And for the first time in history, Israel and the United States have taken military action

together.

This is totally new.

To understand Middle East dynamics, I always count on Michael Duran, director of the

Middle East Center at the Hudson Institute.

We sat down to discuss what has now been dubbed the 12-day War and how Middle East political

realities have been transformed.

One of the most amazing things about the Israeli attacks is that they totally took the Iranians by surprise.

The scientists were in their beds, commanders got together thinking they were safe.

That is just remarkable.

How did the strikes on Iran change the geopolitical landscape?

Was World War III ever a real possibility?

And has the threat of a nuclear Iran been neutralized for good?

And there's still a little lingering doubt that maybe some of the enriched uranium was

squirreled away by the Iranians and some other secret site. So we have to wait

and determine. This is American Thought Leaders and I'm Yanja Kellick.

Mike Durand, such a pleasure to have you back on American Thought Leaders. Great to be here.

So Mike, tell me what you think is happening with Trump's foreign policy.

What is the actual reality of what he's trying to accomplish over there?

I think Donald Trump is trying to establish a new template for the Middle East.

And it's between the isolationists on the one hand and for lack of a better word

let's say the neo-conservatives on the other he wants that he knows that we

...