back across the border. talk to us a little bit more about those communications relations between north korea, then, and the rest of the world, through the process of time. i mean, how much do you think that they have deteriorated of late? have they? they have deteriorated to almost nothing. i mean, not so long ago, there were open channels between the united states and the north koreans directly. the united states had a protecting power, sweden, with a functioning embassy in pyongyang, so that if anything went wrong, they could ask the swedes as the protecting power to go and talk behind closed doors to the north koreans to try to sort it out. right now, the swedish embassy still exists in pyongyang, but its staff have been withdrawn, because of the covid pandemic, and there is almost no direct contact between the united states and north korea. there is the famous pink telephone, which the americans have been using to pass messages to north korea about this case, and about other matte
Secretary Blinken s Call with Czech Prime Minister Babiš - United States Department of State
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nearly every day in march. that violates the agreement between washington and moscow. is this part of a broader conflict? there s no reason for it to be. we are not looking for a broader conflict. what further actions, diplomatically, might be taken through back channels? we know our colleagues, the brits and others have embassies in iran. are you reaching out to iran? is there any other warning that you care to discuss? as you know, we don t have diplomatic relations with tehran. we communicate through our protecting power. we made it clear and the president made it clear with this strike that these continued attacks on our facilities and our troops is unacceptable. we will defend ourselves as best we can and as much as we can.
trips to russia, i never recall that discussion about viktor bout. jason, what was it like what is it like to be released from prison overseas when you have been held there for so long? well, you are not really certain that it s real until you are on that plane with friendly people. in my case it was represents from the swiss government. they are the protecting power for the u.s. and iran. but those last couple of days, the last 36 hours or so were some of the most treacherous of the entire year and a half i was in prison. once you get on the plane and get out of the air pspace of th country you are held hostage in, your shoulders loosen a little bit and that sense of relief comes in. but the road ahead takes many months and nobody s prepared for that when they first get out. just adjusting back to life and adjusting to not being inside a foreign prison?