The US/Israeli War on Iran Expands to Lebanon, Kuwait, UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Iraq and Cypress
We begin with the US/Israeli war on Iran expanding into Lebanon after a few Hezbollah rockets aimed at Israel were met by a punishing Israeli retaliation. Joining us to assess what further suffering the people of Iran and Lebanon have in store is Thanassis Cambanis, a senior fellow at the Century Foundation and Director of the Center for International Research and Policy. Until recently, he worked as a journalist based in Lebanon and his books include A Privilege to Die: Inside Hezbollah’s Legions and Their Endless War Against Israel, and most recently, Shia Power Comes of Age: The Transformation of Islamist Politics in Iraq, 2003-2023. He has an article at The Century Foundation we discuss, “Attacking Iran Is a Guaranteed Disaster.”
Trump’s Chaotic and Reckless Iran Nuclear Policy
Then with Trump’s excuse for going to war against Iran to end a nuclear weapons program that could strike the US he claimed he already “obliterated”, we speak with Daryl Kimball, the Executive Director of the Arms Control Association and publisher and contributor for the organization’s monthly journal, Arms Control Today. For more than two decades, he has led the organization’s research and policy advocacy on a range of issues, including cancellation of new nuclear weapons programs and the conclusion of the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran. His latest article in Arms Control Today we discuss is “Trump’s Chaotic and Reckless Iran Nuclear Policy.”
Tactical Success By Air Power Does Not Translate Into Strategic Control of Iran
Then finally we examine the underlying folly of “Operation Epic Fury” which in Washington circles is now referred to as “Operation Epstein Fury”, and look into how tactical success by air power does not translate into strategic control. Joining us is Robert Pape, a Professor of Political Science and the director of the Chicago Project on Security and Terrorism at the University of Chicago specializing in political violence and international security affairs. He is the author of Bombing to Win: Air Power and Coercion in War and blogs at The Escalation Trap on Substack where his recent articles include “From Kosovo to Iran: The Smart Bomb Trap and the Risk of Catastrophic Escalation” and “The Day 1 Mirage: Why Recent Airstrikes on Iran Have Not Broken the Regime or Set Back the Nuclear Program.”