Is Trump being out-negotiated over Iran?
The Story
The Times
3.9 • 1.6K Ratings
🗓️ 27 May 2026
⏱️ 35 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Iranian officials remain in Qatar, negotiating the details of a possible peace plan for the region. Discussions continue even after American strikes hit targets in southern Iran late on Monday. So, is peace actually within reach? What’s really on the table? And after months of escalation and bluster, could President Trump end up the biggest loser in all of this?
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Guest: Michael Stephens, senior associate fellow, RAND Europe and RUSI.
Host: Manveen Rana.
Producers: Sophie McNulty, Micaela Arneson.
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Read more: Trump’s Iran peace deal will come with strings attached
Further listening: How did Pakistan become the peacemakers?
Clips: The White House, CNN, Channel 4 News, NBC News, Fox News.
Photo: Getty Images.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | From The Times and the Sunday Times, this is the story. |
| 0:05.9 | I'm Manvin Rana. |
| 0:09.6 | A short time ago, the United States military began major combat operations in Iran. |
| 0:19.3 | On February the 28th, President Trump appeared wearing a white baseball cap, emblazoned with the letters, USA. |
| 0:27.5 | He stood behind a podium announcing the start of the war. |
| 0:31.7 | We are going to destroy their missiles and raise their missile industry to the ground. |
| 0:37.2 | It will be totally, again, obliterated. |
| 0:41.6 | It would take four to six weeks, he said, but these were the bold aims behind Operation |
| 0:47.6 | Epic Fury. We're going to annihilate their Navy. We're going to ensure that the region's terrorist proxies can no longer |
| 0:56.5 | destabilize the region or the world, and we will ensure that Iran does not obtain a nuclear weapon. |
| 1:04.8 | More than three months later, and Operation Epic Fury looks more like an epic fail. |
| 1:11.6 | The Iranian regime is still standing, and the U.S. and Iran are trapped in a quagmire |
| 1:17.3 | of peace negotiations with numerous false storms, but no real end in sight. |
| 1:23.8 | We think that we've made a lot of progress. |
| 1:25.7 | We think the Iranians want to make a deal. |
| 1:29.9 | I think we've hit a wall when it comes to negotiations. |
| 1:33.3 | Confused, you're not alone. |
| 1:40.3 | On Saturday, Donald Trump posted on his truth social site that a deal was close and details would be released shortly. |
| 1:42.3 | But by Sunday, he was rowing back, saying he was in no |
| 1:46.1 | hurry to strike a deal. Secretary of State Marco Rubio was keen to downplay expectations. |
| 1:53.3 | We're still work in progress. As the president said, he's not in a hurry. He's not going to make a bad |
| 1:57.2 | deal. A military advisor to Iran's supreme leader was even more damning. |
... |
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