Jake Sullivan - The Iran War, Trump, and U.S. Foreign Policy | The Daily Show

Jake Sullivan was part of the team President Obama sent for secret negotiations with the Iranians for several months, paving the way for the Iran nuclear deal.

One of the individuals Jake Sullivan negotiated with during the secret talks was Abbas Araghchi, who is now Iran's foreign minister.

During the secret negotiations, President Obama wanted to speak to the then-president of Iran, President Rouhani.

Jake Sullivan received a cell phone number from an Iranian official to connect President Obama with President Rouhani.

The call between President Obama and President Rouhani was the first time a U.S. president spoke to an Iranian president since 1979.

Jake Sullivan's approach to dealing with Iranians was "Don't trust, and verify."

The Iran nuclear deal, negotiated during the Obama administration, included deep verification mechanisms with inspectors on the ground covering Iran's nuclear infrastructure.

The Biden administration negotiated to get back into the Iran nuclear deal but could not, partly because Iranians questioned the reliability of a new U.S. commitment after Trump pulled out.

Jake Sullivan states that just a few days before the U.S. started bombing Iran, the Iranians put a proposal on the table in Geneva that went a long way towards resolving the nuclear issue.

Jake Sullivan clarifies that Iran was not only stating what they had but also expressing preparedness to downblend the uranium, rendering it unfit for weapons.

Jon Stewart's opening segment highlighted that striking Iran's nuclear program would not eliminate their stockpile of enriched uranium, centrifuges, or scientists capable of assembling them.

Jon Stewart describes Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu as appearing "nuts" and questions why the U.S. condemns Russia's actions in Ukraine as war crimes but tells Israel to "be cool" when bombing Gaza and killing thousands of civilians.

Jake Sullivan states that historically, the U.S. has been harder on its enemies than on its friends.

Jake Sullivan states that a "broken Iran" would mean a broken global economy due to threats to the Straits of Hormuz and potential refugee flows into Europe, like after the war in Syria.

Jake Sullivan believes there is a real divergence between Israel's ultimate aims and the United States' ultimate aims regarding the war in Iran.

Jake Sullivan finds it interesting that President Trump initially sought to avoid foreign entanglements, and President Biden ended the war in Afghanistan, yet Trump is now running in 2024 as a "peace candidate" but also advocating for renewed military involvement.

Jake Sullivan believes President Trump thinks he can go to war against Iran, potentially including regime change, without Iranian response, and therefore doesn't need to prepare to protect the Strait of Hormuz.

Jon Stewart describes the U.S. as a "regime change machine" globally and overly extended.

Jake Sullivan states that the intelligence community would have warned President Trump that waving the possibility of regime change in Iran would be considered existential by Iranians, prompting a strong response.