Brink: Inside America’s Confrontation with Iran

About

Four American presidents. One persistent enemy. And a confrontation that has brought the Middle East to war.

Brett McGurk has spent more than two decades at the center of American Middle East policy, serving Presidents George W. Bush, Barack Obama, Donald Trump, and Joe Biden. Now, in his new book, Brink, he takes readers inside some of the most consequential national security decisions of our time.

In this episode of The Iran Breakdown, McGurk draws on his extraordinary firsthand experience to examine America’s long struggle with the Islamic Republic — from failed nuclear diplomacy and Iran’s network of terrorist proxies to October 7, failed negotiations with Tehran, President Biden’s defense of Israel against Iranian missile and drone attacks, and President Trump’s military confrontation to cripple Iranian nuclear and war-making capabilities.

What did the Biden administration get right and wrong? Has Trump’s use of military force fundamentally changed the equation? Can Iran’s nuclear and regional ambitions be stopped? Is America winning? What are the differences between American and Israeli approaches to confronting the Iran threat? Did the Iran campaign help or hurt our efforts to deter China in a Taiwan crisis scenario. And after four presidencies, what has Washington still failed to understand about the regime in Tehran and the importance of American presence in the Middle East?

An insider’s account of American power, presidential decision-making, and the future of the threat from the Islamic Republic.

Watch