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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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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.”
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Mike Waltz
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Jessica Lewis
Former Assistant Secretary for Political-Military Affairs, U.S. Department of State
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Amb. Nikki R. Haley
Former US Ambassador to the United Nations
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Civilian Deputy and Foreign Policy Advisor, U.S. European Command
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Iran's Former Foreign Minister
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former Acting and Deputy Director, Central Intelligence Agency
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Former President
Overnight Brief: March 5, 2026
Read Full BriefToday In Issues:
FDD Research & Analysis
- "Iran's last 'impenetrable' nuke factory exposed: Secret underground target Trump must now destroy... or we're doomed," Daily Mail
- "Beware Turkey’s ambitions in the post-Iran power vacuum," New York Post
- "Will Turkey Invade Iran?" The National Interest
- "Moscow Muddies the Info Waters to Hide How It’s Abandoned Its Ally," Kyiv Post
- "The Islamic Republic’s Geopolitical Suicide (Translated from French)," Franc Tireur
- "Iran’s Pro-Regime Hackers Cannot Back Up Their Claims of Successful Cyber Attacks," FDD Policy Brief
- "The Energy War Iran Can’t Win," FDD Policy Brief
- "Washington Must Ensure Beirut Acts on Its Promise To Disarm Hezbollah," FDD Policy Brief
- "Will NATO’s Downing of an Iranian Ballistic Missile Over Turkey Shift Ankara’s Stance?" FDD Policy Brief
- "Oman’s Flipflopping on Iran Will Leave It Isolated in the Gulf," FDD Policy Brief
- "Iran’s regional partners spark protests across the Middle East and South Asia," FDD's Long War Journal
- "Why Iran’s ballistic missile launches are declining," FDD's Long War Journal
- "Iraqi Shiite militias claim attacks on US bases," FDD's Long War Journal
- "Israel conducts 1,600 strikes on Iran in 4 days of war, weathers Iranian missile and drones," FDD's Long War Journal
The Must-Reads
- Israelis celebrate Purim amid Iranian missile attacks
- Channel 12 News’s Amit Segal: The new Israeli rules of engagement
- WINEP’s Dana Stroul: America and Israel’s war to remake the Middle East
- U.S. sub torpedoes Iranian warship
- Iran’s underground ‘missile cities’ have become one of its biggest vulnerabilities
- Iran will target Israeli nuclear site if regime change is sought, Iranian official says
- ISIS’s David Albright, Sarah Burkhard, Spencer Faragasso, and the Good ISIS Team: Alleged Minzadehei nuclear weapons development compound
- Russia is big winner as Iran war drains supplies that Ukraine needs
- Pro-American Kurdish forces are preparing possible Iran incursion
- Near East Center for Strategic Studies’s Martin: An urgent need to contain Turkey
- Hezbollah's entry into Iran crisis deepens its isolation at home
- China to send envoy to Middle East for mediation, foreign minister says