# Asia Stock Rally as Iran Optimism Builds

An episode of [Bloomberg Daybreak: Asia Edition](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1663863437), 7 May 2026, 21 min.

Audio: https://podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/58e85be7-dbb5-4043-afed-af80014dc0b3/c90906ee-5f22-4342-8dd6-b443001a6888/audio.mp3?utm_source=Podcast&in_playlist=27143354-63aa-4ac5-965d-af80014dc0d3

Business and finance news from the Asia-Pacific. Asian equities climbed to a record, powered by a rally in Japanese stocks on their return from a break, as optimism grew that the US and Iran were nearing a deal to end the conflict that had rattled markets and clouded the economic outlook. Easing tensions in the Middle East have helped global equities erase war-driven losses and push to fresh highs, as falling oil prices eased inflation concerns and revived momentum in the artificial intelligence trade. For more on the outlook on oil, we spoke to Steven Stapczynski, Bloomberg's Asia Energy Team Leader. Plus - The US and Iran were circling around a fresh proposal to end the war on Wednesday, as President Donald Trump searches for an exit from a conflict that has elevated energy prices and damaged his political standing. Washington has presented a one-page memorandum of understanding that would gradually reopen the Strait of Hormuz and lift the American blockade on Iranian ports, according to a person familiar with the measure, who asked not to be identified discussing sensitive information. Detailed negotiations over Iran's nuclear program would come later in the process, the person said, adding that nothing has yet been agreed upon. We heard from Barbara Leaf, Senior International Policy Advisor at Arnold and Porter speaking to Bloomberg's Haidi Stoud-Watts and Shery Ahn. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

## Transcript

[0:00] Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, Podcasts, Radio News.
[0:10] Speaker 2: Welcome to the Daybreak Asia podcast. I'm Doug Chrisner. Japanese
[0:14] Speaker 2: equities are in rally mode at this hour as they
[0:17] Speaker 2: returned from a three day break and participate in some
[0:20] Speaker 2: of the optimism over a deal to end the conflict
[0:23] Speaker 2: between the US and Iran. That was certainly the case
[0:25] Speaker 2: in US trading, where the equity market rally to record highs. Now,
[0:29] Speaker 2: we are being told that Washington has presented a memorandum
[0:32] Speaker 2: of understanding that would gradually reopen the straight of horror
[0:36] Speaker 2: moves and at the same time lift the American blockade
[0:39] Speaker 2: on Iranian ports. Now we're being told that Iran is
[0:43] Speaker 2: expected to send a response via mediator Pakistan in the
[0:47] Speaker 2: next two days. Now, during New York trading, crude oil
[0:50] Speaker 2: prices simply collapsed. We had WTI dropping about seven percent,
[0:54] Speaker 2: and right now in the Asian session, WTI is down
[0:58] Speaker 2: about one percent. For a close look at what's happening
[1:01] Speaker 2: in the energy complex, I'm joined by Bloomberg Steven Stepchinsky.
[1:05] Speaker 2: Stephen is leader of the Asia Energy Team and he
[1:08] Speaker 2: joins from our studios in Singapore. Thank you for being here.
[1:12] Speaker 2: Can you give me a sense of what you're observing
[1:14] Speaker 2: in the market right now.
