English transcript of my interview on France Info TV – 29 May 2026.
Hello, Rémi Bourgeot. At the heart of this issue, as always, is money—the economy. In Donald Trump’s decisions, just minutes ago, we were told the U.S. president wanted to take his time before possibly announcing his decision on the Iran deal. And now, we see things accelerating. Do you see an economic dimension here?
Rémi Bourgeot: Absolutely, this is the primary source of pressure on Donald Trump, stemming from the global economy and the U.S. economy. So he’s under this urgency.
But today, he’s also facing internal divisions. Personally, he quickly realized the disaster that the U.S.-Israeli campaign against Iran had become, especially since he’d been promised it would only last a few days.
On the American side, he’s dealing with tensions from parts of the Republican Party, particularly the neoconservatives, who oppose any diplomatically realistic agreement. And then there’s the pressure from Israel, which—at least from Benjamin Netanyahu’s perspective—has no interest in reaching a deal with Iran, let alone one with regional repercussions, especially regarding the war against Lebanon. So the situation remains highly uncertain.
For the Americans, the core issue is still nuclear. Yet we also see the weight of Iran’s position and the immense military challenges—on top of the economic difficulties the U.S. faces—having to concede to Iran’s main demand: delaying a nuclear agreement. Let’s not forget that under Obama, such negotiations took years. Today, the discussion is about Iran committing not to develop nuclear weapons—but that’s already the case. The negotiations focus on civilian nuclear programs and enrichment levels to prevent Iran from being in a technical position to develop military nuclear capabilities.
We’re seeing a situation of extreme difficulty for the United States. Trump has recognized the deadlock he’s in, but he’s facing massive opposition and pressure, with all this back-and-forth and incredible uncertainty. And the negotiation process itself is quite surprising: he’s being asked to approve something that, in theory, he himself is supposed to negotiate—because the negotiators have a very limited mandate.
So the parties are indeed trying to agree on reopening the Strait of Hormuz, which was fully open before this conflict. But beyond this partial agreement, tensions remain extremely high with the U.S., which is struggling to acknowledge this strategic defeat.
Rémi Bourgeot, you’re still with us. Are we talking about war, potential solutions to the conflict, or not? And are we mainly discussing nuclear and oil issues?
Yes, I think it’s fair to say that even if an agreement is reached, it would be a very partial one. In reality, the situation would look much more like a frozen conflict than a peace deal. The goal is to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and, for now, set aside the nuclear issue for a potential future agreement—because such negotiations take a very long time.
What’s happening right now is that Donald Trump feels the need to include the word “nuclear” in his announcement. But in reality, this isn’t a genuine concession, since Iran isn’t developing—and did not intend to develop—a military nuclear program. That wasn’t the issue.
As for enrichment, even for civilian or experimental purposes, concessions were already on the table. For Iran, the key is maintaining the ability to enrich uranium. So we’re seeing the situation unfold as it has over the past three months.
This is a strategic debacle for the United States and for Israel as well. Trump is facing immense difficulty in reaching an agreement, even though he’s been trying for two months to extricate himself from this situation.
The most significant concession from Iran seems to be over control of the Strait of Hormuz. Even if they adjust access or transit conditions, or reopen the strait in coordination with the Americans, they’ve demonstrated what some have called their own “nuclear weapon”: the ability to control the strait, albeit with very limited means compared to, say, their ballistic missile program.
So we’re looking at a situation that leans toward a frozen conflict, with the prospect of a nuclear deal coming later. The positive side is that there’s a shared will to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and make mutual concessions. But there’s still a major roadblock on the U.S. side, which Trump must overcome to realistically achieve any kind of breakthrough.
Thank you, Rémi Bourgeot, for your analysis.
This automatic transcript has been edited for the sake of clarity.