In his address to the nation on Wednesday, President Donald Trump said the war with Iran was nearing its end and the US had decimated the country’s military capabilities.

But parts of his speech contradicted some of his earlier statements regarding the closure of the Strait of Hormuz and America’s interest in seizing Iranian oil. His words also stood in contrast to recent reports suggesting that the Pentagon was preparing for weeks of ground operations.

At the same time, US officials are saying talks with Tehran are going well, which Iran denies. Meanwhile, mediators including Pakistan, Egypt and Turkey are pushing for a return to negotiations. The question is whether the warring parties would be willing to make concessions at this stage of the conflict.

In this episode of Beyond the Headlines, host Nada AlTaher looks at the different scenarios the US could consider next and whether a diplomatic solution is still within reach. We hear from James Jeffrey, distinguished fellow at the Washington Institute and a former US deputy national security adviser, and Alex Vatanka, director of the Iran programme at the Middle East Institute.

It has been a month since Israel, along with the US, launched strikes on Iran, leading the Middle East into yet another conflict it tried to avoid.

Iran has responded by firing waves of missiles and drones, mostly towards its Gulf neighbours but also at Israel, where attacks have become increasingly disruptive.

While the American public are largely divided over the war, in Israel, surveys showed the majority were in favour, at least in the beginning. But weeks later, the cost is mounting. Some of the attacks have caused damage, injuries and deaths. People’s daily routines and livelihoods have been affected. Meanwhile, Lebanon has once again been drawn into conflict.

In this episode of Beyond the Headlines, host Nada AlTaher looks at the effects of the war on Israeli society and the state, and asks whether public support is starting to wane. She speaks to The National’s Jerusalem correspondent Thomas Helm, Tel Aviv-based political analyst Dahlia Scheindlin and Danny Citrinowicz, senior fellow at the Institute for National Security Studies.

About one million people have been forcibly displaced in Lebanon and almost a thousand killed in Israel’s renewed war with Hezbollah.

The Iran-backed group fired missiles at Israel in early March, joining Tehran's retaliatory attacks in the war with the US and Israel that began on February 28.

Israel’s response was immediate and aggressive, extending beyond Lebanon’s southern towns and striking central Beirut. The army is pushing deeper into the country, with plans for a ground invasion that could deal a more devastating blow than the 2024 war.

Lebanon has never had good options. The US-brokered ceasefire that ended the 2024 war was violated by Israel thousands of times. The Lebanese government’s promise to disarm Hezbollah has not materialised. And the country’s south could now be on the verge of occupation.

In this episode of Beyond the Headlines, host Nada AlTaher examines Israel’s ambitions in Lebanon and asks what it would take to prevent a full-scale invasion. She speaks to Joseph Bahout, director of the Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs at the American University of Beirut, and Lebanese journalist and political commentator Khalil Harb.