And we take a closer look at the state of play in the Israel-Iran war with Abbas Milani.

He's director of the Iranian Studies program at Stanford University.

Welcome to the NewsHour. Thanks for joining us.

Thank you for having me.

So what do you make of President Trump's wait and see approach here, this idea that he's going to make a decision on whether or not the U.S. will join Israel's

war in Iran within two weeks. I think he is exactly, as you suggest, is opting for wait

and see. I think he thinks the Israelis are very close to achieving what they have set out to do,

which is dismantled much of the Iranian nuclear

program. I think he sees the Iranian regime is rather weak, probably the weakest it

has ever been, and wants to maybe make a deal when the regime is even weaker and then

declare victory. He doesn't want, I think, to get in a war with Iran

or anywhere in the Middle East, as he has often said, but he might be forced to make a choice

sooner than later.

You say that you think the Iranian regime is as weak as it's ever been. Is that why you

believe they might be incentivized to come back to the

negotiating table at this point? I think so. I think the Iranian regime is really practically

the weakest it has been. But if you read the rhetoric, it is very much like Saddam Hussein's

rhetoric just before the fall. I was just reading some of the announcements and the sites close

to the IRGC. You would literally think that they have won the war, that Netanyahu is

on his almost coding death throes, that people are fleeing Israel en masse, and that Israel

is desperate for a peace. That's what they're

telling their bases at home and in their websites. The reality to me is the exact opposite.

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