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Gary A. Grappo

Gary A. Grappo

Former Ambassador of the United States to Oman

Jul 3, 2026

25:30
Is there an explanation that you can share or something that makes sense, again, of how this didn't manage to reach its way to those in the position to make decisions?
25:42
It seems that it at least reached General Kane because he did raise it in his meeting with President Trump.
25:49
I don't think he argued it very strongly, but I don't know.
25:53
I wasn't in the room.
25:54
I didn't hear it.
25:56
But clearly there would have been officers in the Defense Department.
25:59
There would have been individuals in the State Department and certainly our intelligence officers at the CIA and DIA who would have known this very, very well.

5 MINS LATER

31:33
But what might this look like going forward? Is there any path where their attempt to create a nuclear weapon at this point can really be reliably thwarted.
10:25
How do you explain the imminent threat issue that was behind the beginning of, of our attacks in February on Iran?
10:34
Uh, well, uh, to, to Madeleine's point, I think they were sort of scrambling for a justification for the war when, uh, when they learned that they would probably have to continue this campaign for longer than just a few days, even though they had managed to decapitate the leadership, starting with the supreme leader, and they pretty much ran through the whole laundry list of justifications.
10:59
There was some credibility, uh, uh, to some of them, not to all of them.
11:04
The imminent threat was less credible.
11:06
Let me just add, however, that for Israel, Iran has always been an existential threat, always.
11:15
Uh, from the beginning of the Islamic Revolution, Iran has harbored this deep antipathy toward the State of Israel, and once they moved toward the acquisition of nuclear weapons, they spoke frequently about eliminating, annihilating the State of Israel, which has particular resonance with Jews around the world, and most especially in the State of Israel.
11:38
So they had a different perspective, different take on this current phase of the war.

13 MINS LATER

24:49
So could you begin with the Gulf states then, if there is that much animus between them and Iran, for a diplomatic solution to this?

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