The war with Iran is paused, not closed. Gaza is at a stalemate with no clear way forward. Lebanon is holding under a fragile ceasefire. And Washington just released a counterterrorism strategy that is raising alarm among the people who wrote the original playbook.
Two of the most decorated American diplomats alive sit down with Washington Bureau Chief Joe Kawly to tell you what the headlines are missing.
Ambassador Ryan Crocker survived the 1983 Beirut embassy bombing, the deadliest attack on American diplomatic life in history. He has served as U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon, Kuwait, Syria, Pakistan, Iraq, and Afghanistan. He says the U.S.-Iran talks are not negotiations. They are messages being passed. And that Iran cannot be bombed into submission.
Ambassador Susan Ziadeh was in Jerusalem the night Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated. She spent her career across the Gulf and the Levant. She says the Gulf states are not coordinating with Washington on Gaza, they are running parallel. And that the billion-dollar reconstruction fund has come to a standstill.
Together they reach the same conclusion from opposite ends of the region: nothing good happens, nothing moves, nothing is built, without stability first.
The Diplomat is produced by MBN/Alhurra. New episodes every week.
What is The Diplomat | ديبلومات?
In the rooms where war, peace, and power are decided, words matter most. The Diplomat brings you raw conversations with ambassadors, envoys, and negotiators who shaped the hardest decisions in U.S. foreign policy and Middle East diplomacy. Hosted by Joe Kawly. Recorded from Washington. Produced by Middle East Broadcasting Networks (MBN).
Joe Kawly brings extensive experience from conflict zones in the Middle East to the power corridors of Washington. As a journalist, he’s seen how words can escalate a crisis or open the door to peace. A Georgetown graduate and former CNN Journalism Fellow, he’s known for connecting the dots others miss, so people don’t just hear what happened, they understand why it matters. As producer and host of The Diplomat, Joe brings clarity to diplomacy and politics, one conversation at a time.