Let's bring in two experts, former National Security Advisor to President Trump, Victoria Coates, and Brent Sadler, a graduate of the Naval Academy and an expert on naval warfare. Welcome to you both. Victoria, we'll start with you. The strait will be opening for shipping. The blockade is lifted. What is known about other parts of the agreement, in particular sanctioned relief and unfreezing assets? Well, Trey, great to see you, and good to see you too, Brent. What we know about the deal is that it's performance-based. And this is what differentiates it from the JCPOA, the Obama-era nuclear deal, in which they got all of the goodies up front, the sanctions relief, the pallets of cash. Instead, what we're going to do is see if they actually do what they're supposed to do. We're going to open up the strait. That's very important. And then we're going to start these negotiations on the nuclear deal, which aren't just to limit where they can enrich to, but rather to dismantle that program, to get the highly enriched uranium out. If that all takes place, then great. Yes, we can talk about future incentives for them, but they have to take those steps first. So that's the critical thing here. And I would say this is opening the door to a new Middle East. This is a Middle East under President Trump's leadership, where we can have our Gulf allies with Israel come together for a more prosperous, secure region. That wasn't possible four months ago. Now it is. And so for all the naysayers, all the deniers, let's see what's actually in the deal. Let's go forward and get to a more positive outcome. All right, Brent. A Senate like me, for instance, might argue that this kind of takes us back to the status quo ante, where we were before the recent hostilities. Is there more? Am I missing something? Because before the most recent hostilities, their nuclear program was degraded or obliterated to use the administration's word. The straight was open and there was no blockade. So how is this different? Well, I can understand the cynicism about the Middle East. There's certainly lots of reasons for that. The region has changed fundamentally. And I think what we're seeing now is the beginning of a page of a new era in the Middle East. I mean, it's not going to be smooth, of course, but it's not the same. Of course, Iran is alienated and actually agitated to actually force of arms many of its neighbors and also rallied in unity with Israel, which was unheard of before, which probably means you're going to see an acceleration and a broadening benefits of things like the Abraham Accords. So the region is fundamentally different now than it was several months ago and to include even the economics to say nothing of the global energy markets that are now changed and it's not going to go back to the way it was before. All right, Victoria, Brent has turned me into something of an optimist with his answer as it relates to the broader region. However, the Iranian regime has been a theocratic despotic one for 47 years and thugs don't become good neighbors overnight. Is Iran content stringing things along and waiting for President Trump term to end, hoping for a different negotiating partner in the future or do you think that they really are desirous of fundamental change? Well, Trey, I will say I don't want to stomp on your sunny optimism, but I mean, yes, we're dealing with the Iranians and so this regime is bad. They're hostile. They're the death to America, death to Israel crowd. And what makes them the most upset actually is the fact of how effective the United States Israel partnership was during Operation Epic Fury. So for everyone who's trying to point to differences between the United States and Israel tonight, look at that. Look at how seamless that cooperation was and how good it can be going forward. But for what we're going to do with dealing with them going forward, what we have to do is continue to keep the economic pressure on them, and they also know that we can strike them at the time of our choice in the place of our choice. So this isn't going to happen out of the goodness of their hearts because they don't have hearts. So this is going to happen because they're scared about more of those those strikes that the president called in last week that can happen any time. And so that's how we keep the pressure on them. We make sure they make good on this nuclear deal because that's the basic line here. No nuclear weapons for Iran. All right, Brent, is there a material difference between giving Iran cash and giving Iran access to frozen assets and allowing it to make money from selling oil if they're going to use the money for nefarious purposes? I mean, does it matter where they get the money from? And what we call it? Well, there is a big difference between pallets of cash and an aircraft that shows up and then disappears into wherever nefarious purpose. Then financial flows that you can actually monitor and also control. So on its surface, there's that. But again, the devil's in the details. We'll see when the actual agreement is hopefully released on Friday after the next phase of this is reached. And we'll be able to look at a lot closer what we're talking about on finances. All right, we've got about 30 seconds, so I'm going to get you both to quickly answer this question, Victoria, you and then Brent. Any chance in the world Israel is upset and tries to do something to upend this agreement? Victoria, then you, Brent. I'd be shocked, I mean, Trey, rather. I think that Israel wants to get to peace in the region. Well, thank you for calling me now. That's the nicest thing anyone's called me. You go ahead, Brent. No, I agree with that. There's very little reason to expect anything like that. The U.S. and Israel are aligned very closely in national security and national interest.
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