Laura Rozen

Washington, D.C.

Writer at Diplomatic, by Laura Rozen

Reporting on foreign policy. Current: Diplomatic Substack, Just Security ed bd. Al-Monitor Politico Foreign Policy alum. lkrozen threads, lkrozen.bsky, at gmail

Articles

Trump hopes for new deal as US & Iran head to talks in Rome

1 week ago | diplomatic.substack.com | Laura Rozen

President Trump said today that he’d prefer to reach a nuclear deal with Iran than to have resort to military action. He spoke as the United States and Iran are due to hold a second meeting on a possible new deal in Rome on Saturday, American, Iranian and Omani officials confirmed today, after the venue for talks was switched around several times.
Diplomatic, by Laura Rozen

2 weeks ago | diplomatic.substack.com | Laura Rozen

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The US & Iran will hold a “meeting,” not “negotiation,” in Oman Saturday, State Dept

2 weeks ago | diplomatic.substack.com | Laura Rozen

President Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi will hold a meeting hosted by the Persian Gulf nation of Oman on Saturday, not a formal negotiation, to determine what’s possible going forward, the State Department said today. “This is a meeting that’s happening on Saturday,” State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce told journalists at the Department briefing today (April 8). “This is not a negotiation,” Bruce said.
Diplomatic, by Laura Rozen

3 weeks ago | diplomatic.substack.com | Laura Rozen

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Iran could agree to direct talks with U.S. if progress in indirect mediation

3 weeks ago | diplomatic.substack.com | Laura Rozen

Iran has agreed to initially indirect talks with the United States on the nuclear issue, and if there is progress in the initial steps on agreeing to a framework for negotiations, then they will go for direct talks, an Iranian source tells Diplomatic. If the United States agrees, the Iranian source believed indirect talks could take place, likely in Oman, within two or three weeks, the Iranian source, speaking not for attribution, said.
‘Great.’ US envoy appears to respond to Iran FM tweet Iran will never pursue nukes

3 weeks ago | diplomatic.substack.com | Laura Rozen

Even as the Pentagon announced that a second carrier strike group would be deployed to the Middle East region, the Trump administration showed signs of interest in pursuing diplomacy with Iran. US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff on Wednesday appeared to respond to a tweet by Iran’s foreign minister which asserted that Iran would never seek to develop a nuclear weapon.
The Hollowness of the Always-on-TV Trump administration

4 weeks ago | diplomatic.substack.com | Laura Rozen

For an administration that conducts so much of its business in propaganda videos (DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, endlessly trailed by a video production crew, posing yesterday in an ICE baseball cap, Rolex, and coiffed tresses in front of a green screen showing footage of Venezuelan men the U.S. had deported to an El Salvador maximum security prison; Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and his hair gel posing at another military airfield amid M4 assault rifle-lugging security as he blithely lied again...
Diplomatic, by Laura Rozen

1 month ago | diplomatic.substack.com | Laura Rozen

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As US rushes to finalize Ukraine ceasefire, signs US team vulnerable to Russia manipulation

1 month ago | diplomatic.substack.com | Laura Rozen

U.S. officials will shuttle between Russian and Ukrainian teams at “proximity” talks in a Saudi Arabian hotel on Monday on trying to reach a ceasefire, the top US envoy on Ukraine said today. “They’re going to be proximity discussions, meaning one group’s going to be in this room, one group’s going to be in this room, and we’ll sit and talk, go back and forth, sort of like shuttle diplomacy in a hotel,” retired Gen. Keith Kellogg, Trump’s special envoy on Ukraine, told ABC today.
Pupdate

1 month ago | diplomatic.substack.com | Laura Rozen

Last week, when my spouse was on a work trip out of the country, and without a whole lot of planning, I drove out to the Shenandoah foothills in Virginia, and came home with a five month old puppy. Boy, did I forget how much work is involved in coexisting with one of these. “No!” “Don’t eat that!” “Get off that!” “NO!”I have acquired a crate, which she has spent about an hour in, and cried so horribly I gave up. I have acquired a highly recommended book by monks on the art of raising a puppy.