Iran International Insight Town HallsIran International Insight is a televised town hall series produced by Iran International in partnership with America Abroad Media, connecting policymakers and experts in Washington, DC with millions of viewers inside Iran and across the global Iranian diaspora. Aired on Iran International—the leading Persian-language television and digital news network—the series brings high-level policy discussions directly to audiences shaping and following Iran’s future.
Panelists at an Iran International Insight town hall warned that any US military action against Iran risks falling short if it mirrors past “one-off” strikes without sustained political and economic pressure.
Joel Rayburn, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, and Robert Satloff, the Segal Executive Director of the Washington Institute joined the moderator, Behnam Ben Taleblu, the senior director of the Iran Program at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) to discuss the issue in Washington DC.
Iran's military and economic setbacks have deepened this year after it was worsted in a US-Israeli war and hit by mounting sanctions, two prominent experts told an Iran International panel, drawing parallels with the waning days of the Soviet Union.
"I do think there are people inside of Tehran who say in their quiet moments, we're a fading regime," said Norman Roule, a veteran of the Central Intelligence Agency for over 30 years who once oversaw its Iran desk.
"It's not to say that the Islamic Republic is the Soviet Union or 2025 is 1989," said Mark Dubowitz, CEO of the hawkish Washington-based think tank the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD).
Dubowitz likened Tehran's change in tack on some social issues to the attempts by the Soviet Union's last premier, Mikhail Gorbachev, to implement partial reforms to save the Soviet system only to bring about its downfall.
Two former senior US Mideast policy officials said a renewed conflict between Israel and Iran appeared remote after the arch-foes clashed in June, but described Tehran in a roundtable discussion hosted by Iran International TV as a lingering threat.
Iran envoy for President Donald Trump from 2020 to 2021 Elliott Abrams and Ambassador Dennis Ross, a former Middle East adviser to Republican and Democratic administrations, are veterans of decades of US diplomacy with long records in the fraught region.
Both see the Islamic Republic as a threat to US national security, the country's military presence in the Middle East and the security of its Arab partners and Israel.
After 12 days of war between Iran and Israel, the two sides have entered a ceasefire. But what does this ceasefire mean for Iran, Israel, and the United States? Is this the end of the conflict? What are the implications for the Iranian people, for Iran’s nuclear and missile programs, and for its regional proxies? Iran International's Fardad Farahzad puts these questions to the Israeli Ambassador to the United States, Yechiel (Michael) Leiter.