Geopolitical Futures

On Saturday US time, 7 B2 Spirit Bombers dropped more than a dozen Bunker Buster Bombs on Iran as part of a coordinated strike on three nuclear sites inside the country. It came just over a week after Israel began its own strikes on Iran, which it said was approaching the point of no return in the development of a nuclear weapon. But it has left the world asking: is this a turning point, the start of a new conflict in the Middle East? Or the end of another one? On the podcast, recorded Sunday, June 22nd, Geopolitical Futures chairman George Friedman joins host Christian Smith to discuss what’s behind America’s decision to attack, what next for Iran and the region, and whether the US may be dragged into another quagmire in the Middle East.

Iran developments. Officials are still gauging the fallout from the United States’ strikes on three Iranian nuclear sites over the weekend. According to the International Atomic Energy Agency, Isfahan,...

(click to enlarge) The Israel-Iran war has severely damaged Iran’s energy infrastructure and raised tensions in the Strait of Hormuz. Israeli strikes have hit major oil and gas facilities, including...

Taking a toll. A week after launching its assault on Iranian nuclear facilities, Israel's war effort is already proving costly, potentially limiting its ability to sustain a protracted conflict....

The recent escalation between Israel and Iran was not unexpected. As George Friedman recently wrote, there was never a possibility that Tehran could avoid detection or that the Israelis or the Americans would not destroy the nuclear facilities before they went operational. In this week's live discussion, George is joined by GPF contributors and Middle East experts Hilal Khashan and Kamran Bokhari to examine the situation and all its complexities within the region and beyond.

European arbitration. The foreign ministers of Germany, France and Britain will reportedly meet with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in Geneva on Friday. It would be the first in-person...