BONUS RELEASE: Can America and Its Allies Tolerate A Nuclear Iran, or Is It Time to Stop Them Now?

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🗓️ 13 June 2025

⏱️ 51 minutes

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Summary

In light of today's breaking news—Israel’s targeted airstrikes on Iranian nuclear and military facilities, and Iran's retaliation—we are re-releasing our episode that confronts one of the most urgent questions of our time. Originally aired in January 2025, this debate has only grown more relevant, with our two experts offering insights critical for understanding the road ahead. Iran is getting closer to developing its first nuclear weapon. With tensions rising in the Middle East, should the U.S. and its allies take a stand? Those calling to stop Iran now argue this is a “now or never” moment for the region. Those calling for tolerance say while it’s not ideal, it is manageable, and maintaining diplomacy should be the focus. Now we debate: Can America and Its Allies Tolerate A Nuclear Iran, or Is It Time to Stop Them Now? Arguing STOP NOW: Behnam Ben Taleblu, Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies Arguing TOLERATE: Barbara Slavin, Distinguished Fellow at the Stimson Center Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	This is open to debate. Hi everybody, I'm John Donvan. An urgent one this time. It was just a few months ago.
0:05.0	We debated a question that in the moment that we're in right now has come around full circle to be front and center.
0:10.0	The question, should America and its allies tolerate a nuclear Iran or is it time to stop them now?
0:17.0	Well, here we are with Israel in the midst of trying to stop Iran. And the pros and cons of that,
0:22.9	the consequences, the unintended consequences, that's all part of this debate that we are bringing
0:28.0	to you in this episode, part of our ongoing series of debate centered around issues in the Middle East.
0:33.0	Now, this is an evolving situation. We do not know where it's going to go from here, but we do
0:37.4	know that this debate was especially robust from here, but we do know
0:37.5	that this debate was especially robust and insightful, and it can help us understand not only
0:43.0	what has just happened, but what may yet happen. We will continue, of course, to monitor
0:48.0	this situation, and we will bring you fresh arguments as they evolved.
0:52.4	This is open to debate. I'm John Donvan. Hi, everybody. There was a time when the United
0:58.5	States was the only nuclear power on Earth, but that was a short-lived period of time.
1:03.3	The Russians got one four years after the United States, and eventually several more states
1:07.4	elbowed their way into the so-called nuclear club. There was France, there was
1:11.4	Britain, China, Israel, South Africa, India, Pakistan, North Korea. And what has turned out to be true,
1:17.4	especially in regard to the nations we tend to have stressed relations with, North Korea,
1:21.7	is that once these nations go nuclear, we just have to live with the fact. We can't make them
1:26.2	un-nuclear. Being nuclear is its own
1:29.2	protection. The nation that is not quite there yet but appears to be accelerating towards the
1:33.8	nuclear club is Iran. According to U.S. Secretary of State Tony Blinken, speaking in 2024,
1:40.0	Iran at present could put together a testable nuclear weapon in a matter of a week or two.
	...

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