Israel is in a race against time to “lock in its domination” across the Middle East, argues former Israeli negotiator Daniel Levy.

Levy, president of the US/Middle East Project, tells host Steve Clemons that Israel’s strategy of “permanent war” allows for only two types of countries in the region: either dependent, or “too collapsed, failed and fragile to pose any challenge”.

Israel can try to block a US-Iran deal by advocating for “just one more major military operation” against Iran, and “heating things up” with constant attacks on Lebanese and Palestinians despite ceasefires on paper, Levy says.

Israel’s strategy of ‘permanent war’: A race against time? | The Bottom Line

Despite on-again, off-again negotiations, the United States has no other option but to pursue a diplomatic solution with Iran, argues Vali Nasr, professor of international affairs and Middle East studies at Johns Hopkins University.

Nasr tells host Steve Clemons that the US-Israel war on Iran has shown the limits of military force.

“You don't go to the table to demand surrender. The other side is not going to surrender because they haven't lost. So you have to cut a deal,” Nasr said, adding that Iran’s objective is to make sure the US and Israel understand that “war with Iran isn't easy”.

Has Iran exposed the limits of what US can achieve by force? | The Bottom Line

Iran will not be left alone to live in peace and prosperity “unless and until it normalises its relationship with the US and accepts Israel as a legitimate player in the Middle East”, argues University of South Florida political scientist Mohsen Milani.

Milani and former White House official Elisa Ewers tell host Steve Clemons that another major stumbling block in Iran-US talks is uranium enrichment. If that is not resolved, or a vague interim deal is made in lieu of a more rigorous treaty, “in two or three years from now, we might see the outbreak of another war”, says Milani.

What would it take for the Iran-US talks to succeed? | The Bottom Line

In this episode, experts with divergent world views agreed on one thing: it’s unlikely that the United States will resume the war on Iran.

Former US National Security Advisor John Bolton tells host Steve Clemons that he still hopes for “regime collapse” in Iran, but that US President Donald Trump has failed to achieve his goals.

In the second half, Georgetown University Associate Professor Nader Hashemi argues that the war had an opposite effect – strengthening Iran – and that the people of the region view the war “through the prism of the genocide in Gaza and what Israel is doing in Lebanon right now”.

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How shaky is the Iran-US ceasefire? | The Bottom Line

The greatest threat to stability in the Middle East is not Iran, but “the US working closely together with Israel”, argues United States political scientist John Mearsheimer.

Mearsheimer tells host Steve Clemons that the notion that the US and Israel are making a safer, more stable Middle East is “ludicrous”. And the idea that Iran is “the great destabiliser” in the region is “a myth that the US and Israel purvey”.

After US President Donald Trump insisted that “We have all the cards; they have none”, Mearsheimer says the exact opposite is true - “and that's why we are in desperate straits”.

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Mearsheimer: No signs of quick end to US-Israel war on Iran | The Bottom Line

“The US has won” because Iran has become “incapable of being a significant threat” to the United States for at least three years, argues retired Lieutenant Colonel James Carafano, senior fellow at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank.

Carafano tells host Steve Clemons that even if Iran were to rebound, “Trump will just mow the grass… and bomb them back to where they were.”

The importance of the Strait of Hormuz and Iran's ability to control access to it are exaggerated, Carafano argued.

Israeli ideas of changing the government in Tehran are “irrelevant”, Carafano added, “because they can’t do it without us”.

Why does Trump say the US ‘already won’ the Iran war? | The Bottom Line

“There is no good outcome” that can be gained from the United States-Israel war on Iran, argues the former ambassador of France to the US, Gerard Araud.

Responding to US President Donald Trump’s attempts to get European countries more involved in the war effort, Araud tells host Steve Clemons that “If you wanted us at the landing, you should have thought of us at the takeoff.”

Araud says the current moment is similar to the US quagmire in Vietnam in the 1960s, when the White House continued to surge and escalate, creating “an illusion” that the war was nearing a conclusion.

Why is Trump asking for Europe’s help in war on Iran? | The Bottom Line

Israel’s leaders have finally found a United States president “stupid enough and reckless enough” to join them in a war against Iran, argues US Senator Chris Van Hollen.

Van Hollen, a Democrat, tells host Steve Clemons that the US capacity to degrade the Iranian military has never been in question. “The question is to what end, both in lives and treasure,” he says.

On the attempts by Israeli and US officials to frame the war as a holy quest, Van Hollen argues that “The last thing the world needs is a religious war.”

US Senator Van Hollen: Trump ‘has no idea where this war is going’ | The Bottom Line

Even though the joint United States-Israeli war on Iran is in its early days, “we already are in a scenario where the US has lost control of this war,” argues Vali Nasr, professor of international affairs and Middle East studies at Johns Hopkins University.

Nasr tells host Steve Clemons that Iran is the weaker party, but it “has the capability to create a much longer mayhem” than envisioned by the US and Israel.

US goals for this war may be unclear, but “Israel’s goal is to arrive at a point where it’s the supreme power in the Mideast”, says Nasr.

Iran war: Redrawing the map of the Middle East, Israeli style? | The Bottom Line

US President Donald Trump is falling into the same trap as his predecessor, Joe Biden, when he tries to convince Americans that they’re better off financially, argues YouTuber Brian Tyler Cohen.

Cohen and Matt Duss, executive vice president at the Center for International Policy, join host Steve Clemons to dissect Trump’s State of the Union address and vision for the United States.

One of Trump’s strengths is the weakness of his main opposition, the Democratic Party, argues Cohen, as the party acts “in a way that's completely untethered to how the vast majority of Democrats actually feel”.

Do Americans agree that Trump has made the US ‘better, richer’? | The Bottom Line

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