maritime disaster, a cargo ship that ran aground off the country s coast three months ago has split in two. the ship s breakage spilled up to 300 containers and sparked concerns about an oil spill. those are your top stories. now back to fareed zakaria gps. iran and the west are locked in a dangerous game of brinkmanship, a war of words and sanctions that could turn into something bigger. so what happens next? i have a panel of experts here with me. iranian-born vali nasr, professor of international politics at tufts university. he recently served in the obama state department. bret stephens is the foreign affairs columnist of the wall street journal, formerly the editor of the jerusalem post. hillary mann leverett worked in george w. bush s national security counscil for director f global affairs. hooman majd is one of the finest authors and commentators, the author of the ayatollah s
administration s dramatic plan to cut the pentagon budget. is it too much, too little, or is it the goldie locks budget? then, the west and iran are headed toward a serious showdown. what happens next? will oil spike to $150 a barrel? what is the end game here? we have four top experts to guide us through. also, we ll tell you the real reason china is revamping most of its television shows. it s not to get better ratings. my take this week is on iran. you ll hear from others on this later, but i ll go first. there s not much foreign policy talk on the campaign trail, as you probably noticed, except for one issue. everyone is talking about iran s new strength and assertiveness, its missile tests, its progress on the nuclear program, its moves in iraq. mitt romney, the republican front-runner, describes iran as the greatest threat the world faces over the next decade. in fact, the real story on the ground is that iran is weak and getting weaker. sanctions have pushed the