Emily Maitlis

All the things that Donald Trump said that propelled him to power, his disillusionment with what had happened with the war in Afghanistan and the war in Iraq and the forever wars.

and the commitment of American troops overseas that seemed to go on without end and body bags being flown back to America.

And what was this all about?

And it's time to focus on America itself and to be America first and to close it, you know, just to draw up, pull up the drawbridge and live within America.

That is what he told the American people.

That was his big selling point.

And hey, presto, he now finds himself having committed to this war and cannot see a way out of it.

He cannot see the exit.

He wants Iran to sign a deal which will mean that the Strait of Hormuz is reopened, that they hand over all their nuclear material.

Why is Iran going to do it?

I mean, Iran doesn't feel, yes, sure, it's under pressure economically.

Yes, sure, the Iranian economy and unemployment levels are high.

But the Iranian regime is about self-preservation.

It doesn't give much of a shit about what the Iranian people are going through.

It's a dreadful regime and survival is everything.

And at the moment, you would have to say it is surviving and it is costing Donald Trump.

And as you say, you use the word impotent at the top of the show.

he seems utterly powerless or in a position where the limits of American power have been reached.

And the idea that it can just tell a nation what to do and they will just salute politely and say, yes, sir, is not happening now.

You know, and you don't need to just talk about Iraq.