what's the situation on the ground right now in Israel any insight on when Iran could be reacting well it's a moving Target I think that's the best way to to understand it there have been several moments including last night when it looked like military action uh some sort of coordinated military action by Iran and Hezbollah was going to come and we saw last night Israel go unto its highest state of alert and Readiness but a week ago I was hearing from from very senior military commanders that they thought it was going to happen at at that time and I don't think that they were wrong necessarily then or they were misinformed otherwise the United States wouldn't have sent two aircraft carriers to the region one being sped up on the way and f-22s and sent the the commander of sencom all of this is is tremendously expensive they they moved because they were acting on intelligence and may believe have believed that it was coming then and it seems that Iran is still trying to calibrate uh when and where and how to react the the new development right now and this has just changed in the last few hours and this is only coming from from Reuters but I'm corroborating it through through other means uh Reuters is reporting citing three sources that Iran is now holding off on its retaliation could be proven wrong could come at any moment the troops are still here Israel is still at a state of high alert but the reporting is that Iran is holding off for now because it wants to take part directly in ceasefire negotiations and that it would strike if those ceasefire negotiations to release the hostages and stop the military campaign on Gaza fail or if it is perceived or they perceive uh that that Israel specifically Benjamin Netanyahu is dragging his feet is deliberately trying to avoid a commitment than they would strike in in that case and I've spoken to negotiators uh one negotiator in particular at a very senior level and he's aware of this did not deny it uh said that he has not uh received any formal uh application for Iran to take part in the talks but that he would not oppose it and that we had a discussion with the idea that should Iran have been there perhaps from the beginning since it was always a major player so there is still this hanging sword that could drop but there is also a diplomatic track potentially with Iran getting involved and diplomatic visits from the Biden Administration heading to this region uh o over the next several days so there is there there is a lot of of moving parts that need to um that need to fall into place so we're either going to escalation on one hand or we're going to deescalation and and a potential diplomatic route on the other and and really it boils down to what do uh what do Hamas want what does yya sinir want and what is prime minister Netanyahu willing to accept andic I know you've got some new reporting on efforts to reach that ceasefire deal exactly Jose talking about that diplomatic route that Richard was just referencing we know that CIA director Bill Burns is expected to be in Doha for what would be critical talks on a potential ceasefire deal that would free some of the hostages still being held by Hamas in Gaza those are scheduled for Thursday but we know given the potential for escalation in the region it's possible that some of that could change though the US the Biden Administration saying they fully want to pursue these negotiations and that is why they're sending their top Diplomat and negotiator who has been part of all of these different rounds of talks so many different iterations moments where it seemed like things were close but where the final gaps are clearly the most critical to close and we've been in that position time and time again over the last few months so that is the plan over the next couple of days and in addition to the CIA director we know that the White House coordinator for the Middle East Brett mcer is going to be in the region as well he was expected to First be in Cairo for some talks between Israeli and Egyptian officials there and then he would also be in Doha later in the week we expect to come to the table and continue to hash out some of these things but even the US National Security Council yesterday conceded that if there is some major escalation if we do see that depending on what happens here maybe the Thursday talks would have to be moved or affected but it is the priority of the United States that they go on as scheduled and they're really trying to frame this as a last and best and final offer even though we've heard that kind of language before even when the talks have sadly collapsed or gone nowhere but the US the president specifically has been on the phone with allies with countries like Germany France Italy the UK to try to talk to those leaders about what's happening there the current tensions in addition to trying to shore up more support for this potential deal to finally crystallize though there are a lot of obstacles still before that can be done J say and general meanwhile what are the options that Iran has and the last time they attacked uh Israel they did so with hundreds of missiles and and drones Etc what is it that they have in their Arsenal now that they could utilize well I think you'll see a different picture now we must remember that that not only Hannah Nia was killed in uh Tran but you also had in Hezbollah when you had Shakur also kill the leader uh and The Mastermind behind the soccer field attack uh there was a retaliatory strike on him and he was killed as well if you take a look at Hamas you had Muhammad dif killed he was the AL kazm leader longtime leader of military forces in Hamas so I think what has changed in this all will be looking to retaliate against Israel and I think uh the uh Iranians will use their proxies in this fight if you go back to the April fight it was primarily an Iranian 300 missiles and drone attack I think Hezbollah will get involved I think Hamas will try and fire missiles from the Gaza Strip and we cannot forget about uh the houthis down in the South whether they're they will act or whether or not the proxies that are located in Syria and Iran where they will uh act as well and they may act against US forces that are stationed in the regon and that's why it's so critical to set our defensive posture not only to defend and assist the uh Israel and defending Israel but also to protect us forces in the region you know Ambassador uh penis Iran has been involved through their different proxies right in in the area for for so many years now and now it seems that and just listening to what Richard was telling us Iran wants to insert itself into the Diplomatic side of negotiations Etc that would force the rest of the world to to deal with Iran as a major player how do you see this part of the uh kind of the the the puzzle of of what Iran has been doing and what it wants to do well there are two there are two levels here Jose one is uh um indigenously Iranian and one has to do with their Foreign Relations indigenously they're thinking about the um the cost effectiveness of any retaliation against Israel and general Tweety was absolutely right in describing the uh the scene there are two levels of escalation what you could do bilaterally youan against Israel and how do you use your proxies let's not forget that the proxies the houthis in Yemen it's not like a McDonald's franchisee you know where where the uh the restaurant one may be in Cincinnati and one in Miami but they both have the same colors the same Furniture the same menus these these are not exactly franchises the the they operate independently the second thing uh that I think consts Iran but also is helpful to it is Believe It or Not China uh the Chinese have uh levers of power and influence over CH over Iran and I think I don't know this for a fact but I'm connecting dosu that the US and the Chinese have cooperated perhaps tacitly not not so much uh directly on on deescalation because the Iranians are heavily invested in Iran Iran sees uh um China as a superpower Mentor that sort of equalizes or uh countervails uh the US and all this leads to some kind of a recalibration in Iran and again like Richard said correctly uh it could happen in an hour and everything we just said here is null and void nonetheless it looks like there is a serious thinking process going on interesting and Richard meanwhile as this is all going on the humanitarian crisis in Gaza is only getting worse uh it is being described as unlivable in Gaza we we speak daily to our our team in Gaza our teams in Gaza different parts of the Gaza Strip and every time I speak to them I don't know how they can do it how people can possibly live under the conditions where they are living uh it has been now many months people are moving pretty much everyone in in Gaza has been displaced from their home at least once most people multiple times uh it is incredibly hot things are outrageously expensive uh if you there shortages of of everything from food no clean water uh to speak of uh soap is almost impossible to find medicine is almost impossible to find U there's no such thing as a humanit Arian Zone really the humanitarian Zone has been struck several times Israel says because Hamas is taking advantage ofing it and putting its uh its Fighters inside of it and just recently Israel ordered the another partial evacuation of a humanitarian Zone and just to give you an an example of of a story that that we're we're working on right now there were two babies two newborn babies and they were swaddled in their uh in their wraps and they had just been brought home and they had been born four days ago the father went out he went to go get a birth certificate while he was out uh an Israeli strike hit the house killed the two babies and his wife and we have an image of him holding the death certificate in absolute in an absolute state of despair there are also still hostages in Gaza in this situation being held mostly underground in tunnel because it would be at this stage probably too difficult to move them around uh Israel keeps searching and researching areas they have been there many of them since October 7th perhaps not seeing any sunlight many of them wounded so across the Gaza Strip for the 2.2 million people for the for the hostages it is it is hard to see how it is survivable for much longer for