Iran: Is diplomacy dead?
The Global Story
BBC
3.8 • 667 Ratings
🗓️ 11 March 2026
⏱️ 27 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
As the US-Israeli strikes on Iran continue and the death toll continues to rise, so too does the war of words.
President Trump has described Mojtaba Khamenei, Iran's choice for new supreme leader, as "unacceptable". He has also said he believes the war will be over “pretty quickly”, but it’s not clear how - or when.
Nate Swanson, a former State Department official who spent nearly two decades in the US government working on American policy towards Iran, answers our questions on how the next stage of the conflict is likely to unfold - and whether a negotiated peace with Iran is still an option.
Producers: Chris Benderev, Cat Farnsworth and Valerio Esposito
Executive producer: Bridget Harney
Studio managers: James Piper and Mike Regaard.
Mix: Travis Evans
Senior news editor: China Collins
Photo: People walk past a banner depicting the Iran's supreme leaders since 1979. The late supreme leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini; the late supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei; and his son, the new supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei. Credit: Majid Asgaripour/WANA via Reuters.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, podcasts. |
| 0:06.0 | In the spring of 1980, the U.S. government officially cut diplomatic ties with Iran. |
| 0:12.3 | The Iranian embassy here in D.C., which had once been the scene of glamorous parties, was shut and its remained boarded up ever since. |
| 0:19.8 | And over the years, the U.S. Iran relationship has been full of animosity. |
| 0:25.4 | The U.S. angry over Iran funding proxies in the region. |
| 0:29.0 | The Iranians upset over economic sanctions, both in fundamental disagreement over Iran's |
| 0:35.0 | nuclear program. |
| 0:36.5 | And now the U.S. and Israel have attacked Iran, leading to all-out war. |
| 0:42.8 | President Trump is talking about ultimate victory. |
| 0:46.1 | We've already won in many ways, but we haven't won enough. |
| 0:50.2 | We go forward more determined than ever to achieve ultimate victory that will end this long-running danger once and for all. |
| 0:58.4 | The Iranian government is showing no signs of backing down either. |
| 1:02.8 | Appointed a new hardline supreme leader. |
| 1:05.1 | And the country's foreign minister says he doesn't think negotiating with Americans is on the agenda anymore. |
| 1:11.6 | We have a very bitter experience of talking with Americans. |
| 1:15.6 | We negotiated with them last year in last June, and they attacked us in the middle of negotiations. |
| 1:21.4 | And again this year, they tried to convince us that this time is different. |
| 1:25.9 | From the BBC, Amasma Khalid in Washington, D.C. |
| 1:29.4 | And today on the global story, we talked to Nate Swanson, |
| 1:33.3 | a man who spent nearly 20 years working on U.S. policy toward Iran |
| 1:37.3 | under both Republican and Democratic administrations. |
| 1:41.0 | And we ask, was diplomacy really ever possible? |
... |
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