The transcript will be available here. 

As President Donald Trump has arrived back from China, the rhetoric against the Islamic Republic of Iran has begun to heat up, once again. On Sunday, President Trump wrote on Truth Social, “For Iran, the Clock is ​Ticking, and ​they better get ‌moving, ⁠FAST, or there won’t be ​anything ​left ⁠of them. TIME ​IS OF ​THE ⁠ESSENCE!” President Trump has also insisted that he is not factoring in the financial situation of Americans vis-à-vis Iran. He stated “The only thing that matters when I am talking about Iran, they can’t have a nuclear weapon. I don’t think about Americans’ financial situation. I don’t think about anybody. I think about one thing: You cannot let Iran have a nuclear weapon.”

There are rumors that the United States and Israel might once again, engage Iran in kinetic military conflict.

Come listen to the most quoted American expert when it comes to the Islamic Republic of Iran, Behnam Ben Taleblu. Come and listen to what is happening on the American front, the Israeli front and the internal Iranian front.

About our Speaker:

Behnam Ben Taleblu is senior director of the Foundation for Defense of Democracy’s Iran Program, where he oversees the breadth and depth of FDD’s work on Iran in addition to serving as a senior fellow specializing in Iranian security and political issues. For well over a decade, Behnam has supported FDD’s Iran program as a senior fellow, research fellow, and senior Iran analyst. Prior to his time at FDD, Behnam worked on non-proliferation issues at an arms control think tank in Washington.

Leveraging his subject-matter expertise and native Persian-language skills, Behnam closely tracks a wide range of Iran-related functional and regional topics including nuclear non-proliferation, ballistic missiles and drones, sanctions, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and its proxies, the foreign and security policy of the Islamic Republic, and internal Iranian politics. Frequently called upon to brief journalists, congressional staff, diplomatic, military, academic, and policy audiences in Washington, across the United States, and around the world, Behnam has testified before various committees in the U.S. Congress, the Canadian Parliament, and the UK House of Commons.

Behnam’s analysis has been quoted in The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, Reuters, Fox News, Associated Press, Agence France-Presse, Politico, and Axios, among others. Additionally, he has contributed to or coauthored articles for The Wall Street Journal, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, Politico Europe, Fox News, The Hill, War on the Rocks, Newsweek, and The National Interest. Behnam has appeared on a variety of broadcast programs, including PBS Newshour, BBC News, Fox News, CNN International, CBS News, C-SPAN, France 24, and Deutsche Welle.

Behnam earned his M.A. with honors in international relations from The University of Chicago, and his B.A. in international affairs and Middle East studies from The George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs. Behnam is also a member of the Anti-Defamation League’s Task Force on Middle East Minorities and a contributing editor to National Security Journal.