Benham Ben-Taliblu

And the minority strategy of rule is the strategy that Ali Khamenei had inherited and perfected.

Always a pleasure.

Thank you.

The president does have many options here, and the more he brings military assets to the theater, the more flexibility and options he can actually find.

Diplomatically, the Islamic Republic is still playing the same game.

Structurally, it's playing for time.

In the short term, it wants to sort of thwart or deter or impede a military attack.

In the medium term, it's trying to dishearten Iranian protesters and prove that Uncle Sam is more interested in talking to the regime, which has killed people, rather than in standing with the Iranian people and practice it in a more meaningful way.

And then lastly, in the long term, if it can, to try to get some kind of foreign financial stabilization and sanctions relief.

Well, how the information may have gotten out from the White House to the press, you know, my Occam's razor approach or the simplest explanation is the most likely is this the same way that other information that the U.S. government sometimes more political, sometimes more policy, sometimes more classified or

Well, how the information may have gotten out from the White House to the press, you know, my Occam's razor approach or the simplest explanation is the most likely is this the same way that other information that the U.S. government sometimes more political, sometimes more policy, sometimes more classified or

Well, how the information may have gotten out from the White House to the press, you know, my Occam's razor approach or the simplest explanation is the most likely is this the same way that other information that the U.S. government sometimes more political, sometimes more policy, sometimes more classified or

high-level compartmentalized intelligence information gets out which is it's a leak from a human individual who happens to know a reporter and wants that particular story out there because they play sometimes the Washington folks call an inside-outside game whereas when they have a certain amount of exposure

high-level compartmentalized intelligence information gets out which is it's a leak from a human individual who happens to know a reporter and wants that particular story out there because they play sometimes the Washington folks call an inside-outside game whereas when they have a certain amount of exposure

high-level compartmentalized intelligence information gets out which is it's a leak from a human individual who happens to know a reporter and wants that particular story out there because they play sometimes the Washington folks call an inside-outside game whereas when they have a certain amount of exposure

to a topic or to an issue that generates a certain kind of public backlash that allows folks within the administration and within the kind of, I don't like to use the word deep state, but within the more long-standing civil service bureaucracy, the room for maneuver to ride on top of the sentiment reacting to that story to achieve the policy processes that they may have wanted to.

to a topic or to an issue that generates a certain kind of public backlash that allows folks within the administration and within the kind of, I don't like to use the word deep state, but within the more long-standing civil service bureaucracy, the room for maneuver to ride on top of the sentiment reacting to that story to achieve the policy processes that they may have wanted to.

to a topic or to an issue that generates a certain kind of public backlash that allows folks within the administration and within the kind of, I don't like to use the word deep state, but within the more long-standing civil service bureaucracy, the room for maneuver to ride on top of the sentiment reacting to that story to achieve the policy processes that they may have wanted to.

Again, I have no insight as to if this was the way or if there was a different way

Again, I have no insight as to if this was the way or if there was a different way