10s of thousands of people gathered in Tehran today for
the funerals of Iranian President Abraham Raisi and others.
Of course the foreign minister
and others killed in that helicopter crash over the weekend.
Their coffins carried through the massive crowd.
Members of the Revolutionary Guard,
joined by in attendance by leaders of Hamas,
Hezbollah and the Taliban, as well as delegates from Iraq,
Qatar, Afghanistan, Russia and China,
leave Pakistan. Also joining me now,
David Ignatius, Washington Post foreign affairs columnist extraordinaire and the
author of the new thriller Phantom Orbit,
another thriller. David, you are amazing.
He writes these novels on top of,
you know, the wonderful column and fun for me,
I hope for readers going to Gaza and going to
places where
most people, most reporters, certainly most columnists don't venture
a hands on reporter. So first of all,
congratulations on the book. I want to talk about Iran
and this extraordinary transition. Right.
You see was not that consequential a leader,
He was sort of a
an in between leader, but he was expected to be
the successor to the Supreme Leader who
just governs foreign policy. But the Supreme Leader is known
to be ailing in some ways.
He's in his 80s, he's not going to be there
forever.
And now there was a succession issue.
The foreign minister was consequential because he was quietly a
hard liner,
but he was quietly a go between on some of
these secret talks.
And there was just last week talks in Oman between
the US
and
indirect talks, they say between the US and Iran
on so many issues. So Ricey was a figure of
the regime.
He was the enforcer, he was the judge,
He was the disciplinarian. I'm told that U.S.
intelligence estimates were that he would not in fact replace
Ali Khamenei is Supreme leader,
that the likely successor is Khamenei's son,
Mushtaba. So in that sense,
there may be a little bit less instability than than
people might think.
The replacement of the foreign minister is fascinating because the
person who's now acting foreign minister is the specific individual
who's been meeting with Brett McGurk,
our deputy national security adviser.
Top White House personal. And I spoke.
That's what I meant, that the Foreign
minister's successor now is this man who's been.
And. And the other thing is,
as you well know, the US intelligence assessment has been
that Iran did not want a wider war in Gaza,
that it said its proxies were doing this,
But that, you know, Hezbollah never opened a real open
opening, a northern front. And they said that they didn't
have total control over the hoodies and what they were
doing in the Red Sea,
but that the others were pretty much
under their direction, weaponized by them,
of course. But the US has had
remarkable little understood but meaningful dialogue with Iran
since October seven. It's been partly through the Swiss embassy
in Tehran,
which manages our contacts. We don't have diplomatic relations,
but sometimes it's been face to face where McGurk from
the White House will go out and meet with an
Iranian.
And the messages that have been passed almost always are
about reducing tensions.
And as you say, Iran does not want a confrontation
with the United States.
the US used force and pounded Iranian backed militias in
Syria and Iraq after they hit American forces.
Since then there haven't been attacks.
So I think the feeling is that Iran for now,
although it's still up to mischief all over the place,
really wants to avoid the confrontation with the US is
putting some limits on its on its nuclear program.
We'll see this that this question as you know Andrew,
the whole time we've been journalists since
1979 is when will the arc of the revolution in
Iran Crest and it become more like a normal country
and you can't say you see that yet.
And all of this, as Jake Sullivan was in Saudi
Arabia and we're being told by Saudi and US sources
that a bilateral agreement between the US and Saudi Arabia
for civilian nuclear power for defense treaty,
economic trade agreements, cutting Israel out of it if they
if Netanyahu still refuses to agree to a Palestinian
state. A pathway is the way they're phrasing it to
a state.
But these things, this thing is all coming together maybe
to pressure Netanyahu but so I I think it's now
on on the way to happening whether Netanyahu joins or
not. But this is a signal to to Israel to
to the Prime Minister
this train is leaving the station.
One of Netanyahu's big goals for some years now has
been normalization of relationships with Saudi Arabia.
And Saudi Arabia is saying it's there,
all you have to do is commit to a credible
pathway.
That's the phrase that the Saudi Press Agency used a
credible pathway to A2 state solution.
Not at no time frame as to when it would
happen
will Netanyahu give up this dream of normal relations across
the Arab world
to avoid the commitment to the Palestinian state?
Probably if his if his coalition stays intact,
his coalition will force him to.
But I think you've got it exactly the the right
description of the the US approach.
It's happening, Mr. Prime Minister,
so if you're going to join,
now's the time. And Speaking of happening,
your new book. So Phantom Orbit,
just as US Space Command saying yesterday that Russia has
launched a satellite capable of inspecting and attacking other satellites,
Space wars, whatever. And you've got Phantom Orbit.
And this is not your first spy novel.
You're deeply sourced. So you're right on the edge of
what
our intelligence sees as the next battle.
So Phantom Orbit describes the
coming role of space as a domain of conflict.
Russia's launch yesterday is the latest in a series of
of moves that I described in the book.
The Russians have had potential attack satellites up there for
some years.
The Chinese have even more sophisticated ones.
They can pluck our satellites out of orbit.
They may be able to interfere through
high-powered microwaves or lasers. I think the point for your
viewers is space this benign.
The heavens that we think of is is becoming increasingly
a zone of conflict.
Russians and Chinese have got a lot up there.
I'm sure the US is now beginning to develop similar
offensive and defensive weapons.
David Ignatius, I don't know how you do it all.
You're always cutting edge in your columns.
You're covering everything and you're writing these books that become,
you know, that get picked up his movies.
So congratulations. I'm like you,
Andrea. I like finding things out.
And I can do that in my novels as well
as in my journal.
It's just wonderful and it's a great read.
Thank you so much. Phantom Orbit is the book.
Get it?