[1:16] Speaker 3: You know, I think that there is some expectation, some
[1:19] Speaker 3: excitement that maybe there will be a breakthrough this time
[1:23] Speaker 3: between the US and Iran. I think that is semming
[1:26] Speaker 3: from a few reasons. One, you do have this MoU,
[1:29] Speaker 3: and if there is some sort of MoU agreed to,
[1:32] Speaker 3: according to Bloomberg reports, there will be a gradual opening
[1:35] Speaker 3: again of the straight of Horde Moves. That's the key
[1:38] Speaker 3: aspect here is the opening of hor Moves and getting
[1:41] Speaker 3: shipps through, because at the moment, traffic through horr Mooves
[1:45] Speaker 3: has essentially stopped for two reasons, but one because of
[1:48] Speaker 3: the blockade from Iran but also from the US side,
[1:52] Speaker 3: which is blocking Ranio ships from getting out. So essentially
[1:54] Speaker 3: ships have halted, and that's that's reducing the amount of
[1:58] Speaker 3: oil on the market. But if there is some sort
[2:01] Speaker 3: of way to make a breakthrough, at least have some
[2:05] Speaker 3: sort of initial agreement, then the market will look at
[2:07] Speaker 3: that positively and see that as something that potentially you
[2:11] Speaker 3: could you could have a wider deal done later, maybe
[2:14] Speaker 3: in a month, and then also during that time you
[2:17] Speaker 3: would see more ships go through Horror moves. Now, I
[2:20] Speaker 3: think there's something else at play here. The market is
[2:23] Speaker 3: also looking at US gasoline prices. US gasoline prices, the
[2:26] Speaker 3: average price rows to about four dollars and fifty cents
[2:31] Speaker 3: a gallon. That is the highest level since twenty twenty two,
[2:35] Speaker 3: and this is causing pain for the Trump administration. So
[2:38] Speaker 3: you can see on both sides, not only do they
[2:40] Speaker 3: want to get the deal done because they want hormones
[2:42] Speaker 3: to open, they also want to get a deal done
[2:45] Speaker 3: because if horror moves were to open and prices were
[2:48] Speaker 3: to continue falling, then it would ease this pain for consumers,
[2:52] Speaker 3: especially as we're entering the summer driving period. So I
[2:55] Speaker 3: think those are the two key aspects that the market
[2:59] Speaker 3: is closely watching, and it does seem that the Trump
[3:01] Speaker 3: administration is at least stepping up to play ball here.
[3:03] Speaker 2: Not that this is necessarily a novel idea, but I'm
[3:06] Speaker 2: wondering whether we need to make the distinction between what's
[3:09] Speaker 2: happening in futures trading and what's happening in the physical market.
[3:13] Speaker 2: We heard from former US Secretary of State Anthony Blenken
[3:18] Speaker 2: on Wednesday. He was speaking at the Economic Club of
[3:20] Speaker 2: New York and he was talking about the fact that
[3:23] Speaker 2: we're at the point where we have moved from prices
[3:26] Speaker 2: to actual availability. Is it possible that the physical market
[3:31] Speaker 2: is much much different than what we're seeing priced in
[3:34] Speaker 2: futures trading.
[3:35] Speaker 3: You know that that had been the case for the
[3:38] Speaker 3: last few weeks. But what's very interesting is that over
[3:41] Speaker 3: the last few days you've seen dated Brent actually continue
[3:45] Speaker 3: to fall. Bloomberg Opinion columnist Javier Bloss actually just pointed
[3:50] Speaker 3: out that the dated Brent prices, which is a physical market,
[3:53] Speaker 3: are down to about one hundred and four dollars. That's
[3:56] Speaker 3: down basically ten percent in one day and getting very
[4:00] Speaker 3: close to where we are in the futures market. So
[4:04] Speaker 3: that that indicates a few things. It means that the
[4:07] Speaker 3: physical tightness in the market actually might be easing to
[4:12] Speaker 3: an extent because of the record breaking US oil exports,
[4:18] Speaker 3: but also because of demand destruction. You're seeing a lot
[4:21] Speaker 3: of because when prices rise, demand starts to fall. Especially
[4:25] Speaker 3: in the Asian emerging world, you're seeing consumers just consuming less,
[4:30] Speaker 3: buying less. They're unable to maintain the high prices. So
[4:35] Speaker 3: because of that, both on the supply side and the
[4:37] Speaker 3: demand side, they're being able to fill the gap to
[4:39] Speaker 3: an extent. Of course, there could be to some degree
[4:43] Speaker 3: speculation in the physical market as well as you see
[4:46] Speaker 3: in the futures market, But does seem that there is
[4:49] Speaker 3: at least at the moment enough oil. I think one
[4:52] Speaker 3: thing to watch out for though, are the products, because
[4:54] Speaker 3: you know, oil isn't just Brent oil. We also have
[4:57] Speaker 3: to look at diesel, jet fuel, LPG, look fin natural
[5:02] Speaker 3: gas as well, energy which is an offshoot of natural gas,
[5:06] Speaker 3: in all those markets. And it seems that the jet
[5:08] Speaker 3: fuel market in particular is under the most strained diesel
[5:11] Speaker 3: as well because there is just a physical tightness and
[5:16] Speaker 3: a threat and a risk of a shortage in those markets.
