Annette Young is pleased to welcome Scott Lucas, Professor of American Studies and Int'l Politics at the Clinton Institute, University College Dublin. According to Lucas, the US is not negotiating with Iran from a position of strength: "The Americans shifted from regime change to regime surrender", he explains, "trying to bomb their way to get the Iranians to capitulate on a number of conditions. That failed." So as the US ruled out ground troops, they had to come "back to the table".