A veteran diplomat breaks down the Iran war

This is Fresh Air. I'm Dave Davies. The six-week war between the United States and the Islamic Republic of Iran entered a new and uncertain phase over the weekend when President Trump announced that the U.S. would impose a naval blockade on Iran's ports in an effort to reopen the Strait of Hormuz to commercial shipping. That followed a long day of face-to-face negotiations between the U.S.

and Iran in Pakistan Saturday that ended with the sides still far apart. It was just last week that Trump set a deadline for Iran to reopen the strait. If not, Trump threatened, the U.S. would destroy Iran's bridges and civilian power plants, and in his words, a whole civilization would die, never to be brought back again. That led to a hastily arranged two-week ceasefire that is mostly held between the US and Iran and an agreement to hold negotiations.

However, Israel, the United States ally in the war, has continued to attack targets in Lebanon in its campaign against the Iranian backed group Hezbollah. Iran claimed that that violated the ceasefire, while both the US and Israel said it was not part of the deal. For some insight into the conflict and thoughts on what to expect next, we turn to veteran diplomat Aaron David Miller. Miller spent twenty five years in the State Department, advising Republican and Democratic presidents on Middle East policy and playing a key role in the Oslo peace process in the 1990s.

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