[5:19] Speaker 2: So even if there is some type of resolution in
[5:21] Speaker 2: the conflict, do we need to talk about some of
[5:24] Speaker 2: the other key constraints that may continue to exist. I mean,
[5:28] Speaker 2: if Iran were to maintain control over the strait of
[5:31] Speaker 2: hormones in some way, perhaps trying to pass some type
[5:36] Speaker 2: of transit fee along to any vessel that is transiting
[5:40] Speaker 2: those waters, I mean, do we need to consider other
[5:42] Speaker 2: permutations of what's been going on rather than just the
[5:47] Speaker 2: end of the conflict per se.
[5:49] Speaker 3: You raise a really good point, and I think that's
[5:51] Speaker 3: something that there might still be a disconnect between the
[5:53] Speaker 3: futures market and where Endless and people monitor the market
[5:57] Speaker 3: are are kind of positioned because this is we're not
[6:01] Speaker 3: going to be going back to a pre war transit
[6:05] Speaker 3: traffic level in Hormuz anytime soon. According to the analysts
[6:08] Speaker 3: and traders at least that I've spoken to, it really
[6:12] Speaker 3: does seem like it will take a long time to
[6:14] Speaker 3: increase the traffic for a number of reasons. One which
[6:19] Speaker 3: you which you flag is what is the level of
[6:22] Speaker 3: control that Tehran has over over the straight If they're
[6:25] Speaker 3: forcing people to pay a toll, to pay in bitcoin
[6:28] Speaker 3: to do all these things, there is still a sanction entity.
[6:31] Speaker 3: Big oil companies, ones that are based in the UK
[6:33] Speaker 3: or the US or elsewhere they are on their risk
[6:36] Speaker 3: their risk management department will not let them do that. Likewise,
[6:40] Speaker 3: there might be some Leastern countries that are are upset
[6:44] Speaker 3: at the in the conflict in general and and don't
[6:46] Speaker 3: want to pay that either. There might be some crews
[6:49] Speaker 3: that don't want to be stationed on ships going through.
[6:51] Speaker 3: Insurers might not be willing to uh insure ships. The
[6:55] Speaker 3: insurance rames might rise so much that the ship owners
[6:58] Speaker 3: might not want to pay that either, so there will
[7:01] Speaker 3: be a restructuring of how transit through Hormuz looks. And
[7:07] Speaker 3: I analysts warned that the market might not be taking
[7:10] Speaker 3: that into account properly. So while there might be a deal,
[7:13] Speaker 3: and while transit might increase to an extent, maybe you know,
[7:16] Speaker 3: to dozens of ships compared to over one hundred and
[7:19] Speaker 3: thirty five ships before the war began, you still have
[7:23] Speaker 3: to take into account that there could be restrictions and
[7:26] Speaker 3: that will tighten the market, and that will redirect flows,
[7:29] Speaker 3: and that could lead to higher prices for longer. And
[7:32] Speaker 3: I do want to, you know, remind everyone that while
[7:35] Speaker 3: prices have dropped over the last few sessions, we are
[7:37] Speaker 3: still around one hundred dollars brent, which is much higher
[7:41] Speaker 3: than where we were when we were starting the year
[7:42] Speaker 3: around the seventy to sixty dollars level. And in fact,
[7:45] Speaker 3: because this year was supposed to be a glut year,
[7:47] Speaker 3: with new supply coming online and potentially pushing prices even
[7:52] Speaker 3: lower to below sixty, this is a very big difference
[7:56] Speaker 3: than where we stood before. So if one hundred dollars
[7:59] Speaker 3: is the new normal, that is still quite a bit
[8:01] Speaker 3: of a risk premium built into where we stand.
