The Iran Breakdown with Mark Dubowitz

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We're bringing you another riveting episode from our sister podcast, Foreign Podicy, repackaged for Iran Breakdown followers: Behnam Ben Taleblu, Senior Director of FDD’s Iran Program, is joined by former senior U.S. intelligence official Norman Roule to assess Iran’s post–12-Day War reality, including the gap between regime propaganda and mounting internal pressure — and what this volatile moment might reveal about the Islamic Republic’s next moves.

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With the regime reeling from military humiliation, economic decay, and growing defiance at home, Mark sits down with frontline journalist David Patrikarakos to cut through Tehran’s spin to explain what’s really happening inside the Islamic Republic. From the collapse of Iran’s nuclear prestige to the widening cracks in its coercive power, this conversation digs into what’s real, what’s collapsing, and what may come next. A weakened regime. A restless population. A volatile moment. Is Iran Unraveling? Let’s break it down.

📺: Watch this episode on YouTube here.

Before new episodes of The Iran Breakdown return (soon!), we’re bringing you a riveting discussion from our sister podcast, Foreign Podicy, featuring FDD's Behnam Ben Taleblu in dialogue with Dr. Ali Ansari — one of the world’s foremost scholars of modern Iran.

In a sweeping, incisive discussion, they trace the forces now reshaping the Islamic Republic after the 12-Day War: a regime struggling with a crisis of legitimacy, the weaponization of Iranian nationalism, and the deep social and political shifts building beneath the surface.

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A new axis is rising — forged not in friendship but in shared hatred of the West. Putin and Khamenei have sealed a 20-year pact: Iranian drones rain over Ukraine, Russian diplomats shield Tehran’s nuclear ambitions, and together they’re plotting to shatter the U.S.-led order.

Mark Dubowitz and Clifford D. May break down this dangerous alliance from imperial rivalries to today’s coordinated campaign to weaken America, divide its allies, and resurrect their empires — and how Washington can still break the axis before it’s too late.

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One of America’s top sanctions experts, Miad Maleki, now a senior advisor at FDD, joins Mark Dubowitz to pull back the curtain on the Islamic Republic’s mafia state — a regime that controls every corner of the economy, launders terror money through “charities,” and weaponizes humanitarian channels to fund global terror.

They break down how U.S. financial power crippled Tehran’s networks, why the myth of “moderating Iran through wealth” is a deadly illusion, and why the next round of snapback sanctions could push the Islamic Republic to the brink.

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U.S.–Israeli coordination during the 12-Day War critically damaged Iran’s nuclear program and flipped deterrence on its head. Now, Israeli strikes targeting Hamas leaders in Qatar have sent shockwaves across the region — and a strong message to Tehran. Washington’s latest show of strength? The National Energy Dominance Council.

Established by Trump and co-architected by today’s guest during his most recent White House tour, it ends decades of regime oil blackmail and cements American energy as American power — a tool of statecraft.

Although Washington and Jerusalem are rewriting rules and reestablishing deterrence in the Long War against the Islamic Republic, the fight isn’t over until the regime has fallen. And the next decisive battleground may be Iraq.

To explain why — and to help break down lessons learned from the 12-Day War, Israel’s strike in Qatar, and how American energy dominance is reshaping the strategic landscape — Rich Goldberg is back with Mark on The Iran Breakdown.

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One is the world’s leading state sponsor of terror. The other is the world’s most powerful dictatorship and greatest long-term threat facing the United States. What happens when they join forces? Mark Dubowitz sits down with Craig Singleton (FDD) and Grant Rumley (Washington Institute, formerly FDD) to unpack the dragon–mullah alliance.

From oil deals, weapons transfers, Belt and Road projects and AI-powered repression, to a strategy designed to undermine America and shatter the rules-based world order, China-Iran ties go much deeper — and darker — than economic trade. How far will Beijing go to embolden Tehran, and how should Washington respond before the Axis of Aggressors tightens its grip?

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Washington has wasted decades chasing pauses and half-measures. But as Mark Dubowitz and Brigadier General Jacob Nagel argue, the only answer to Iran’s nuclear blackmail is total dismantlement — no delay, no suspension, no enrichment, no deal that leaves Tehran’s program intact.

From Israel’s 12-Day War against Iran’s nuclear and missile arsenal to the fatal flaws of the JCPOA, Mark and Jacob break down why time is running out, why negotiations can’t be trusted, and why the only acceptable outcome is complete and utter dismantlement.

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Missiles cripple armies, but sanctions topple regimes.

Juan Zarate, the strategist who pioneered U.S. financial warfare, joins Mark to break down how sanctions and isolation bled Iran’s economy and forced concessions—and how the dollar became Washington’s weapon of choice against Tehran, reshaping the regime’s choices and the future of American power.

Together, they unpack how the US turned the global financial system into a battlefield, cutting off Iran’s banks, oil revenues, and shadow networks—and why this economic arsenal still spearheads the struggle with the Islamic Republic today.

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What did the 12-Day War reveal about the Islamic Republic — and about us?

Host Mark Dubowitz sits down with his FDD colleague Brad Bowman, Senior Director of FDD’s Center on Military and Political Power (CMPP), to break down what the 12-Day War taught us about American military and political power — how it’s wielded, where it’s failing, and what comes next.

They map Iran’s battlefield failures and its deepening ties to Russia, China, and North Korea — the Axis of Aggressors confronting the United States — and what the US must learn from Israel’s fight.

From munitions shortfalls to deterrence theory, this is a hard look at American power, the future of the U.S.–Israel alliance, and the next phase of the long war with Tehran.