Richard Goldberg on the Future of Iran Policy

The Tikvah Podcast

Tikvah

Judaism, Politics, Religion & Spirituality, News

4.6 • 620 Ratings

🗓️ 18 March 2020

⏱️ 41 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Over the past two decades, the Islamic Republic of Iran has financed terrorism, civil war, and repression throughout the Middle East—and even in Europe and Latin America—while working to develop nuclear weapons. What can the U.S. do to pressure Iran to stop? And how can it do so without involving American forces in a costly and dangerous military confrontation?

In this episode of the Tikvah Podcast, we are joined by Richard Goldberg, a senior advisor to the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD). He looks at the future America’s Iran policy, and focuses in particular on one tool in the American arsenal: economic sanctions. Goldberg and our guest host, Tikvah alumna Talia Katz, discuss how the Trump administration’s sanctions build on the foundations laid by previous administrations and how President Trump’s approach differs from that of his predecessor.

For an overview statement of Goldberg’s ideas, you can have a look at his January 24 New York Times essay, “Trump Has an Iran Strategy. This Is It.”

One more note: this podcast was recorded prior to the massive disruptions caused by the spread of COVID-19 throughout the world, and especially in Iran. We’ll be releasing another podcast on that subject in the next few weeks.

Musical selections in this podcast are drawn from the Quintet for Clarinet and Strings, op. 31a, composed by Paul Ben-Haim and performed by the ARC Ensemble as well as “Ulterior” by Swan Production.

Transcript

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0:00.0	If you were asked to advise the President of the United States how to pressure Iran to stop its program of nuclear proliferation and to stop its financing of terrorism throughout the Middle East, and also to do so without
0:21.6	engage in the United States military in a costly on-the-ground engagement. How do you think about
0:26.7	applying that pressure? What would you do? What tools of policy and persuasion and coercion
0:32.4	does the United States have at its disposal to contain the national security threats posed by Iran. Welcome to the Tikva
0:40.2	podcast. I'm your host, Jonathan Silver. This week, we think about America's Iran policy, and we look
0:46.8	in particular at one tool in the American arsenal, economic sanctions. How do the Trump administration's
0:53.4	sanctions build on the foundations laid
0:55.6	by past administrations, and how does this administration's approach differ from that of the
1:00.9	Obama administration and the joint comprehensive plan of action it implemented after prolonged
1:06.3	negotiations with Iran and EU officials? Our guest this week is Richard Goldberg, senior advisor to the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, known as FDD.
1:17.4	Up until earlier this year, Rich served as the director for countering Iranian weapons of mass destruction on the National Security Council at the White House.
1:26.1	For a kind of overview statement of Rich's
1:28.5	ideas, you can have a look at an essay he wrote in the New York Times, titled Trump Has an Iran
1:33.9	Strategy, This Is It. That essay was published on January 24, 2020. Rich is interviewed for us by
1:41.5	Talia Katz, a government relations analyst at FD, and she's also a public interest fellow.
1:47.4	If you enjoy this conversation, you can subscribe to the Tikva podcast on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, and Spotify.
1:53.8	I hope you'll leave us a five-store review to help us grow this community of ideas.
1:58.6	I welcome your feedback on this or any of our other podcast episodes
2:02.1	at podcast at ticfafunds.org. And of course, if you want to learn more about our work at
2:07.5	Tikva, you can visit our website, tikfafunds.org, and follow us on Facebook and Twitter.
2:13.3	One more thing. This podcast was recorded last month on February 19th, and so it does not reflect
2:19.8	the massive effects of the coronavirus in Iran or anywhere else in the world. We'll be releasing
	...

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