East to West | Voices of the Middle East

Most people know Hezbollah through headlines about rockets, wars, and southern Lebanon. But behind that image is another story, one that stretches across Latin America, Africa, Europe, and beyond.

In this episode of East to West, Balig Sladeen speaks with Dr. Emmanuel Ottolenghi, Senior Research Fellow at the Center on Terror Finance, about the global financial networks that have helped Hezbollah sustain itself for decades.

In this episode of East to West, Balig Sladeen talks with David Daoud, Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), about the country where his story began.

From memories of his childhood and leaving Lebanon, to building a life in Israel and later the United States, David shares how those experiences shaped his identity and the way he understands Lebanon today. It's a personal conversation about home, belonging, and the memories that stay with you long after you've left.

What do you say when the regime you're negotiating with is the same regime that executed your father?

In this powerful episode of East to West, host Balig Sladeen sits down with Gazelle Sharmad, a German-American freedom advocate whose father, Jamshid Sharmad, was kidnapped and executed by the Iranian regime.

For Gazelle, this isn't a policy debate. It's deeply personal.

She shares her family's story, reflects on what justice means after such a loss, and explains why so many Iranians believe the world continues to confuse the Iranian people with the regime that oppresses them.

This is a conversation about grief, resilience, courage, and the fight for a free Iran. It is also a reminder that behind every headline are families whose lives have been forever changed.

In this hard-hitting interview, JCFA Senior Researcher Ella Rosenberg joins the studio to break down the complex web of the regime's financial survival.

From the shadow fleets in the Strait of Hormuz to the dark realities of human trafficking and crypto-laundering, this conversation reveals how the IRGC maintains its grip on power despite crushing international sanctions and global pressure.

In this new episode, Dan Catarivas, Senior Advisor on International Relations at the Manufacturers Association of Israel, reflects on his extraordinary time living and working in Beirut during the early 1980s. Speaking with host Balig Sladeen at the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs, he shares memories of daily life inside Israel’s liaison office in Lebanon, the unexpected relationships he built with Lebanese businessmen, and the brief moment when peace and normal relations between the two countries seemed possible.

Growing up in Morocco in the 90s, Mustapha Ezzarghani, a Moroccan American peace activist describes being "fed wrong propaganda" by media outlets that glorified suicide bømbers as heroes. He opens up about a time when he wished he could be one of those "heroes" defending his religion against an "evil enemy."Everything changed when he met a Berber mother in the mountains whose daughter’s life was saved by Israeli doctors. This encounter shattered his worldview and sent him on a journey to discover the deep, 3,000-year history of Moroccan Jews and the reality of modern Israeli society.

In this episode of East to West, host Balig Sladeen sits down with Jason Greenblatt, JCFA Senior Researcher and Former Special Envoy for the Middle East under President Trump for an inside look at the recent war and what it means for the entire region.

We explore how Trump's Iran strategy shifted from Maximum Pressure in the first administration to full military action today, and what drove that change. We also dig into the Strait of Hormuz crisis, was this a predictable escalation, or did it genuinely catch the US off guard?

With the shadow of October 7th still looming, we ask whether a broader regional peace is even possible without resolving the Palestinian issue. And we look at how Arab countries are repositioning themselves in relation to Iran, Israel, and the United States in the aftermath of the war.

The bombs are falling, the IRGC is "incapacitated," and 20,000 targets have been neutralized, so why hasn't the regime collapsed?

In this high-stakes episode of East to West with Balig Sladeen, Mehrdad Youssefiani reveals the terrifying reality of Iran’s "autopilot" command centers. We move past the military stats to expose why the regime is actually using the war to fuel its survival narrative. If you think a few precision strikes will trigger a revolution, you’re missing the bigger picture.

Did Iran make a strategic mistake by targeting the Gulf?In this episode of “East to West”, Balig Sladeen speaks with Zineb Riboua, a research fellow at the Hudson institute, about how the war could backfire on Tehran, pushing Gulf states closer to the U.S. and even Israel, and undermining years of Iranian influence in the region.

We discuss why Gulf states may abandon attempts to balance or contain Iran, seek closer relation with the US, and what this could mean for the future regional power dynamics.

In this episode of East to West, Balig Sladeen is joined by Prof. Danny Orbach, military historian and professor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, to examine the war with Iran through a historical and strategic lens.

Iran spent years building a network of proxies designed to surround Israel in what has been described as a “ring of fire.” But following the events of October 7, that strategy may have begun to unravel.

Prof. Orbach explains how proxy warfare works, why such strategies can fail, and how Israel responded by targeting its adversaries sequentially. We also discuss the role of air power, the limits of military force against ideological regimes, and the broader historical parallels, from World War II to modern asymmetric conflicts.