[8:03] Speaker 2: So for companies that are involved in kind of producing
[8:08] Speaker 2: crude oil, obviously the market is their best friend right now.
[8:11] Speaker 2: I was looking at numbers from the commodities data firm
[8:14] Speaker 2: Kepler that US crude oil exports surged to a record
[8:18] Speaker 2: five point two million barrels a day in April. So
[8:21] Speaker 2: it seems Steven as though the United States has become
[8:25] Speaker 2: a huge beneficiary of what's going on right now in
[8:28] Speaker 2: the market.
[8:29] Speaker 4: Yeah.
[8:30] Speaker 3: I mean the US benefits not just from oil but
[8:32] Speaker 3: also LOCKFID natural gas. The US is the world's biggest
[8:34] Speaker 3: export of LNG. They're benefiting there as well. And the
[8:38] Speaker 3: US is really the only market that's substantially growing in
[8:41] Speaker 3: energy over the next few years. But I think you
[8:44] Speaker 3: know that's correct. You're going to see profits increase, and
[8:47] Speaker 3: you're going to see overall a benefit a windfall to
[8:52] Speaker 3: some of the biggest oil and gas producers. But there
[8:56] Speaker 3: it isn't. This isn't the sort of thing that I
[8:59] Speaker 3: noticed executives celebrate. This is good for a quarter, a half,
[9:03] Speaker 3: maybe a fiscal year, But if these prices arise, this
[9:08] Speaker 3: isn't because of demand. This is because of a disruption
[9:11] Speaker 3: to the market, and if there is a disruption, if
[9:13] Speaker 3: there's higher prices, if this is catching consumers off guard,
[9:16] Speaker 3: this risks demand destruction, and that's something that the industry
[9:21] Speaker 3: does not want. They don't want emerging countries to shift
[9:23] Speaker 3: faster to evs or renewables or to coal. They don't
[9:27] Speaker 3: want consumers to stop consuming. The prices do help them
[9:33] Speaker 3: in the short term, but usually in these sorts of events,
[9:35] Speaker 3: similar to the twenty twenty two energy crisis caused by
[9:38] Speaker 3: Russia's invasion of Ukraine, these are things that the market
[9:44] Speaker 3: they want to fix quickly, and from my understanding from
[9:47] Speaker 3: those in the industry, there is a genuine fear that
[9:50] Speaker 3: if this continues for long, it could reduce a demand
[9:54] Speaker 3: and consumption from some of their key buyers.
[9:56] Speaker 2: Where does China come into this conversation at all. I
[9:59] Speaker 2: know that the Foreign Minister of Iran was in China
[10:03] Speaker 2: recently talking with the Chinese foreign minister. Is there the
[10:08] Speaker 2: sense that China is being a little bit more aggressive
[10:11] Speaker 2: and trying to find a way to resolve this.
[10:13] Speaker 3: Yes, certainly. I mean there have been reports of them
[10:15] Speaker 3: also trying to use back channels to allow to get
[10:19] Speaker 3: Iran to allow some shipments to go through for delivery
[10:22] Speaker 3: to China. The first lick financial gas shipment to be
[10:25] Speaker 3: exported out of the Persian Gulf through Hormuz over just
[10:29] Speaker 3: the last few weeks is destined for China. So China
[10:31] Speaker 3: needs the energy. They are insulated better than a lot
[10:34] Speaker 3: of other countries in South and Southeast Asia, but they
[10:37] Speaker 3: still do need the energy. They're a major consumer of
[10:40] Speaker 3: energy from the Middle East, and also as prices are higher,
[10:43] Speaker 3: that doesn't help them because they import quite a bit.
