So, here we are again. The geopolitical landscape is scorching—or at least the narrative regarding **US-Iran relations** suggests it is about to ignite—and the supposed solution to our existential dread is apparently a high-stakes meeting in a hotel room in **Istanbul**. It is almost funny, if you stop thinking about the **nuclear crisis** consequences for five minutes. The news is officially out: high-ranking officials from the United States and Iran are convening in Turkey. But these are not your standard State Department bureaucrats clutching briefcases full of policy papers. No, that would be too normal for the current **Trump administration foreign policy**. That would be too safe.

Instead, we have the circus coming to town. We have President Trump’s designated Middle East envoy and, naturally, his son-in-law, **Jared Kushner**. Because when you want to solve a volatile diplomatic standoff with a nation that has been an adversary for decades, who do you call? You call the family. You call the guy who is married to your daughter. This is not how traditional governments operate; this is how a family business operates. This is how you run a sandwich shop or a mafia movie, not a global superpower navigating **international sanctions**. But in this new world we live in, the lines between a reality TV show and international diplomacy have been gone for a long time.

Let’s look at the setting: **Istanbul**. It is a beautiful city, a place where East meets West. It is the perfect backdrop for a spy movie or a tragedy. And right now, we are watching a bit of both. While these men sit down to drink tea and pretend they can fix decades of hatred with a handshake, the rhetoric flying through the air tells a different story. Back in America, the threats loom large. **President Trump** is doing what he does best: making noise. He talks tough. He scares people. He uses loud words to make sure everyone knows he is the boss. And while he is yelling at the front door, he sends his son-in-law to sneak in through the back window to make a deal.

It is the classic game of "Good Cop, Bad Cop," but played by people who seem to be making up the rules as they go along. Imagine being the Iranian Foreign Minister. You have to sit across the table from a real estate developer and the President’s family member. You are a serious person. You represent a country with thousands of years of history and a lot of pride. And you have to listen to a pitch that probably sounds more like buying a hotel in Atlantic City than a peace treaty. It must be exhausting. It must be humiliating. But they show up anyway, because what choice do they have? The economy is broken, the people are angry, and the **American sanctions** are heavy. So, they sit. They listen. They play their part in the theater.

And that is what this is: theater. It is a performance. The United States wants to look strong but also willing to talk. Iran wants to look tough but also wants to survive. Everyone is wearing a costume and reading lines from a script that was written by crazy people. The regular diplomats, the people who went to school for years to learn how to talk to other countries without starting a war? They are nowhere to be found. They are probably sitting at home, shaking their heads, drinking something strong. They know that this is not how you build a stable world. You do not build peace on the whims of family members and secret meetings in Turkey. You build it with slow, boring, careful work. But nobody has time for boring anymore. Boring does not get good ratings on television.

We should also talk about the cynicism of it all. Just a short time ago, the rhetoric was all about enemies and threats. Now, suddenly, there is a meeting. Why? Because it serves a purpose for the moment. It makes for a good headline. "Look," they say, "we are trying." But are they? Or are they just moving the pieces around on the board so they can say they did something? The cynical part of me—which is to say, all of me—knows the answer. They will talk. Maybe they will agree on something small. Maybe they will just agree to meet again. And then, next week, someone will say something angry on the internet, and we will be back to where we started.

This is the state of our world. We are led by actors who think the world is a stage. They treat serious matters like life and death as if they are plot points in a drama. The meeting in Istanbul is not about solving the deep problems between two nations. It is about the photo opportunity. It is about the appearance of action. It is about keeping the audience—that’s us, the terrified public—glued to the screen, wondering what will happen next. Will there be peace? Will there be war? Tune in next week to find out.

So, as Jared Kushner and the Iranian officials sit down in that room in Istanbul, do not hold your breath. Do not expect a miracle. Expect a show. Expect a lot of words that mean nothing. Expect the absurd to continue, because in this theater of the absurd, the curtain never actually falls. The show just goes on and on, and we are all stuck in the audience, unable to leave.

***

### References & Fact-Check * **Original Event Reporting**: For the baseline facts regarding the meeting between U.S. and Iranian officials amid rising tensions, see the original report: [U.S. and Iranian Officials to Meet as Trump’s Threats Loom](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/02/world/middleeast/us-iran-meeting-trump-threats.html) (The New York Times). * **Context on U.S. Envoys**: Information regarding the deployment of specific envoys, including family members, is derived from the current administration's diplomatic protocols described in the source material.