MBN Iran Briefing Podcast

In the upcoming Iran Briefing podcast, we speak with Alan Eyre, former U.S. diplomat and the first Persian language spokesperson for the U.S. State Department, about the connections between 9/11, the current conflict, the motives of Iran’s regime, and the broader sweep of Iranian history.

In the latest episode of Iran Briefing, Farzan Sabet and Matthew Kaminski examine whether Tehran really wants the war to end, how the IRGC and hardliners emerged more entrenched despite major leadership losses, and why the conflict’s lasting legacy may be a reshaped regional map rather than regime change.

What does Iran’s history of political repression look like through the eyes of someone whose own family paid a devastating price?

On this episode of Iran Briefing, Andres Ilves speaks with Mehrzad Boroujerdi about the latest developments in Iran, repression following the Iranian Revolution, why he left Tehran, and how exile shaped his understanding of his homeland.

Boroujerdi also discusses his deeply personal New York Times article, “This Is What My Father’s Assassination Taught Me About the War in Iran,” and reflects on what his father’s killing taught him about violence, politics and Iran’s turbulent history.

Five months of war have transformed Iran’s confrontation with the U.S. and Israel into a wider conflict with its Arab neighbors.

In a new episode of Iran Briefing, Andres Ilves, Leila Bazzi and Abubakar Siddique examine Tehran’s strategy, the risks facing its hardliners, and what is really unfolding in Beirut and Baghdad.

In this edition of the MBN Iran Briefing podcast I'm joined by Shahin Milani, Executive Director of the Iran Human Rights Documentation Center, as we take up what actually happened during the regime’s massacre of thousands of Iranians in January, why the world's attention has moved on, and how the regime’s tactics have hardened since the 2022 Woman, Life, Freedom protests. Shahin also tells me why he believes January's killings surpass even those of 1988 as the worst massacre in Iran's modern history, and why the last illusions about reforming the Islamic Republic are now gone for good.

In this edition of the Iran Briefing podcast I'm joined by Scott Wilcox, Senior Advisor at the Sicuro Group, a global risk management and operational resilience firm. We take up how Gulf businesses have adjusted to war as the new normal, why the brunt of the strikes has fallen on Bahrain and Kuwait while the UAE and Saudi Arabia have stayed largely insulated, and how shifting expat demographics and personal tax exposure are reshaping hiring decisions across the region. Scott also tells me why Iran’s cyber and disinformation campaigns worry him more than its missiles, and why he doesn't buy the 60-day peace process timeline. 

In this edition of the MBN Iran Briefing podcast Andres Ilves joined by Ken Pollack, Vice President for Policy at the Middle East Institute, as we take up whether the U.S. deterrence strategy regarding Iran has succeeded or failed, how Iran built its own deterrent around the Strait of Hormuz and its regional proxies, and what regime change could realistically look like now that the initial window has closed. Ken also tells me the three things that keep him up at night and why his thinking changed after the pivotal day of March 17, 2000.

In this edition of the Iran Briefing Podcast, MBN Iran Editor Andres Ilves is joined by Dana Stroul, director of research at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, and Matthew Kaminski, MBN’s editorial chair, as they take up the MOU, Iran’s nuclear and missile programs, how Iran weaponized the Strait of Hormuz, the Houthi wildcard in the post-ceasefire landscape, and what genuine post-war strategic success looks like for Washington.

In this edition of the MBN Iran Briefing podcast I’m joined by Henry Sokolski, founder and executive director of the Nonproliferation Policy Education Center, as we examine the newly announced US-Iran Memorandum of Understanding, the fundamental flaws in inspecting nuclear fuel production, the overlooked plutonium threat at Bushehr, nuclear proliferation risks across the Middle East, and whether the sixty-day negotiation window can address half a century of unresolved nuclear concerns.

In this edition of the MBN Iran Briefing podcast I’m joined by MBN Washington Bureau Chief Joe Khawly and seasoned MBN journalist Rami Al Amine, as we examine Lebanon’s role in the broader Iran-Israel-US war, Iran’s direct control over Hezbollah, the troubled ceasefire negotiations, and why the real deadline isn’t the June 22 talks: it’s whatever deal, if any, Washington and Tehran reach.