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You are listening to an art media podcast.
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It's Wednesday, May 27th. This episode was recorded at 7:00pm New York time on Tuesday. I'm Deborah Pardes and this is Ark News Daily. 11 weeks ago, President Trump said he would accept nothing less than Iran's unconditional Now a deal is taking shape, and it looks nothing like that. According to reporting from Axios and the New York Times over the weekend, the latest framework is a 60 day memorandum of understanding. Not a peace deal, not a nuclear deal. It's another pause. During that window, Iran is supposed to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and clear the mines it laid there. The US Would lift its blockade on Iranian ports and allow Iran to sell oil again. Some reports also say the US would unfreeze about $24 billion in frozen Iranian assets. That's a quarter of the roughly 100 billion in total frozen assets. So essentially, the economic warfare imposed by both sides could be winding down. This deal would also leave the harder questions about Iran's nuclear program and its ballistic missiles still on the table. Critics are already calling it what it looks like a backdown. Senator Ted Cruz posted on X that the war would be a disastrous mistake if it ended with an Iranian regime still receiving billions of dollars and still able to enrich uranium. Trump's former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo compared the emerging deal to the Obama era nuclear agreement, the same one Trump spent years tearing down. The White House shot back, telling Pompeo to, quote, shut his stupid mouth and leave the real work to the professionals. So why is Trump moving toward this deal that no one seems to like? Politics are part of it. Gas prices are up more than 50% since the war began. Trump's approval rating has dipped to the lowest point of his second term. The thinking is that this deal could help stabilize the economy and give Republicans a better shot at the midterm elections in November. But another piece of the puzzle, according to an analysis by the Free Press, is the military. The US Is running low on precision weapons that can hit Iran's coast from a safe distance. What's left are shorter range bombs that require aircraft to fly lower, and Iran has shown it could shoot those down. It did exactly that in April. The US Got lucky then, rescuing downed pilots before Iran could take them hostage. But a second round might not go the same way. On the latest episode of Call Me Back, Mark Dubowitz of the foundation for Defensive Democracies said that without military pressure, the US Position weakens.
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I do worry, yes. As time goes on, the credibility of the military threat diminishes. And if that diminishes, then the US Leverage starts to diminish considerably whatever sanctions campaigns we're running. And then the Iranians will begin to restore the capabilities that I think have been admirably degraded by both the United States and Israeli militaries.
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And Israel is also not happy with the latest developments. Opposition leader Yair Lapid called the emerging deal bad for Israel, bad for the region and bad for the Iranian people. And Reuters reported on Monday that Netanyahu says he has limited ability to influence Trump's decisions on Iran. So while Israel began the war as a US Partner, it could be ending it on the sidelines. Yan the 60 day window hasn't been officially set yet. U.S. officials say they need a few more days of negotiation. Once it starts, we'll see if that window finally closes Iran's path to a nuclear weapon or if it just gives them more time to rebuild what the war destroyed. While diplomacy in Iran plays out, the war in Lebanon is getting worse. Over the last eight days, Hezbollah and other Iran backed groups have fired more than a thousand drones and 700 rockets at Isra. In a video statement yesterday, Netanyahu said he ordered the IDF to intensify operations after the surge. The Israeli Air Force struck more than 70 Hezbollah sites overnight. Monday, Israeli media reported that ground forces are now advancing north of their defensive line in southern Lebanon, with some raids going beyond the Latani River. The military says the goal is to push Hezbollah farther north and reduce the threat of explosive drone attacks on northern Israeli communities. These are the fiber optic drones we've covered before. They're cheap and guided by a thin cable that unspools behind the drone in flight. That means there is no radio signal to jam and no electronic signature to detect. Israeli troops have been relying on nets to protect themselves and the northern communities. But in the meantime, all of this is complicating the broader Iran negotiations. The emerging agreement reportedly includes a ceasefire with Hezbollah, so any escalation Israel takes now could impact the very deal that's supposed to end the wider war. According to US Officials, Hezbollah is deliberately escalating to derail the talks. Every drone they fire and every Israeli counterpunch gives Iran a reason to walk away from the nuclear talks. This week, the Royal Commission on Antisemitism in Australia shifted from documenting the lived experience of antisemitism to asking some harder questions, like what went wrong on December 14th and who's responsible? What we're learning is that there were some major missteps Police in New South Wales had classified the Bandai Hanukkah event as a tier one community gathering, the lowest of three security categories. That meant no counterterrorism involvement and specialized police presence. By contrast, Jewish High Holy Day events in September and October are classified at the highest tier. The Jewish community's own security group had been raising alarms for weeks. They warned police that a terrorist attack was likely and specifically asked for officers at the Bondi event the entire time. Instead, the operations inspector sent an email to her team that read, no need to stay the entire duration, but your presence will ensure the community feels safe.
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Safe.
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She later said the message was poorly worded. Australia's domestic spy chief, Mike Burgess, told the commission that anti Semitism was left unchecked after October 7th and that normalization, in his words, gave more permission for violence. Anti Semitic attacks have been increasing dramatically. Police recorded 40 hate crimes against the Jewish community in 2020. In 2025, the year of the Bandai attack, there were more than 800. Some of it came from Iran. Burgess confirmed the Revolutionary Guard was behind at least two attacks, one on a kosher restaurant in Sydney and one on a synagogue in Melbourne. Australia expelled Iran's ambassador over both of those findings last August. Still, Burgess defended his agency.
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Every rock we lifted up, we found espionage or foreign interference that need to be inquired and investigated and under law, we can't be everywhere all at once. We're not all seeing and or knowing and we don't aspire to be.
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The commission's final report is due in December, one year after the attack. I'm Deborah Pardes and this is ARC News Daily. See you tomorrow,
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Sam.