The Middle East Rewritten: This Is the Inside Story

Nothing Works Without Stability

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.

The Middle East Rewritten: This Is the Inside Story

Ambassador Tom Nides served as U.S. Ambassador to Israel under President Biden. He had screaming matches with Netanyahu. He sat with families who buried their children. He was in the room when Saudi normalization almost happened. Now he is speaking freely. In this episode of The Diplomat, Nides joins Washington Bureau Chief Joe Kawly and MBN Editor-in-Chief Leila Bazzi for a wide-ranging, unfiltered conversation about the new Middle East taking shape after the Iran war, the collapse of the old map, and what American diplomacy actually looks like behind closed doors. He calls Ben-Gvir "a thug." He says the JCPOA will effectively come back under a different name. He argues that regime change in Iran can only succeed from the bottom up. And he reveals what he was quietly doing for Palestinians while serving as U.S. Ambassador to Israel, something most people never knew. This is the kind of honesty rarely heard in Washington. And that is exactly why it matters.

S2 E8 | After Khamenei: Who Rules Iran Now?

Khamenei is gone, but the real story is not his death. It is the dangerous vacuum now opening behind him. In this urgent episode of The Diplomat, Joe Kawly, Washington Bureau Chief, sits down with Alex Vatanka, one of Washington’s most respected Iran analysts, to break down the power vacuum now opening inside Tehran. Who takes over after Khamenei? Does the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps tighten its grip, or does the system begin to fracture from within? And if the regime falls, is anyone actually ready for what comes after? This is not just a conversation about Iran. It is about the future of the Middle East, the risks of state collapse, the danger of regional spillover, and the question no one can dodge anymore: can the Islamic Republic survive the moment that finally tested it from every direction at once? A must-listen for anyone following Iran, regime change, Gulf security, U.S. foreign policy, and the next phase of the Middle East.

S2 E7 | Bridge or War: U.S. and Iran in Oman

A negotiation is unfolding quietly in Muscat, and it may define the next chapter of the Middle East, or simply postpone the next crisis. In this episode of The Diplomat, Joe Kawly speaks with Ambassador Dennis Ross, Distinguished Fellow at The Washington Institute, and one of the most experienced American diplomats of the modern era, about what is really happening beneath the surface of the U.S.–Iran talks. Ross lays out the core clash: Washington’s push for zero enrichment; Tehran’s insistence that enrichment stays. He explains why public messaging may not match private positions, how deadlines and force posture shape the room, and what could trigger unintended escalation even if neither side wants a long war. We also look beyond the nuclear file, because sanctions relief is never just technical. It touches missiles, proxies, regional stability, and the credibility of deterrence itself. The key question: is Muscat a bridge to a framework, or simply a holding pattern until something breaks?

S2 E6| Syria: Washington’s Bet and Risks on the Ground

Washington is betting on a new Syria. The question is whether Syria can survive the bet. In this episode of The Diplomat, Joe Kawly speaks with Will Todman of CSIS, who recently returned from Syria, about what has changed since the fall of Assad and what has not. The conversation cuts through optimistic policy narratives and examines the risks that remain beneath the surface: fragile security, internal factionalism, unrealistic economic expectations, and the danger of U.S. disengagement once sanctions are lifted. This is not a story about triumph. It is a story about timing, leverage, and how easily momentum can collapse.