Mike Pompeo and Michael Doran on the Iran War
The Tikvah Podcast
Tikvah
4.8 • 658 Ratings
🗓️ 6 March 2026
⏱️ 48 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
At 1:15 in the morning on February 28, more than 200 Israeli Air Force jets took off from bases across the region, bound for Iran. They were soon joined by American B-2 and B-1 bombers and the full weight of U.S. air and naval power in the Middle East. Not long after in Tehran, the Iranian supreme leader was dead, along with dozens of the seniormost figures in his government. Operations Epic Fury and Roaring Lion had begun.
Five days later, the Iranian missile arsenal is measurably degraded, the regime is in a succession crisis, Hizballah has entered the war from Lebanon, Kurdish forces have crossed the border from Iraq, a U.S. submarine has sunk an Iranian frigate in the Indian Ocean, and the Strait of Hormuz has effectively been closed to tanker traffic. The Middle East is in a different place than it was a week ago.
On March 4, Mosaic's editor Jonathan Silver convened two trusted experts to discuss the context and strategic underpinning of these events: the theory of the campaign, what comes next inside Iran, and what this moment means for American power and the American right. Those experts were Michael Doran, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, and the former CIA director and secretary of state Mike Pompeo. The conversation, broadcast live over Zoom for members of the Tikvah community, is this week's podcast.
This week's episode of the Tikvah Podcast is generously sponsored by Julie Goldberg-Botvin in honor of the IDF and all the brave soldiers who are defending our country and the Jewish people all over the world. If you are interested in sponsoring an episode of the Tikvah Podcast, we invite you to join the Tikvah Ideas Circle. Visit tikvah.org/circle to learn more and join.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | What you're about to hear is a live recording from March 4th, 2026, the fifth day of the joint American-Israeli war against Iran. |
| 0:17.8 | To help the Tikva community understand the context and the strategic underpinning of |
| 0:22.3 | events, I gathered two of our most trusted guides to this unfolding crisis for a conversation |
| 0:28.6 | that went into the new cycle and beyond it, into the theory of the campaign, what comes next |
| 0:34.4 | inside Iran, and what this moment means for American power and for the American |
| 0:39.0 | right. The recording of that event is this week's broadcast. Welcome to the Tikva podcast. I'm your |
| 0:44.4 | host, Jonathan Silver. You'll hear my framing introduction to that discussion, and also my welcome |
| 0:49.8 | to the Hudson Institute senior fellow Mike Duran and the former CIA director and Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo. |
| 0:56.9 | If you enjoy this conversation, |
| 0:58.4 | you can discover more big ideas and in-depth analysis |
| 1:01.2 | on Judaism, Israel, America, and the West |
| 1:04.6 | at ticfaideas.org. |
| 1:07.3 | Subscribe to access our full library of podcasts, videos, and essays, and join a growing community focused on Jewish life and the glories of Western civilization. |
| 1:17.1 | You can subscribe to the Tikva podcast on YouTube, Apple Podcast, or Spotify. |
| 1:21.8 | I hope you leave us a five-star review to help us grow this community of ideas. |
| 1:26.3 | I welcome your feedback on this or any of our other |
| 1:28.7 | podcast episodes at ptikva.org. And of course, if you want to learn more about our work at |
| 1:34.6 | Tikva, you can visit our website, tikfa.org, and follow us on Facebook and X. This week's |
| 1:40.8 | episode of the Tikva podcast is generously sponsored by Julie Goldberg-Botfin, |
| 1:46.2 | in honor of the IDF and all the brave soldiers who are defending our country and the Jewish people all over the world. |
| 1:52.5 | If you're interested in sponsoring an episode of the Tikva podcast, we invite you to join the Tikva Idea Circle. |
| 1:58.7 | Visit tikfa.org backslash circle to learn more and join. Here now is my |
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