EXCERPT:
BAKER: "Well. This is still not direct negotiations. If they’re not in the same room right but that doesn’t necessarily mean anything. Often in these kind of diplomatic you know dances. You start off in this sort of indirect way. You send notes back and forth, as Vaughn just described. You use the Omanis as an intermediary. It’s close to direct in the sense that you’re in the same place. But if you’re not sitting down at the same table, obviously you still have a ways to go until you get to a serious negotiation. You’re not going to get a deal until you get to that point. But it’s about starting, you know, a new relationship. It’s about starting fresh in a way with a new administration. You know, Trump has always talked tough on Iran. Maximum pressure was the phrase he used for his sanctions against them. And the question is Vaughn, I think, alluded to is, are they going to get a deal that’s better than the 2015 deal that Obama got? And to do that, they’re going to have to address missiles, which they thought was really important and not addressed in the original deal. And Iran’s sponsorship of terrorism in the region also not part of the original deal. The other thing that’s different is that they say that they want to dismantle the nuclear program entirely not just simply stop it or freeze it or leave it, you know not moving forward. That’s a big, big ask. And we’re not sure whether the Iranians are willing to do that yet."