[10:46] Speaker 3: I mean, I think you also have to look at
[10:48] Speaker 3: at what's happening between the US and China, because there
[10:51] Speaker 3: will be the Si Trump Summit in a few weeks,
[10:54] Speaker 3: and that is maybe that is something that Trump wants
[10:58] Speaker 3: to get figured out. And less have kind of speculated
[11:00] Speaker 3: that Trump wants to probably head there without the specter
[11:04] Speaker 3: of the ongoing Iran war and the high energy prices
[11:07] Speaker 3: hanging over him as he goes into these really serious
[11:09] Speaker 3: discussions with a cue economic rival. So I think that
[11:15] Speaker 3: China does play into this, and if China were to
[11:18] Speaker 3: exert more pressure, if the US feels that they need
[11:20] Speaker 3: to do something to make sure that they can get
[11:22] Speaker 3: a deal out of China. And does that mean, you know,
[11:26] Speaker 3: making a deal with a ran ahead of time. I
[11:27] Speaker 3: think that's something that certainly the market is closely monitoring.
[11:30] Speaker 2: Okay, Stephen, good stuff. We'll leave it there. Thank you
[11:32] Speaker 2: so much, Bloomberg Steven Stepchinsky. Stephen is leader of the
[11:36] Speaker 2: Asia Energy Team, joining from Singapore here on the Daybreak
[11:39] Speaker 2: Asia Podcast. Welcome back to the Daybreak Asia Podcast. Time
[11:51] Speaker 2: deg Krisner. And as I mentioned earlier, there is hope
[11:54] Speaker 2: in markets that the US and Iran are nearing a
[11:56] Speaker 2: deal to end the war. Washington has presented a one
[12:00] Speaker 2: page memorandum of understanding to Iran and we are told
[12:03] Speaker 2: that Iran is expected to send a response to the
[12:05] Speaker 2: US via mediator Pakistan in about two days. And that's
[12:10] Speaker 2: where we begin our conversation with Barbara Leif. Barbara is
[12:14] Speaker 2: senior International Policy advisor at Arnold and Porter. She spoke
[12:18] Speaker 2: with Bloomberg TV host Heidi Stroudwatts and Sherry on.
[12:21] Speaker 4: Of course, you've been watchful over the past what nine
[12:24] Speaker 4: weeks now of this conflict and the negotiations over the
[12:27] Speaker 4: past few weeks. When it comes to extending the ceasefire
[12:30] Speaker 4: into a more permanent truth, do you think that progress
[12:33] Speaker 4: is being made or do you think perhaps the sort
[12:38] Speaker 4: of requirements of being lowered in order to achieve some
[12:42] Speaker 4: sort of deal for both sides now.
[12:45] Speaker 5: Well, thank you, Heidi. I think it's a bit of both.
[12:47] Speaker 5: But it's clear that one of the clocks that is
[12:50] Speaker 5: ticking for President Trump is the on rushing date in
[12:56] Speaker 5: Beijing with Shijinping. And he as a number of other
[13:01] Speaker 5: pressures on him US domestic economic and political pressures, but
[13:05] Speaker 5: he's also having to contemplate meeting with his near peer
[13:11] Speaker 5: shi Jianping, and he does it either under the cloud
[13:16] Speaker 5: of a still still complete impasse on the conflict, or
[13:21] Speaker 5: he does it looking like he's beginning to find to
[13:26] Speaker 5: chart an exit from this conflict.
[13:30] Speaker 4: It's interesting that you bring up the upcoming summit in
[13:33] Speaker 4: Beijing as being kind of impetus for getting at least
[13:37] Speaker 4: some sort of symbolic deal. How much influence do you
[13:40] Speaker 4: think presidency has here given the China as in multiple
[13:44] Speaker 4: times in multiple conflicts now sort of try to take
[13:48] Speaker 4: diplomatic leadership, but perhaps with limited impact.
