Call Me Back - with Dan Senor

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Why would a president risk a war in the Middle East in an election year? 

Dan is joined by Walter Russell Mead to unpack the strategic and political gamble behind the U.S. conflict with Iran. They discuss why Trump may have chosen this moment to act, how generational attitudes toward war shape the debate, and what success (or failure) could look like. The conversation also explores Iran’s potential strategy, its impact on Russia and China, and how countries like India are viewing the unfolding conflict.

In this episode:

- 05:45 – Trump’s High-Stakes Bet on War

- 08:15 – Why the Case for the War Feels Unclear to Many Americans

- 10:25 – The Generational Divide on U.S. Military Power

- 15:40 – Why Trump Chose This Moment to Strike

- 23:20 – What “Winning” the War Could Actually Look Like

- 26:20 – Iran’s Endurance Strategy: Drag the U.S. Into a Quagmire

- 30:05 – What Russia and China Want to See Happen

- 32:10 – Why India Is Watching This War Closely

See Rachel Goldberg-Polin in conversation with Dan at The Temple Emanu-El Streicker Cultural Center on April 20 to discuss her upcoming book "When We See You Again.” Purchase tickets before they sell out.

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Credits: Ilan Benatar, Adaam James Levin-Areddy, Brittany Cohen, Ava Weiner, Martin Huergo, Mariangeles Burgos, and Patricio Spadavecchia, Yuval Semo

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Was America dragged into the Iran war by Israel, as some commentators seem to suggest?

An out-of-context statement by State Secretary Marco Rubio seems to give credence to the conspiratorial accusation that America is fighting Israel's war in Iran. Dan is joined by Nadav Eyal and Mark Dubowitz to discuss the truth behind these claims, the delicate politics behind the decision to launch the war, and how it all plays out in American public discourse. They also cover the possible succession of Iran’s Supreme Leader, the campaign against Iran’s nuclear and missile capabilities, and the broader strategy shaping the conflict—along with what outcomes Israel and the U.S. would ultimately consider a victory.

In this episode:

- 04:20 – The strike in Qom and the disruption of Iran’s leadership succession

- 06:05 – The possible rise of Mojtaba Khamenei

- 11:05 – What the past 72 hours reveal about the military campaign

- 13:25 – Why Qom is central to the Islamic Republic

- 15:05 – The emerging strategy to pressure the regime from within

- 20:05 – The debate in the U.S. over how the war began

- 37:35 – Iran’s strategy for surviving the conflict

- 40:05 – What Israel and the U.S. would consider a victory

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How did Israel manage to eliminate Supreme Leader Khamenei and his top lieutenants within the opening strike of Operation Roaring Lion? How was the Iranian regime infiltrated? What tactical abilities were necessary to deliver the final blow? And how much of it was luck?

Ronen Bergman, senior correspondent for Yedioth Ahronoth and The New York Times Magazine, takes Dan through the story of Khamenei’s killing from plan to execution, and through the many ways in which things could have gone differently.

In this episode:

3:00 – How did Israel know where Khamenei was hiding?

8:43 – Was Iran careless?

14:50 – How did the plan to strike Khamenei take shape?

15:34 – 6am on the morning when it happened

22:01 – Sponsor break: United Hatzalah

22:57 – Immediate aftermath: What happened after the decapitation strike?

23:37 – The second and third waves of the attack

28:33 – Iran's attack on Arab states: another miscalculation?

33:25 – What's the mood in Iran?

This episode was sponsored by United Hatzalah. Donate today at IsraelRescue.org/CallMeBack. Add this number to your phone right now if you live in Israel – 1221, and for those visiting it’s 972-2-5-383838.

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What's the state of play after the first day of operation Roaring Lion? What tactical resources have the United States and Israel deployed and what's their division of labor? What are the operation's risks and opportunities? General David Petraeus joins Dan to examine the strategic and tactical planning and goals of the war.

General Petraeus is a retired four-star U.S. Army general and former CIA Director who led coalition forces in Iraq and Afghanistan and is widely recognized for shaping modern U.S. counterinsurgency strategy. He's also co-author of 'Conflict' with Andrew Roberts.

In this episode:

- 1:00 – Khamenei killed: The decapitation strike

- 3:00 – Day one of the war: Epic Fury and Roaring Lion

- 5:00 – How a strike like this gets built

- 8:00 – The daylight gamble

- 12:00 – U.S. forces in position

- 16:00 – Regime change or something else?

- 20:00 – U.S.–Israel coordination

- 28:00 – What comes next for Iran

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Dan Senor & Saul Singer’s book, The Genius of Israel

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Credits: Ilan Benatar, Adaam James Levin-Areddy, Brittany Cohen, Ava Weiner, Martin Huergo, Mariangeles Burgos, and Patricio Spadavecchia, Yuval Semo

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The United States and Israel have launched coordinated strikes against Iran, and the region is now at war.

In this emergency episode of Call Me Back, Dan is joined by Nadav Eyal and Mark Dubowitz to break down the opening operation, Iran’s retaliation across the region, and the high-stakes question at the center of it all: Is this about degrading nuclear and missile capabilities, or is this the beginning of regime change?

They discuss the decapitation strategy targeting Iran’s senior leadership, the possibility that Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has been killed, the international response, and what comes next. As sirens sound in Israel and ballistic missiles fly across the Gulf, this is real-time analysis of a historic turning point in the Middle East.

In this episode:

- Operation Epic Fury and Roaring Lion: How the war began

- Iran’s regional retaliation and the widening battlefield

- Targeting the leadership: Decapitation and the Khamenei question

- Nuclear reconstitution, Pickaxe Mountain, and the missile threat

- Regime change or strategic degradation?

- International reaction and Gulf alignment

- The American message and what it signals

- How this ends and what comes next

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Dan Senor & Saul Singer’s book, The Genius of Israel

Get in touch

Credits: Ilan Benatar, Adaam James Levin-Areddy, Brittany Cohen, Ava Weiner, Martin Huergo, Mariangeles Burgos, and Patricio Spadavecchia, Yuval Semo