Foreign Policy Live

The Trump administration’s plans in the Middle East are often criticized by those who say he shouldn’t have attacked Iran. But the White House is also facing flak from those who say that it didn’t go far enough. John Bolton is a longtime proponent of regime change in Iran. He served as national security advisor in the first Trump administration before falling out with the president. Bolton joined FP’s Ravi Agrawal for a debate.

Plus, Ravi gives his read on the tenuous Middle East cease-fire. 

Ravi Agrawal: Why Trump Mishandled Iran

New York Times: John Bolton: Finish the Job: How Trump Can Still Win in Iran

Ali Hashem: The Iran Cease-Fire Has Only Divided the War

Raphael S. Cohen: Trump’s Iran War Is a Dilemma, Not a Debacle

Eric Brewer: Preventing an Iranian Bomb Is Only Getting Harder

Stephen Walt: America’s Pro-War Elites Must Be Held Accountable

Rishi Iyengar: Trump’s Pivot to Pakistan
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After news of a 14-day cease-fire in the middle east conflict, Ravi shares his initial thoughts and analysis.

Plus, the rationale for attacking Iran revolved around security. How did the global narrative become about energy? Iran’s strongest weapon has turned out to be its ability to strangle the Strait of Hormuz, an important trade choke point. What does the return of energy as a weapon mean for the global economy? 

Meghan O’Sullivan, author of Windfall: How the New Energy Abundance Upends Global Politics and Strengthens America’s Power, explains how countries need to think about their energy security. She is a professor at Harvard University and has previously served as deputy national security advisor for Iraq and Afghanistan in the George W. Bush administration. 

Ravi Agrawal: Why Trump Mishandled Iran

New York Times: How Trump Took the U.S. to War With Iran

Amir Handjani: The War Will End With a Hormuz Toll Booth

Nils Gilman: Electrostates vs. Petrostates

Jason Bordoff and Spencer Dale: Making the U.S. More Resilient to Oil Price Shocks

Foreign Affairs: Jason Bordoff and Meghan L. O’Sullivan: The Return of the Energy Weapon

Foreign Affairs: Jason Bordoff and Meghan L. O’Sullivan: The Iran Shock And the Dangerous Allure of Energy Autarky
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As the U.S.-Israel war against Iran enters a second month of conflict, how is Tehran’s surviving leadership thinking about an endgame? And how will the conflict reshape geopolitics in the region?

Ali Vaez has extensive contacts with Iranian lawmakers and sits down with Ravi Agrawal to discuss the regime’s options. Vaez is a project director at the International Crisis Group.

Plus, Ravi’s Read on how the White House seems to be winning the battle but losing the war. 

Ravi Agrawal: Trump Is Losing the War in Iran

Robert A. Pape and Ali Vaez: The Iran War Has Escaped Its Authors

Zakiyeh Yazdanshenas: What Iran Wants From the War

Thomas Juneau: Get Ready for a Weaker but Nastier Iran

Menahem Merhavy: Iran’s Civilizational Rhetoric Is Hollow

Arash Reisinezhad: Iran’s Biggest Wartime Advantage is Geography
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Crude and gas prices are soaring after the closure of the Strait of Hormuz and attacks on regional energy infrastructure amid war in the Middle East. How bad could the energy shock get and for how long? FP columnist Jason Bordoff sits down with Ravi Agrawal to discuss.

Bordoff previously served in the Obama administration as a senior director for energy and climate change in the National Security Council. He is also the founding director of the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University.

Jason Bordoff and Spencer Dale: Making the U.S. More Resilient to Oil Price Shocks

Esfandyar Batmanghelidj: The Iran War Is Jeopardizing the Entire Global Economy

Jason Bordoff and Erica Downs: How the Iran War Could Consolidate China’s Energy Dominance

Keith Johnson: Iran Is Putting a ‘Toll Booth’ in the Strait of Hormuz

Nils Gilman: Electrostates vs. Petrostates

Keith Johnson: Europe and the U.S. Still Haven’t Choked Off Russia’s Energy Riches

Maisoon H. Kafafy: Empty Words Don’t Open Straits

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It’s widely accepted that the post-WWII order has changed, but the question remains—what comes next? Political scientist Hal Brands maps out three possible scenarios in a cover essay for Foreign Policy’s latest print issue and joins FP Live to discuss. 

Brands is a professor of global affairs at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies and the author of The Eurasian Century: Hot Wars, Cold Wars, and the Making of the Modern World.

Hal Brands: Three Scenarios for a Post-Trump World

Emma Ashford: A Better Trans-Atlantic Relationship Is Entirely Possible

Sarang Shidore: Can Middle Powers Gel?

Suzanne Nossel: What Would an Abundance Foreign Policy Look Like?

Nils Gilman: Electrostates vs. Petrostates
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