Welcome to the Monday edition of The Discourse on Channel Africa. The Discourse is a daily live interview feature focusing on major international and African news stories. It brings expert analysis and discussion to provide context, clarity and deeper insight into the political, security and economic issues shaping Africa and the world. Today, we turn to the breakdown of high-stakes US-Iran talks held in Islamabad, which ended after 21 hours of negotiations without agreement. Washington says Tehran refused to accept its terms, while Iran insists the discussions were never expected to deliver an immediate breakthrough, pointing instead to deep mistrust and long-standing disputes over nuclear ambitions and regional security. The collapse comes amid heightened tensions across the Middle East, with broader regional instability once again raising questions about the prospects for diplomacy and de-escalation. We begin by unpacking what went wrong in Islamabad. Peter Ndoro spoke to Middle East expert Na'eem Jeenah, Senior Researcher at the Mapungubwe Institute for Strategic Reflection