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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
Bradley Bowman
CMPP Senior Director
Edmund Fitton-Brown
Senior Fellow
Andrea Stricker
Nonproliferation and Biodefense Program Deputy Director and Research Fellow
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U.S. Secretary of State and Acting National Security Advisor
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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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Wall Street Journal
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Amb. Kate Marie Byrnes
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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George W. Bush
Former President
Overnight Brief: November 7, 2025
Read Full BriefToday In Issues:
FDD Research & Analysis
- Today at 8:30am (ET): "FDD Morning Brief," FDD Event
- Video, audio, and transcript: "Event Containment Redux: Persian Gulf War Lessons from Iraq for U.S. Strategy Toward Iran," FDD Event
- "Learning the Right Lessons From ‘A House of Dynamite’," Real Clear Defense
- "Israel banned UNRWA. A former IDF spokesman explains why," The Jerusalem Report
- "Solving for Hidden Huaweis: Sector Level Approaches to Protect the US Connectivity Market," Force Distance Times
- "Hegseth Visits Vietnam Looking To Pull Hanoi Away From Russia and North Korea," FDD Policy Brief
- "Hamas continues to return hostage remains as Gaza ceasefire holds," FDD's Long War Journal
- "Hamas Official Floats Discussions for Decommissioning Group’s Long-Range Weapons," FDD Flash Brief
- "Israel Strikes Hezbollah Targets in Lebanon as Terrorist Group Warns Against Direct Negotiations With Jerusalem," FDD Flash Brief
- "New Satellite Evidence Shows Mass Graves Following Paramilitary Massacre in Sudanese City," FDD Flash Brief
The Must-Reads
- Israel to begin drawing down reservist forces exhausted by two years of war
- Mediators propose deal to get Hamas fighters out of Gaza's Israeli zone, sources say
- JPost Editorial: ISF achieving less than full Hamas disarmament will be a failure, lead to future wars
- Iran sentences Iranian American Jewish man to prison, family says
- Trump says Iran has been asking if US sanctions can be lifted
- Israeli jets strike southern Lebanon towns, escalating near-daily attacks
- US Treasury sanctions Hezbollah operatives aiding Iranian funds in reaching terror group
- WINEP’s Michael Jacobson and Matthew Levitt: Hezbollah is down but not out
- U.N. Security Council removes Syria's president from sanctions list
- South Korea says North Korea fired 1 ballistic missile toward its eastern waters
- New aircraft carrier advances China's naval power
- Kazakhstan is joining the Abraham Accords, Trump says