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Trending Issues
Iran
How will the U.S. and Israel help bring down the regime with the Iranian people?
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How will the U.S. and Israel help bring down the regime with the Iranian people?
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Israel conducts 1,600 strikes on Iran in 4 days of war, weathers Iranian missile and drones
FDD's Long War Journal
China
US War on Iran Challenges China and ‘Axis of Chaos’ Partners
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The Energy War Iran Can’t Win
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Russia
Moscow Muddies the Info Waters to Hide How It’s Abandoned Its Ally
In modern conflict, narrative is a weapon. The Kremlin understands this. Now the US has a chance to remind the world how treacherous Russia as ally can be.
Kyiv Post
Why the Middle East crisis will have a ‘negligible’ impact on the war in Ukraine
Euronews
November 5, 2025
2:30 pm
EVENT: Containment Redux: Persian Gulf War Lessons from Iraq for U.S. Strategy Toward Iran
To examine the parallels between Iran in 2025 and Iraq after the First Persian Gulf War, FDD hosts Elliott Abrams, Council on Foreign Relations senior fellow and former U.S. special representative for Iran; Reuel Marc Gerecht, FDD resident scholar and former CIA Iranian targets officer; and Kenneth M. Pollack, Middle East Institute vice president for policy and former NSC director for Persian Gulf affairs. Moderated by FDD’s Iran Program Senior Director Behnam Ben Taleblu, the discussion will analyze how Washington’s mix of deterrence, sanctions, and diplomacy aims to recalibrate U.S. policy toward the Islamic Republic while preventing a 2003-style Iraq War outcome with Iran.
Featured Experts
Mark Dubowitz
Chief Executive
- Iran Sanctions
- Iran Human Rights
- Syria
- Iran Missiles
- Iran
- Iran Global Threat Network
- Hezbollah
- Iran-backed Terrorism
- Sanctions and Illicit Finance
- Cyber
- Iran Nuclear
Jonathan Schanzer
Executive Director
- Palestinian Politics
- Iran
- Iran Sanctions
- Iran Global Threat Network
- Hezbollah
- Iran-backed Terrorism
- Turkey
- Jihadism
- Sanctions and Illicit Finance
Behnam Ben Taleblu
Iran Program Senior Director and Senior Fellow
- Iran
- Iran Sanctions
- Iran Missiles
- Iran Human Rights
- Iran Politics and Economy
- Iran Global Threat Network
- Sanctions and Illicit Finance
RADM (Ret.) Mark Montgomery
CCTI Senior Director and Senior Fellow
Richard Goldberg
Senior Advisor
- Iran
- Palestinian Politics
- Iran Sanctions
- Iran Global Threat Network
- Iran-backed Terrorism
- Gulf States
- Sanctions and Illicit Finance
- International Organizations
Lt. Col. (Ret.) Jonathan Conricus
Senior Fellow
Reuel Marc Gerecht
Resident Scholar
- Iran
- Iran Politics and Economy
- Turkey
- Arab Politics
- Egypt
Janatan Sayeh
Research Analyst
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New York Times
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Marco Rubio
U.S. Secretary of State and Acting National Security Advisor
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Lai Ching-te
President of Taiwan
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Tsai Ing-wen
Former President of Taiwan
“Thank you for all of FDD’s work… it is so critical to our fight in the United States against terror and against those who seek to do us harm” … “[FDD has always] held Iran accountable for their continued nuclear activity and for their continued terror activity….which is key to America’s national security and our fight globally against terror, against Iran and its proxies, and against Hezbollah and Hamas and Palestinian Jihad.”
Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ)
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Mike Waltz
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Jessica Lewis
Former Assistant Secretary for Political-Military Affairs, U.S. Department of State
"I will tell you that FDD has been such a partner. Whether it is dealing with the Iran deal and the flaws that were in it, all the way to human shields and all the things that we need to do to combat it, you've been a partner in a time where we need partners. And so I appreciate that very much."
Amb. Nikki R. Haley
Former US Ambassador to the United Nations
“Nobody makes the case better than FDD that the Islamic Republic is a threat to the region, its own people and the U.S., and that it needs to be dealt with, not wished away.”
Wall Street Journal
Weekend Interview
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Amb. Kate Marie Byrnes
Civilian Deputy and Foreign Policy Advisor, U.S. European Command
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Javad Zarif
Iran's Former Foreign Minister
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Michael Morell
former Acting and Deputy Director, Central Intelligence Agency
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George W. Bush
Former President
Overnight Brief: March 4, 2026
Read Full BriefToday In Issues:
FDD Research & Analysis
- Today at 8:30am (ET): "FDD Morning Brief," FDD's Morning Brief SITREP
- Live at 12:00pm (ET): "Surveying Foreign Influence in AI Tools," FDD Event
- "Trump’s Iran Gamble: Operation Epic Fury and Death to the Dictator," FDD's The Iran Breakdown
- "AI-Amplified Narratives: Measuring Propaganda in LLM Citations," FDD Memo
- "Islamic Republic of Iran Attacks the Arab World," FDD Visual
- "A battle to make America great again," The Washington Times
- "Trade Rules Must Be Clear to Restrain China," WSJ Letter to the Editor
- "Life Under Iran’s Rockets," The Free Press
- "Time for Lebanon’s De-Hezbollahfication," This Is Beirut
- "Israel Strikes Tehran Regime’s Assembly of Experts, Underlining Efforts to Disrupt Succession Process," FDD Policy Brief
- "U.S. Must Pressure Baghdad To Rein in Iran-Backed Militias," FDD Policy Brief
- "Qatar Shuts Down LNG Production, Opening the Door for American Energy Leadership," FDD Policy Brief
- "Iran expands retaliation for US-Israel campaign across Arab states (February 28–March 2)," FDD's Long War Journal
- "Iraqi Shiite militias join the war between Israel, the US, and Iran with drone attacks," FDD's Long War Journal
- "US and Israel race to defeat Iranian missiles and drones following early campaign successes," FDD's Long War Journal
- "US-Israeli strikes hit Iran’s missile, nuclear, political, and repression sites," FDD's Long War Journal
- "‘Too Late’: Trump Rebuffs Tehran Regime’s Request for Talks," FDD Flash Brief
The Must-Reads
- Israel is blowing up Iran’s police state to clear the way for a revolt
- WSJ Editorial: The Bibi-made-Trump-do-it canard
- Iran escalates attacks on Gulf nations as conflict widens
- Trump weighs backing militias to dislodge Iran’s regime
- Mojtaba Khamenei, seen as possible next Supreme Leader, has survived assault on Iran, sources say
- NYT’s Ross Douthat: The Iran war is Trump’s war
- Syria sends thousands of troops to Lebanon border, sources say
- CIA station in Saudi capital hit in drone attack
- Kuwaiti jet fighter mistakenly downed U.S. F-15s, initial reports say
- China building subs that can strike U.S. from closer to home, U.S. navy warns
- Pakistan says its forces killed 67 Afghan troops in cross-border clashes. Kabul rejects the claim
- U.S. expands fight against Latin American drug gangs with Ecuador operation