[13:55] Speaker 5: Well, I think historically China has stayed well clear of
[13:59] Speaker 5: the sticky morale of conflicts political security conflicts in the
[14:03] Speaker 5: Middle East, and I think this will be no different,
[14:07] Speaker 5: although it clearly China has a lot of interests strategic
[14:12] Speaker 5: interests in seeing the Strait of hor Hormus fully open
[14:16] Speaker 5: and a state of war ending between Iran, Israel, and
[14:20] Speaker 5: the US. But it is not, i would say, necessarily
[14:25] Speaker 5: a natural thing for China's Chizhenping to wade into such
[14:31] Speaker 5: a pray and to do so to help his American counterpart, and.
[14:37] Speaker 1: To do so just before a summit. Does this give
[14:40] Speaker 1: China the upper hand when she jimping heads into that
[14:44] Speaker 1: conversation with President Trump.
[14:46] Speaker 5: Well, I think it's clear that the Iranians are courting,
[14:51] Speaker 5: are courting Chinese support for their position, and indeed, all
[14:56] Speaker 5: of the public comments to date by the Chinese leaders
[15:01] Speaker 5: officials have been very carefully couched, never laying blame wholly
[15:06] Speaker 5: at or really substantially at Iran's door, calling on both
[15:11] Speaker 5: sides to bring the conflict to the end, to open
[15:14] Speaker 5: the street, and so forth. But I'd be very surprised
[15:19] Speaker 5: to see a Chinese move to do something ahead of
[15:22] Speaker 5: this summit, because, after all, he's if he is inclined
[15:26] Speaker 5: to wait into this, and I'm skeptical he would only
[15:29] Speaker 5: do so in trade for something significant for you.
[15:33] Speaker 1: And the reason that I'm asking for your thoughts on
[15:36] Speaker 1: this summit is also because I'm trying to understand what
[15:41] Speaker 1: President Trump has achieved from going to war with Iran.
[15:44] Speaker 1: I know the Hide alluded to this question earlier, but
[15:48] Speaker 1: what has President Trump gotten if, in fact, that one
[15:51] Speaker 1: page MoU that supposedly the two sides are reviewing at
[15:54] Speaker 1: this point includes clauses like the nuclear talks in detail
[16:00] Speaker 1: actually be postponed, mora thorium for Iran's uranium enrichment, but
[16:05] Speaker 1: everything else doesn't seem to have changed, not much from
[16:08] Speaker 1: where we were at before the war.
[16:11] Speaker 5: Well, you're asking the same questions that many Americans are asking,
[16:15] Speaker 5: and indeed Europeans, other folks around the world who are
[16:19] Speaker 5: being very very affected by this crisis, this conflict and
[16:24] Speaker 5: the shuddering of the straight Everyone is asking the same thing. Look,
[16:30] Speaker 5: I don't think it's unreasonable to kick to the side
[16:34] Speaker 5: to a longer process what is a very complex set
[16:37] Speaker 5: of nuclear issues. On the other hand, he is having
[16:42] Speaker 5: to untangle undo something that was, you know, to return
[16:47] Speaker 5: to the status quoiante before the war. That's a main
[16:52] Speaker 5: goal now for ending the war, and it's a past
[16:55] Speaker 5: failed test. It's either entirely open or it's not. And
[16:59] Speaker 5: the worst one of the worst outcomes could be that
[17:03] Speaker 5: the US succeeds to Iran having some sort of management
[17:08] Speaker 5: of the Strait, by which Tehran would gain a whole
[17:11] Speaker 5: new revenue stream as well as coeresive political control over
[17:17] Speaker 5: the Strait and the ability to turn it on and off,
[17:19] Speaker 5: as it has in these last weeks.
[17:23] Speaker 4: And that's exactly sort of the signs of what we're seeing,
[17:26] Speaker 4: right with this new updated process for ship seeking to
[17:28] Speaker 4: transit the Straight of hor Mows, ship owners now need
[17:32] Speaker 4: to send an email to the Persian Gulf Straight Authority.
