Analysis: Trump’s Novel Middle East Diplomacy

The United States is currently engaged in several high-stakes negotiations across the Middle East and around the world. President Trump has departed from traditional diplomatic norms, opting instead for unconventional negotiating strategies to address the crisis in Gaza, the war in Ukraine, Iran’s nuclear program, Venezuela, and trade. His approach has emphasized compressed timelines and the appointment of negotiators from outside the federal government’s usual ranks. Asher Grant-Sasson speaks with Jon Alterman, director of the CSIS Middle East Program, about the promise and hazards posed by this shift in diplomatic strategy, especially in connection with the Middle East.

You can listen to Analysis: Trump’s Novel Middle East Diplomacy online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

Analysis: Trump’s Novel Middle East Diplomacy is an episode from Babel: Translating the Middle East by Center for Strategic and International Studies.

This episode is 6:30 long.

This episode was published on Apr 24, 2025.

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