Featuring some of our favorite conversations of the week from our daily radio show "Bloomberg Businessweek Daily."
Hosted by Carol Massar and Tim Stenovec

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US President Donald Trump signaled he would give diplomacy a chance before deciding whether to strike Iran, dialing back on recent comments that suggested military action could be imminent.
“Based on the fact that there’s a substantial chance of negotiations that may or may not take place with Iran in the near future, I will make my decision whether or not to go within the next two weeks,” Trump said in a dictated message, according to White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt. Iran maintained Friday it won’t negotiate with the US while an Israeli assault continues. The only way to end the imposed war is to “unconditionally stop” the enemy’s aggression, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Friday in a post on X.

Oil prices fell following a report from Reuters that Iran is ready to discuss limitations on nuclear enrichment, but will not consider stopping entirely. That puts the country’s leadership at odds with Trump, who has called for zero enrichment.

Israel launched its surprise attack on Iran a week ago, saying the threat of its sworn enemy acquiring nuclear weapons had to be neutralized. While that goal hasn’t been fully met, the Islamic Republic’s military capabilities have been degraded and a number of its top generals and atomic scientists have been killed. Iran has struck back at Israel with waves of ballistic missiles and drones, and there have been heavy casualties on both sides.

Trump, who is scheduled to attend a national security meeting in the Oval Office on Friday, has publicly mused for days about the US joining the fray. His latest stance signals a step back after a run of tough rhetoric, including demands for Tehran residents to relocate and threats toward Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and his early departure from this week’s Group of Seven summit in Canada to return to Washington.
Today's show features:

• Dan Williams, Reporter for Bloomberg News Based in Jerusalem, on life in Israel given the Israel/Iran War
• Alex Vatanka, Senior Fellow at the Middle East Institute on life in Iran
• John Erath, Senior Policy Director for the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation on Iran's nuclear ambitions
• and Peter Atwater, President of Financial Insyghts on the overall US macro environment

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Federal Reserve officials left interest rates unchanged and continued to pencil in two rate cuts in 2025, saying uncertainty over the economic outlook was still high but had diminished. The Federal Open Market Committee voted unanimously on Wednesday to hold the benchmark federal funds rate in a range of 4.25%-4.5%, as they have at each of their meetings this year.
Officials also downgraded their estimates for economic growth this year while lifting their forecasts for unemployment and inflation.

Speaking to reporters following the decision, Chair Jerome Powell repeated his view that the central bank was “well positioned to wait to learn more about the likely course of the economy before considering any adjustments to our policy stance.”

While the median expectation for two rate cuts in 2025 didn’t change, a number of officials lowered their projections. Seven officials now foresee no rate cuts this year, compared with four in March. Two others pointed to one cut this year
Today's show features:

• Ross Mayfield, Investment Strategist at Baird Private Wealth Management & Ira Jersey Bloomberg Intelligence Chief US Interest Rates Strategist on FOMC Reaction
• Heather Williams, Director of Project on Nuclear Issues and Senior Fellow for Defense and Security at Center for Strategic and International Studies
• Michael Lohan, head of IDA Ireland on trade, tariffs and EU’s view of Trump.

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With Federal Reserve officials signaling an extended hold on interest rates, investors and economists will look to Chair Jerome Powell this week for clues on what might eventually prompt the central bank to make a move, and when.

A fourth straight meeting without a cut could provoke another tirade from President Donald Trump. But policymakers have been clear: Before they can make a move they need the White House to resolve the big question marks around tariffs, immigration and taxes. Israel’s attacks on Iranian nuclear sites have also introduced another element of uncertainty for the global economy.

Frank Sorrentino, Founder and CEO of ConnectOne Bankcorp previews what the Fed may do at the next FOMC meeting.

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President Donald Trump met with his national security team in Washington on Tuesday to discuss the escalating Middle East conflict, according to people familiar with the matter, fueling fresh speculation that the US is on the verge of joining Israel’s attack on Iran.