[17:35] Speaker 4: You know, this is sort of a deterioration in the
[17:38] Speaker 4: ability for free passage from before the war, right, which
[17:41] Speaker 4: I think then goes back to Sherry's question, Well, what
[17:43] Speaker 4: has actually been achieved, even if you look at it
[17:46] Speaker 4: from just a pragmatic economic sense when it comes to
[17:49] Speaker 4: global energy markets and shipping markets at best.
[17:54] Speaker 5: At best, some of the some of the Iranian capabilities
[17:59] Speaker 5: to project threats, ballistic missiles, drones, et cetera. Some of
[18:04] Speaker 5: that has been destroyed, but not all. We've heard estimates
[18:08] Speaker 5: that only fifty percent of the ballistic missile arsenal has
[18:11] Speaker 5: been destroyed, and that can be replaced. It can be rebuilt.
[18:14] Speaker 5: The defense industrial base has been smashed to pieces, that
[18:18] Speaker 5: too can be rebuilt. Proxies they are in disarray, but
[18:22] Speaker 5: they can regenerate. The point is, if Iran gains a
[18:27] Speaker 5: whole separate revenue stream, enables it to essentially disregard the
[18:33] Speaker 5: pressures from sanctions, and it can rebuild. So I can't
[18:38] Speaker 5: really tell you that the administration has achieved anything at
[18:42] Speaker 5: this point, and in fact, arguably the world and the
[18:45] Speaker 5: US are in a much worse position.
[18:49] Speaker 1: But to all of the points that you just mentioned,
[18:52] Speaker 1: is Israel the bigger winner here?
[18:55] Speaker 5: No, not really, not really, because in the sense that
[18:59] Speaker 5: all of those elements of threat have not been destroyed,
[19:03] Speaker 5: have not been removed, and you have a hardened, more
[19:07] Speaker 5: radicalized regime that has taken the place of what was
[19:11] Speaker 5: never a moderate regime in the history of the Islamic Republic.
[19:15] Speaker 5: But certainly this one is a more radicalized regime and
[19:19] Speaker 5: battle tested.
[19:22] Speaker 1: And yet when it comes to deterioration of regional pronxis
[19:24] Speaker 1: and also perhaps a weakening of Iran, have those really
[19:30] Speaker 1: ambitions from Israel actually being achieved.
[19:34] Speaker 5: No, no, and you hear that commentary from Israelis themselves.
[19:39] Speaker 5: What was it all about in the end, So, while
[19:42] Speaker 5: the nuclear program has been smashed up, there is still
[19:48] Speaker 5: the unresolved issue of some four hundred and forty kilograms
[19:52] Speaker 5: of highly enriched uranium and another several hundred kilograms of
[19:58] Speaker 5: lesser enriched uranium that has to be accounted for. It
[20:01] Speaker 5: has to be removed or down blended. The rest of
[20:04] Speaker 5: the program is in disarray but can be rebuilt.
[20:09] Speaker 2: That was Barbara Leef, Senior International Policy Advisor at Arnold
[20:13] Speaker 2: and Porter, speaking with Bloomberg TV host Sherry On and
[20:16] Speaker 2: Heidi Stroud Watts, bringing you their conversation here on the
[20:19] Speaker 2: Daybreak Asia Podcast. Thanks for listening to today's episode of
[20:26] Speaker 2: the Bloomberg Daybreak Asia Edition podcast. Each weekday, we look
[20:30] Speaker 2: at the story shaping markets, finance, and geopolitics in the
[20:34] Speaker 2: Asia Pacific. You can find us on Apple, Spotify, the
[20:37] Speaker 2: Bloomberg Podcast YouTube channel, or anywhere else you listen. Join
[20:41] Speaker 2: us again tomorrow for insight on the market moves from
[20:45] Speaker 2: Hong Kong to Singapore and Australia. I'm Doug Chrisner and
[20:49] Speaker 2: this is Bloomberg,

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