You're listening to the Briefing, first broadcast on 29th November, 2024 on Monocle Radio.
Hello, and a warm welcome to the Briefing, broadcasting to you live from Studio 2 here at Midori House in London.
I'm Emma Nelson.
And coming up on Today's program, Europe's E3 holds talks with Iran with plenty to talk about, including the imminent Trump presidency and a prospect of reopening talks on a nuclear deal.
But is Tehran interested in hearing what Europe has to say?
Also coming up, Donald Trump says he's enjoyed a wonderful phone call with the Mexican president, but will it be good enough to stop him hitting the country with 25% tariffs?
We'll hear more about the arrest of a leading Ugandan opposition leader and then how one homegrown film is beating all the Hollywood big hitters in Brazil.
All that coming up right here on the Briefing.
With me, Emma Nelson.
Just how relevant is Europe's voice to Iran?
Representatives of the E3, France, Germany and the UK are meeting officials from Tehran in Geneva today.
They're talking about talks, whether there is scope to defuse tensions in the Middle east, including Tehran's nuclear program, and what to do about the return of Donald Trump to the White House.
But in the current geopolitical climate, questions are being asked about the strength of Europe's voice and its powers of persuasion.
Well, to tell us more, I'm joined by Ruth Michelson, who's a journalist and Middle east correspondent, and Paul Rogers, Open Democracy's international security expert.
A very warm welcome back to you both.
Hello, Paul.
Could you just explain to us, to begin with, do we have any more details about what they're actually talking about?
No, it's pretty tentative.
I mean, the basic thing is that the E3, the European states, want to try and get to a position where it may be possible to have negotiations with Iran once Trump gets in.
And they really want to probe what the Iranian position is.