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Lex Fridman Podcast

#473 – Iran War Debate: Nuclear Weapons, Trump, Peace, Power & the Middle East

Lex Fridman Podcast

Lex Fridman

Philosophy, Society & Culture, Science, Technology

4.7 β€’ 13K Ratings

πŸ—“οΈ 26 June 2025

⏱️ 251 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Debate on Iran war between Scott Horton and Mark Dubowitz. Scott Horton is the author and director of the Libertarian Institute, editorial director of Antiwar.com, host of The Scott Horton Show, and for the past three decades, a staunch critic of U.S. foreign policy and military interventionism. Mark Dubowitz is the chief executive of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, host of the Iran Breakdown podcast, and a leading expert on Iran and its nuclear program for over 20 years. This debate was recorded on Tuesday, June 24, after the Iran-Israel ceasefire was declared.
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Transcript:
https://lexfridman.com/iran-israel-debate-transcript

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EPISODE LINKS:
Mark's X: https://x.com/mdubowitz
Mark's Podcast: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLmEsAFBNkqsMQnt5pypwEX0ul0NyIjd3E
The Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD): https://www.fdd.org/

Scott's X: https://x.com/scotthortonshow
Scott's YouTube: https://youtube.com/@scotthortonshow
Scott's Podcast: https://www.scotthortonshow.com/
Scott's Website: https://scotthorton.org/
Scott's Books: https://amzn.to/3T9Qg7y
The Libertarian Institute: https://libertarianinstitute.org/
Antiwar.com: https://antiwar.com/

SPONSORS:
To support this podcast, check out our sponsors & get discounts:
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Go to https://joinhampton.com/lex
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LMNT: Zero-sugar electrolyte drink mix.
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OUTLINE:
(00:00) - Introduction
(00:36) - Sponsors, Comments, and Reflections
(08:02) - Iran-Israel War
(16:45) - Iran's Nuclear Program
(48:37) - Nuclear weapons and uranium
(1:00:40) - Nuclear deal
(1:26:14) - Iran Nuclear Archive
(1:48:50) - Best case and worst case near-term future
(2:24:15) - US attack on Iran - Operation Midnight Hammer
(2:47:48) - Nuclear proliferation in the future
(3:08:46) - Libertarianism
(3:21:35) - Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD)
(3:37:10) - Trump and Peacemaking process
(3:42:08) - WW2
(3:55:08) - WW3

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

The following is a debate between Scott Horton and Mark Dubowitz on the topic of Iran and Israel.

0:06.7

Scott Horton is author and editorial director of NTWore.com,

0:11.0

host of the Scott Horton Show, and for the past three decades,

0:14.2

a staunch critic of U.S. foreign policy and military interventionism.

0:20.1

Mark Dubowitz is a chief executive of the Foundation for

0:23.7

Defense of Democracies, host of the Iran Breakdown podcast, and he has been a leading expert

0:30.0

on Iran and its nuclear program for over 20 years. And now a quick few second mention of a sponsor.

0:39.6

Check them out in the description or at lexfremant.com slash sponsors.

0:44.5

It's the best way to support this podcast.

0:47.3

We got Hampton for a private, highly vetted community for founders and CEOs,

0:53.9

Notion for team collaboration and note taking,

0:56.4

Shopify for selling stuff online, Oracle for cloud computing and element for your health.

1:02.9

Choose the wise, my friends. And now onto the full ad reads. They're all here in one place.

1:07.3

I try to make them interesting by talking about some random things I'm reading

1:11.5

or thinking about, but if you do skip, please still check out our sponsors. I enjoy their stuff.

1:16.9

Maybe you will too. To get in touch with me, for whatever reason, go to Lex Freeman.com

1:21.4

slash contact. All right, let's go. This episode is brought to you by a new sponsor, an incredible community called Hampton.

1:31.8

It's a private, highly vetted community for high-growth founders and CEOs.

1:36.8

It is lonely to be a leader.

1:40.3

Every CEO I know, every founder I know, especially in the early days, are truly on an emotional

1:48.8

roller coaster.

1:49.8

So Hampton provides a great community for the founders to meet.

...

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