Coates, Wurmser and Fleitz Discuss the Biden Admin’s Worsening Iran Policy

During this Center for Security Policy webinar, three top Iran experts – Dr. Victoria Coates, Dr. David Wurmser, and Fred Fleitz – discussed the disturbing trajectory of President Joe Biden’s policy toward Iran, Tehran’s reactions to this policy, and the implications for Middle East security.

Dr. Victoria Coates recently joined the Center as a Senior Fellow.  Her previous positions include President of the Middle East Broadcasting Networks, Senior Policy Advisor to the Secretary of Energy, Deputy National Security Advisor for Middle Eastern and North African Affairs, and Senior Advisor for National Security to Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX).  Coates worked closely on Middle East security issues for the Trump administration, including on the “Deal of the Century” peace plan and the Abraham Accords. Coates’ new op-ed co-authored with her former NSC colleague Robert Greenway “The Next Suez Threat? A Big Hack” was recently published by Bloomberg Opinion.

Dr. David Wurmser is Director of the Center’s Project on Global Anti-Semitism and the U.S.-Israel Relationship.  He is a former U.S. Navy Reserve intelligence officer with extensive national security experience working for the State Department, the Pentagon, Vice President Dick Cheney and the National Security Council.  Wurmser has written extensively on the Iran nuclear issue.  He recently wrote a detailed analysis of Israel’s recent Knesset elections.

Fred Fleitz, the moderator of this panel, is president of the Center for Security Policy and served in 2018 as deputy assistant to the president and chief of staff of the National Security Council. He worked on the Iran nuclear question for the CIA, DIA, the Department of State, and the House Intelligence Committee staff.  Last August, Fleitz wrote a detailed report titled “Stolen Nuclear Documents Confirm Iran Cheated on the JCPOA” on documents related to Iran’s covert nuclear weapons program that Israeli intelligence stole in 2018.

The panelists engaged in a wide-ranging discussion about the stubborn determination of the Biden administration to rejoin the JCPOA despite its flaws and documented Iranian cheating.  They discussed how Iran appears to be playing the Biden foreign policy team and holding out for an agreement on its terms and new appeasement by the U.S.

The panelists also discussed how Biden’s Middle East policy appears to be a revival of President Obama’s Iran-centric Middle East policy and aimed at reviving the JCPOA at the expense of the security concerns and U.S. relations with other states in the region, especially Israel and Saudi Arabia.  There were good discussions of the Abraham Accords, President Trump’s Maximum Pressure policy toward Iran, and hostility toward Israel from the Biden administration and in the Democratic party.

This informative and wide-ranging webinar is a must-watch.