A detailed account of how Netanyahu’s persistence and Khamenei’s defiance transformed Trump’s Iran strategy, his presidency, and potentially the Middle East. Remarkable first draft of history by Ronen Bergman Jonathan Swan Maggie Haberman Mark Mazzetti nytimes.com/2025/06/17/us/…

Since 1979 Iran has derailed numerous US presidencies. Trump now confronts the most consequential decision of his presidency-whether to enter Israel's war in Iran-and both action and inaction will have profound consequences. My essay in The Economist economist.com/by-invitation/…

On this episode of “The David Frum Show,” David Frum urges an end to wishful thinking about Iran, and a focus on the regime’s threatening words and actions. Then he’s joined by Karim Sadjadpour for a conversation about the internal decay of Iran’s theocracy. theatlantic.com/podcasts/archi…

My New York Times Opinion on Iran's looming transition: Wars strengthen nascent revolutionary regimes; military humiliations weaken aging ones. Iran has the human capital and resources to be a G20 nation; less than 25% of authoritarian collapses lead to democracy. nytimes.com/2025/06/23/opi…

An exceptional subtle and informative The New York Times essay from my friend and Carnegie colleague Karim Sadjadpour this am. This paragraph, in particular, sticks with me. nytimes.com/2025/06/23/opi…

My Fresh Air interview on the character of Iran’s Islamic Republic, the sources of its conflict with America and Israel, the unsustainable gap between a theocratic regime and a modern society, and the country’s looming but uncertain political transition npr.org/2025/06/24/nx-…

“Last week, Iran flew at least four civilian aircraft to the Omani capital of Muscat for safekeeping. One of the planes included Iran’s presidential Airbus A340, which landed in Muscat on June 18, according to flight trackers.” The Iranian planes were filled with cash in case

Iran’s Islamist theocracy faces a dead end: The ideology sustaining it—death to America, death to Israel, compulsory hejab—imperils its survival. Yet Khamenei believes abandoning these principles would hasten the regime’s collapse. My interview with Christiane Amanpour

Jack Goldstone likens revolutions to earthquakes: we know where the fault lines lie, but not when they’ll erupt. Likewise, we can’t predict when or how Iran might change—but its transformation is crucial to Middle East stability. My chat with Scott Galloway youtu.be/6qN2ANdWpd0?si…