and contentious call. A person familiar with the matter not authorized to speak publicly told NPR Benjamin Netanyahu railed against a deal to end the war and that Trump told him he would continue to pursue a deal that prevents Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon, but that Iran needs to show flexibility.
Now, another factor, A, to consider here is that Saudi Arabia is hosting 2 million Muslims from around the world for the annual Hajj pilgrimage next week. And Saudi Arabia's foreign minister publicly thanked Trump yesterday for granting more time for talks with Iran.
MARTÍNEZ: Now, right now, hundreds of ships are not able to get through the Strait of Hormuz. So what can you tell us about Iran's continued control there?
BATRAWY: All right. So this really is Iran's most important point of leverage right now, and it has driven up oil and food prices globally, as we know. And the U.S. has, in turn, blocked Iranian ships from exporting its oil out at sea. But Iran has established a new body to collect tolls and coordinate the transit of ships through the strait. They're calling it the Persian Gulf Strait Authority. They published a map yesterday of what it says are waters under Iran's control now, and it encompasses the United Arab Emirates' territorial waters, including an oil terminal and a port that the UAE is using to bypass the strait. A powerful Emirati minister named Sultan Al Jaber - he also runs Abu Dhabi's state-run and state-owned oil company - said this yesterday at the Atlantic Council.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
SULTAN AL JABER: This sets a dangerous precedent once you accept that a single country can hold the world's most important waterway hostage.
BATRAWY: Now, again, Gulf countries have borne the brunt of these attacks, and the UAE says drones from Iraq, where Iranian-backed militias are active, were launched at its nuclear power plant in Abu Dhabi on Sunday. It sparked a fire. It hit an electric generator. But, you know, attacks like this show that even in a ceasefire, Gulf countries - especially the UAE because of its close ties with Israel - remain very vulnerable.
MARTÍNEZ: That's NPR's Aya Batrawy in Dubai. Thank you very much.
BATRAWY: Thanks a lot. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
