Nate Swanson

Richard Haass, veteran foreign‑policy thinker and former State Department planner, and Nate Swanson, Iran strategy director and former NSC adviser, unpack the U.S.-Israeli strikes and Khamenei's death. They discuss Iran's retaliation choices, prospects for prolonged conflict, how U.S. Iran policy is made, failed negotiations, and the risks and aims of regime‑change strategies.

Nate Swanson, a former U.S. official with nearly two decades on Iran policy, offers insider perspective. He discusses Mujtaba Khamenei's contested rise and clerical politics. He walks through realistic short-term U.S. choices and why a negotiated off-ramp looks unlikely. He recalls past JCPOA diplomacy and explains how talks worked in practice.

Nate Swanson, Iran policy expert and director of the Iran Strategy Project, and John Bolton, former UN ambassador and hawkish national security advisor, debate Iran strategy. They clash over goals and timelines. Short, tense takes on regime change, nuclear threats, misreadings of Iran’s responses, and whether US and Israel share the same endgame.

Ronen Bergman, Tel Aviv investigative journalist on Israeli security; Nate Swanson, former US Iran policy official. They discuss reports of thousands of Marines, the prospect of seizing Kharg Island, US and Israeli alignment and differing aims. They debate timing, political motives, Iran’s nuclear posture, and risks of escalation and long-term regional consequences.

Nate Swanson, senior fellow and director of the Iran Strategy Project at the Atlantic Council, offers Iran expertise and policy experience. He walks through the initial US and Israeli strikes and Iran's retaliation. He examines the strike on Khamenei's compound, regional escalation risks, missile defenses, the role of proxies, and the political and legal fallout.