Podcasts · Global Dispatches -- World News That Matters

Josh Rogin on Iran, NATO, and the Latest in Trump Foreign Policy

13 Jul 2026 · 40 min

It was a pleasure to welcome The Washington Post's Josh Rogin for a wide-ranging discussion of the foreign policy topics du jour — from Iran and NATO to Syria, Ukraine, and the latest moves from the Trump administration.

We kick off by discussing the escalating retaliatory cycle between the United States and Iran, and whether it means the ceasefire brokered last month is effectively dead. Josh explains some of the concrete decisions that turned Iran into a foreign policy quagmire for the Trump administration, what this latest round of bombings reveals about the administration's strategy, and what might come next if the current escalation begins to wind down.

We discuss much more than Iran. Josh helps unpack several of the biggest foreign policy including how Syria became an unlikely bright spot in Trump's Middle East policy, what actually mattered at the NATO summit, and how Trump came to adopt some new positions on Ukraine that are supportive of Kyiv.

If you are trying to make sense of U.S. foreign policy in this chaotic moment, this conversation is a very useful guide. It is free for all listeners, but as always your support with a paid subscription goes a long way.

The episode on the publisher’s site ↗ (opens in a new tab)