'It's the politics of the personal': Behind the latest US-Iran negotiations

Samantha Selinger-Morris· Host0:00

[instrumental music] Earlier this week, it looked as though tit for tat strikes between Israel and Iran had jeopardized a two-month ceasefire. The new hostilities threaten to once again place the Middle East on the precipice of a full-blown regional war. And then Donald Trump stepped into the fray. I'm Samantha Selinger-Morris, and you're listening to the Morning Edition from The Age and the Sydney Morning Herald. Today, Middle East and security analyst Roger Shanahan on what led to these strikes and what this means for the fragile negotiations between Iran and the United States. It's June the 10th. Welcome, Roger, back to the podcast.

Roger Shanahan· Guest0:48

Yeah, thanks for having me again.

Samantha Selinger-Morris· Host0:50

So Roger, Monday marked 100 days since the war between Israel and Iran began. Now, a ceasefire had been in place since April, but then we saw a flare-up in strikes between the nations earlier this week. So can you just run us through what happened?

Roger Shanahan· Guest1:04

Yeah. Listen, there's been a ceasefire in place, but there have been, uh, a number of violations up until now, but they've been relatively, uh, localized. But over the past couple of days, we saw Iran attempt to strike targets in Israel, and Israel in, uh, retaliation striking targets in Iran.

Speaker 3· Soundbite1:25

[missiles firing] Waves of ballistic missiles aimed at Israel.

Unknown speaker1:29

[missiles firing]