Nate Swanson
speaker
685 appearances
5 recordings
1 series
first heard Apr 2026
last heard 10 Sep
Nate Swanson’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.
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recordings per month · last 12 monthsRecordings per month over the last 12 months — 5 in all, peaking in Apr 2026 with 3.
Appearances
Yeah, in a very precarious spot, right?
Because, I mean, I think it leaves the Gulf essentially having to fend for itself but also kind of looking for different security partners.
You know, they've kind of relied on this American security umbrella
for a long time and you know it backfired right in this war not only did we not have their security taken care of during this war you know we actually were part of the reason they were targeted so i think you have the gulf questioning their security
choices in really unique ways and for the first time in decades and then you have israel kind of an existential political crisis and in iran in an unprecedented position of negotiated leverage but still inherent weakness and fragility in their own system so the whole thing is just kind of a tinderbox that is highly unpredictable
In some respects, yes, but in most respects, no.
I mean, I think it was not totally surprising that Iran escalated so quickly based on the scope and size of the initial US and Israeli attack.
But never, I think, would I ever have guessed that it would go this long and that it would be still so messy 50 days in without a clear idea of how exactly this ends and really still even at this point what the objective is.
Well, I'm a career civil servant across multiple administrations and, as you noted, with the Iran team at the end.
I do not have a personal relationship with President Trump by any measure.
Never briefed him, unlike other presidents.
But to his team, you know, when I was still there...
I think they were genuinely interested in diplomacy, but obviously there was a willingness to use force that was kind of unique from other administrations.
I think in his first term, he did the strike that killed Gossam Soleimani.
And then before I left, there was the Midnight Hammer operation that we did in connection with the Israelis.
So, I mean, Trump was clearly more comfortable using force than other U.S.
presidents.
And I think, yeah, he didn't really fully understand –
the risks associated and how a conflict could go bad so quickly.
So that is kind of unique to the president.
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