Iran: From 1979 to Today: Appeasement or Realpolitik?
Featuring: Ambassador Yoram Ettinger
Date: Wednesday, May 28, 2025
Time: 12 noon, Eastern Time, 7 p.m. Israeli Time
On November 4, 1979, Iranian followers of Ruhollah Khomeini seized the American Embassy in Tehran, taking 66 Americans hostage, and keeping 52 of them hostage for 444 days, until January 20, 1981. Before that, President Jimmy Carter had praised the "late shah of Iran," referring to Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, calling pre-Islamic state Iran “an island of stability.”
Since then, we have had successive administrations forced to confront the problem of the Islamic Republic of Iran, its vastly growing nuclear program, and its many terror proxies. We have had various presidents vowing that “Iran will not get a nuclear bomb on my watch”. Today, the International Atomic Energy Administration has said, as of February 8, 2025, that Iran has stockpiled 274.8 kilograms of highly enriched uranium at the 60 per cent level, meaning they are only days away from the 90 per cent level, which is necessary for a nuclear bomb.
As I write this, the Trump administration is in negotiations with Iran, and is thinking of lifting sanctions. Although there have been statements from the current US administration for Iran to cease all enrichment activity, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said in a televised interview on Thursday that if the United States aims to end uranium enrichment then there will be no nuclear deal.
Please join us to hear one of the world’s greatest experts on the Iranian nuclear project and its desire for Shia hegemony.
About our Speaker: Ambassador (ret.) Yoram Ettinger is an insider on US-Israel relations, the Islamic Republic of Iran, Mideast politics and overseas investments in Israel’s high tech. He is a member of the American-Israel Demographic Research Group (AIDRG), which has documented dramatic flaws behind demographic fatalism on one hand and a Jewish demographic momentum on the other hand.
He is a consultant to members of Israel’s Cabinet and Knesset, and regularly briefs US legislators and their staff on Israel’s contribution to vital US interests, on the root causes of international terrorism, and on other issues of bilateral concern.
Ambassador (ret.) Yoram Ettinger’s OpEds have been published in Israel and in the US, and he is frequently interviewed on Israel’s and the US’ TV and radio.
Ambassador (ret.) Yoram Ettinger – who did his graduate studies at UCLA and undergraduate at University of Texas El Paso, and has served as Minister for Congressional Affairs at Israel’s Embassy in Washington (with the rank of an Ambassador), Israel’s Consul General in Houston, and Director of Israel’s Government Press Office. He is the editor of Straight From The Jerusalem Cloakroom and Boardroom newsletters on issues of national security and overseas investments in Israel’s high-tech.
