joining me is probably not serve nasr, wendy sherman, who was a leading u.s. negotiator with iran. also, david singer, the you are times -- the new york times national security correspondent, and phil gordon. i am pleased to have all of them on this program. i begin with philip gordon. where are we? we are in a situation that is even more difficult than it was a few days ago. charlie: because more people have gotten involved, or because more people seem to be backing down? key too, because the these situations is the splits between saudi arabia and iran. that is driving the conflicts in