Iranian Actions in Strait of Hormuz Discussed
SAVIDGE: Right now tensions are soaring between Iran and the West and the U.K. Emergency Response Team is meeting today after Iran captured a British flagged oil tanker in the critical shipping area of the Strait of Hormuz. There you see new video of the moment that the tanker was seized by Iran's navy. Britain is warning that will be, quote, "serious consequences" if Iran does not release the ship. Now earlier this month, Britain seized an Iranian ship it said was involved in oil smuggling and then just days ago the U.S. claimed it destroyed an Iranian drone in the same area. Vali Nasr is a professor at the School of International Studies at Johns Hopkins University. He's also author of the book, "The Dispensable Nation." And thank you very much for joining us.</s>VALI NASR, PROFESSOR AND AUTHOR: Thank you. You pointed out that Iran has a long history of an eye for an eye in its foreign relations and I'm wondering is that what you believe is going on here now?</s>NASR: Yes it is. I think Iranians are determined to show that they're not going to be cowed by President Trump's maximum pressure and that they want to show force. They want to show strength and also they want to use these kinds of confrontational tactics in order to back off further pressure from the United States and the Europeans. And with the British, they viewed the capture of their tanker as being done at the behest of Washington and not justified based on European sanction rules and therefore they are retaliating in kind with Britain.</s>SAVIDGE: Right, in other words, this is not an escalation so much as they're saying you took one of our ships, now we'll take one of yours, correct?</s>NASR: Correct. And also they want to say don't think that we're weak. Don't assume you can keep pressing us because we're going to hit back and you have to be prepared to assume the cost.</s>SAVIDGE: But you know Britain has been a defender of the Iran nuclear agreement. The U.S. abandoned it and I'm wondering does it put that British support in jeopardy as well as the support of Europe?</s>NASR: Well, the Iranians don't think that Britain has supported the nuclear deal because they think that Britain has verbally said that they support the deal but they have facilitated President Trump's maximum pressure every step of the way and the capture of the Iranian tanker is proof to them because European sanctions for sale of oil to Syria applies only to European countries. It does not apply to non- European countries. So Britain captured the Iranian tanker at the behest of Washington, and that to the Iranians appears that Britain is actually serving as an instrument of the United States, not an independent actor.</s>SAVIDGE: The danger is of course that somehow this can be misconstrued. In other words, that the British could see this as perhaps an upping of tensions rather than say well it's just the equivalent of you taking a ship of our own. What has to happen to de- escalate the situation?</s>NASR: Without a doubt, Great Britain sees this action of Iran as provocative, as Iran upping sort of the ante and putting the ball in Britain's court. I think what might happen here is some kind of a negotiation where Britain agrees to release the Iranian tanker without the conditions they have put on the table and the Iranians agree to release the British tanker without any further action and both essentially back away. If they don't go down that path, then Britain is put in a position of doing something further on Iran, further sanctions, closing of Iranian embassy, expelling Iranian diplomats and then Iran is going to reciprocate to that and that won't release the tankers but it would put Iran-British relations in deeper freeze.</s>SAVIDGE: Yes, the "New York Times" is reporting that Iran's foreign minister said that he would be willing to meet with U.S. lawmakers. Is the U.S. genuinely interested in actual talks or is it more politically beneficial for President Trump to keep Iran at a distance?</s>NASR: I think President Trump personally is interested in a talk, is interested in something like what happened with North Korea. I think his foreign policy team, his national security adviser, his secretary of state are not interested in fruitful talks with Iran. And Iran -- Iranian Foreign Minister and Ambassador at the U.N. have met with lawmakers in the past. They have had conversations with Senators and Congressmen, and that could be at least a channel through which some kind of a direct communication between United States and Iran could start and that would be beneficial. I think at least in terms of creating some ground rules for the way they are going about business now.</s>SAVIDGE: And the Trump Administration, as we know, is also reinforcing its military relationship with Saudi Arabia by preparing to send hundreds more troops to that country amid increasing tensions with Iran. So what are the pitfalls of this deepening relationship with the Saudis?</s>NASR: Well, that had already been there. I think sending troops to Saudi Arabia is more a signal to Iran that the United States is building its military presence in the region. And the Iranian reaction right now is that we're not intimidated by that, we're going to escalate as well. If you want to go down the path of confrontation, we're ready for you. They're calculating that President Trump really does not want confrontation, that all of the American maximum pressure was built on the assumption that Iran would never react. The fact that Iran is reacting is actually going to complicate the way in which U.S. had calculated how this would play out. Iranians are banking on the fact that President Trump is going to come to the conclusion that his strategy with Iran is not working and escalation will bring confrontation and he doesn't want confrontation, he has to think of something else.</s>SAVIDGE: It could be fraught with all kinds of danger. All right, Vali Nasr, thank you so much for joining us today.</s>NASR: Thank you.</s>SAVIDGE: Up next, the 2020 democrats are gearing up for their next round of debates. It will be right here on CNN. So how is Joe Biden preparing for his rematch with Kamala Harris? We'll check in on his his campaign coming up.