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FDD's Long War Journal
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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Marco Rubio
U.S. Secretary of State and Acting National Security Advisor
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Lai Ching-te
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.”
Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ)
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Mike Waltz
"Thank you to FDD…for the many, many years of great work that you’ve done. I've known the organization and relied on its expertise long before this conversation today."
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
Weekend Interview
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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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George W. Bush
Former President
Overnight Brief: March 6, 2026
Read Full BriefToday In Issues:
FDD Research & Analysis
- Today at 8:30am (ET): "FDD Morning Brief," FDD SITREP
- "Hezbollah’s Recklessness May Restore Israel’s ‘Security Zone’," FDD Policy Brief
- Video, audio, and transcript: "Surveying Foreign Influence in AI Tools," FDD Event
- "Trump Administration Foreign Policy Tracker: March," FDD Foreign Policy Tracker
- "Israel Did Not Drag the US Into War," The Algemeiner
- "Escalation Without Detonation: Russia’s Nuclear Threats," Real Clear Defense
- "Trump’s Iran Exceptionalism," The Dispatch
- "Strikes on Iranian Nuclear Sites Signal Resolve To End Tehran’s Nuclear Weapons Program," FDD Policy Brief
- "China’s Defense Budget Keeps Growing While Economy Contracts," FDD Policy Brief
- "Don't want the regime to have nukes? Eliminate the regime.," Generation Jihad (FDD's Long War Journal)
- "Hezbollah leader vows to fight until the end in renewed war with Israel," FDD's Long War Journal
The Must-Reads
- Large-scale attacks intensify tensions in Middle East
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- Trump tells Reuters US must have a role in choosing Iran's next leader
- WINEP’s Assaf Orion, Hanin Ghaddar, Michael Knights, April Longley Alley, Michael Jacobson, Matthew Levitt: The wartime role of Iran's “axis”: Countering proxy and terrorist threats
- WSJ Editorial: Ukraine is Iran's drone training range
- No talk of triggering NATO's Article 5 over Turkey missile shoot-down, Rutte says
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