In the latest episode of the Lawfare Podcast, executive editor Natalie Orpett sits down with Ariane Tabatabai and Julia Curlee to assess where the war in Iran stands today and how it reached this point. Tabatabai, vice president of research, security and defense at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, and Curlee, a Lawfare public service fellow and former CIA analyst, offer their perspectives on the conflict's trajectory.
The central argument, drawn from their recent Foreign Policy piece, is that the gutting of the national security apparatus in Washington has directly affected the way Tehran is waging the war. The guests explain how weakened US policy infrastructure has shaped Iranian calculations and military behavior, though the episode description does not detail specific mechanisms.
Curlee brings 25 years of national security experience, including service as an NSC director in both the Biden and second Trump White Houses, while Tabatabai previously served in the State and Defense Departments. Their combined backgrounds lend weight to the analysis of how institutional decay in Washington influences an adversary's wartime strategy.