Podcast: Ray Takeyh on What Iran Wants

Iran has sparked conflict across the Middle East over the last few months. What are its aims? Is it succeeding?

Houthi security forces stand guard during an anti-Israel and anti-U.S. rally in Sanaa, the Houthi-controlled capital of Yemen, on January 19, 2024. MOHAMMED HUWAIS/AFP via Getty Images.

Houthi security forces stand guard during an anti-Israel and anti-U.S. rally in Sanaa, the Houthi-controlled capital of Yemen, on January 19, 2024. MOHAMMED HUWAIS/AFP via Getty Images.

Observation
Feb. 2 2024
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A weekly podcast, produced in partnership with the Tikvah Fund, offering up the best thinking on Jewish thought and culture.

Podcast: Ray Takeyh

 

Since October 7, there have been more than 100 attacks by Iran-backed militias against American forces in the Middle East. On January 28, a drone strike, probably launched by Iran’s most powerful proxy in Iraq, killed three and injured more than 40 American soldiers. Iran-supported Houthis have launched dozens of attacks on commercial ships in the Red Sea. Iran’s most important proxy in Lebanon, Hizballah, sustains a low-grade confrontation with Israel. And, of course, 130 Israelis remain hostages to Iran-backed Hamas in Gaza.

In other words, there is a war, sometimes hot, sometimes cool, happening across the entire Middle East involving Iran, Israel, the U.S., and various other smaller actors. What does Iran want out of this war? Is it achieving its objectives? What is it concerned about?

To answer these and other questions, Ray Takeyh here joins Mosaic’s editor Jonathan Silver. Takeyh is a senior fellow for Middle East studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, a regular contributor to the Wall Street Journal and Foreign Affairs, and the author, just last week, of a New York Times opinion piece called “Why Iran Doesn’t Want a War.”

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.

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