In seven episodes, the Babel: U.S. Power and Influence in the Middle East podcast miniseries will take a closer look at two decades of heightened U.S. engagement in the region. Over seven weeks, Babel will cover how the United States has used its military, economic, diplomatic, and soft power tools in the Middle East—and how the Middle East has responded.  

In part three, Jon looks at how the United States has used its economic toolkit in the region, and how successful sanctions and development aid have been in advancing U.S. interests in the Middle East. He speaks with Howard Shatz, a senior economist at RAND who served with the Bush administration’s Council of Economic Advisors in 2007-2008; Amy Hawthorne, the deputy director for research for the Project on Middle East Democracy who served as a senior advisor for Near Eastern Affairs in the State Department during the Arab Spring; and Ali Vaez, the International Crisis Group’s Iran project director.