Episode summary
Amy Kellogg interviews former US ambassador and Obama-era National Security Council official Puneet Talwar on US policy in the Middle East, with a focus on Iran, Saudi Arabia and regional flashpoints. Talwar questions the timing and intent of reported US discussions on providing nuclear energy assistance to Saudi Arabia, saying it appears aimed at easing Saudi anxieties but risks undermining non-proliferation norms if it permits enrichment or sidelines the IAEA in favour of bilateral safeguards.
On Israel-Arab normalisation, he describes Morocco’s relationship with Israel as longstanding and says Rabat’s post-October 7 domestic pressures did not translate into a formal rupture, while arguing the Abraham Accords’ stabilising effects are limited without progress on Palestinian statehood. He characterises the situation in Gaza as unstable and warns that promised monitoring or stabilisation arrangements have not fully materialised, raising questions over follow-through.
Turning to Iran, Talwar says the US has stumbled into conflict based on faulty assumptions about regime weakness and warns the US risks a credibility-damaging stalemate. He says the administration has not tapped existing Iran expertise inside government and argues the normal NSC decision-making process has broken down. He urges refocusing from the Strait of Hormuz to diplomacy on Iran’s nuclear programme, contending Iran may compromise but will not “surrender” on core deterrent pillars. He also discusses Iranian mistrust, human-rights abuses and the risks posed by Houthi attacks on shipping and Saudi oil exports.