The meeting lasted over an hour and the White House provided no immediate statement afterward. Before gathering his advisers in the Situation Room, Trump posted a demand for Iran’s “UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER” and warned of a possible strike against the country’s leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. “We know exactly where the so-called ‘Supreme Leader’ is hiding. He is an easy target, but is safe there - We are not going to take him out (kill!), at least not for now,” Trump posted on social media.

Israel also sought to ratchet up pressure on Iran, signaling it will intensify a campaign of air strikes that have targeted the country’s nuclear facilities as well as military leaders and infrastructure. US weapons are seen as key to achieving a more complete destruction of the Islamic Republic’s atomic program than anything Israel can do alone.
The escalating war began with an Israeli attack late last week and has seen the sworn enemies trade missile salvos for five days. Trump departed early from the Group of Seven leaders meeting in Canada to deal with the crisis.
Today's show features:

• Bloomberg News Pentagon and National Security Reporter Tony Capaccio
• Dana Telsey, Founder, CEO and Chief Research Officer of Telsey Advisory Group
• Stamatis Tsantanis, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer of global shipping companies Seanergy Maritime and United Maritime
• Travis McCready, JLL’s Head of Industries, Leasing Advisor

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Having experienced the devastating consequences of online criminal activity, founder and CEO, Andrew Bud, vowed to find a safe and secure way for organizations to verify the genuine presence of an individual. To enable this to happen it was necessary to ensure that the person setting up an online account was an actual person, and then authenticate that person whenever they return to use a digital service or verify their identity at secure locations.

The Big Idea was to use facial biometrics and controlled illumination to assure the genuine presence of a human being. Why facial biometrics? Because most government-issued identity documents contain a picture of a face and an identity can be verified against a trusted source. Why controlled illumination? Because it’s completely effortless for the user – with no instructions to follow or complex actions required. Just a brief, simple selfie capture that takes just seconds to complete. This gives the most secure assurance that an individual is not an imposter, a photo, a mask, a deepfake video, or a multitude of other sophisticated cyber attack tactics being used by criminal gangs worldwide. iProov does facial verification, not facial recognition. The difference is, with verification tech like iProov's, the user consents, and derives a benefit from it.

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US President Donald Trump said Iran wants to talk about deescalating the conflict with Israel even as the two sides exchanged deadly fire for the fourth consecutive day.
Asked about reports that Iran wants to work toward a resolution, Trump responded “yeah,” and added, “they’d like to talk, but they should have done that before. ”It’s painful for both parties but I would say that Iran is not winning this war,” Trump said at the start of a meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney at a Group of Seven leaders summit in Kananaskis, Alberta. Asked if the US would get more involved militarily, Trump said he didn’t want to discuss it.

The Wall Street Journal reported earlier Monday that Tehran is signaling it wants to de-escalate hostilities with Israel and is willing to resume nuclear talks with the US as long as Washington doesn’t join the Israeli attacks. It cited Middle Eastern and European officials it didn’t identify. A similar report by Reuters says Iran conveyed the message through Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Oman.

Oil fell on the WSJ report, with Brent futures dropping around 4% after rising over 10% Friday. US Treasuries pared earlier drops and European bonds gained as traders reacted to diminishing concerns about inflation.

About the same time as Trump was speaking, Iran’s semi-official Mehr News Agency cited a senior security official as saying the country is prepared to deliver a “major blow” to Israel following its recent strikes on Iranian cities and targets. Shortly afterward, air raid sirens sounded as Israel reported it had detected more missile launches.
Today's show features interviews from the Bloomberg Technology Summit in San Francisco:

• Bloomberg News National Security Team Leader Nick Wadhams on latest in Israel-Iran Conflict and Bloomberg News Correspondent David Gura on Israel/Iran Conflict and G7 Meeting
• Beth Fouhy, Partner at FGS Global, on latest ICE Deportations, US Domestic News
• Rob Thummel, Senior Portfolio Manager at Tortoise Capital on energy markets
• and we Drive to the Close with Chris Fasciano, Chief Market Strategist at Commonwealth

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Axiom Space CEO Tejpaul Bhatia joins to discuss his company's place in the "space economy" and the delay to the company's planned launch with NASA.

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