Iran is in the headlines once again, for two important reasons. First, large numbers of brave Iranians continue to take to the streets in the face of significant repression by the brutal regime. And second, the United States is slowly but steadily amassing an impressive amount of firepower and pointing it straight at the Islamic Republic. Zineb Riboua, Research Fellow at the Center for Peace and Security in the Middle East at Hudson Institute, joins Vandenberg Senior Policy Director Corban Teague to unpack the latest developments.

https://www.city-journal.org/article/israel-us-west-decolonization-third-world

https://nationalinterest.org/blog/middle-east-watch/the-crisis-of-the-islamic-republic-of-iran

https://x.com/zriboua

https://substack.com/@zinebriboua

https://vandenbergcoalition.org/americans-first-polling/

https://www.commentary.org/articles/tod-lindberg/age-of-trump-power-purpose/

(1:25) State of the Protests in Iran

(5:43) Is the Regime Afraid of Collapsing?

(8:00) U.S. Military Assets in the Gulf

(17:31) The Future of Conservative Grand Strategy and American Power

(21:50) The Third-Worldist Logic

(29:35) The Limits of Ideology

(35:47) What Comes Next in Iran?

(41:01) Saudi Arabia and Israel

(42:29) Looking Ahead for 2026

You can watch this episode as a video on YouTube.