Diplomacy and International Politics

The first 100 days are key to understanding where any presidency is going. Now more than a third of the way into that timeframe, how is President Joe Biden doing in the international policy arena? The World’s host Marco Werman speaks with Nicholas Burns, a former US under secretary of state for political affairs and a former ambassador to NATO.

Nick Burns, former U.S. Ambassador to NATO and Peter Baker join Andrea Mitchell to discuss the national security threats that accompany the stalled transition and the New York Times' new reporting on President Trump seeking military action against Iran's main nuclear site. "If we launched a military attack on any target in Iran, what we know about the Iranians is they do hit back," Amb. Burns says. "They could try to kidnap or kill American citizens anywhere in the world. They’ve done that in the past.”

After a purge at the Pentagon, former national security officials are worried about the fallout if President Trump were to launch an unprovoked military action against Iran or make big changes in Afghanistan in his waning days in office.

Speech by French Minister of the Armed Forces, Florence Parly, at the Harvard Kennedy School on January 28, 2020.

President Trump opened a small window for diplomacy with Iran on Wednesday, but combined his words with bald threats that made it hard to see how the two countries could break out of their cycle of confrontation and revenge.

As tensions mounted between the United States and Iran, European nations pressed for a calm response, fearing that any escalation could disrupt trade through the region’s vital Strait of Hormuz, which carries up to a third of global crude oil exports traded via ships. If the strait is blocked or trade there is disrupted by conflict, analysts predict oil prices would surge.

Ambassador Nicholas Burns discusses President Trump's use of the Logan Act as a diversion tactic and the state of U.S.-Iranian relations.