Protests Reverberate Across Iran
Featuring: Behnam Ben Taleblu, Director of the Iran Project for F.D.D.
Date: Monday, January 5, 2026
Time 12 noon, Eastern Standard Time
Throughout Iran, workers are on strike. The stock market has closed down. University students in Tehran are revolting in the streets. Protests have broken out throughout almost every major province and city. The IRGC and thugs of the Revolutionary Guard Corps have begun shooting the protesters.
Is this the beginning of the end of the Islamic Republic of Iran?
About our speaker: Behnam Ben Taleblu is senior director of the Foundation for Defense of Democracy’s Iran Program, where he oversees the breadth and depth of FDD’s work on Iran in addition to serving as a senior fellow specializing in Iranian security and political issues. For well over a decade, Behnam has supported FDD’s Iran program as a senior fellow, research fellow, and senior Iran analyst. Prior to his time at FDD, Behnam worked on non-proliferation issues at an arms control think tank in Washington.
Leveraging his subject-matter expertise and native Persian-language skills, Behnam closely tracks a wide range of Iran-related functional and regional topics including nuclear non-proliferation, ballistic missiles and drones, sanctions, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and its proxies, the foreign and security policy of the Islamic Republic, and internal Iranian politics. Frequently called upon to brief journalists, congressional staff, diplomatic, military, academic, and policy audiences in Washington, across the United States, and around the world, Behnam has testified before various committees in the U.S. Congress, the Canadian Parliament, and the UK House of Commons.
Behnam’s analysis has been quoted in The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, Reuters, Fox News, Associated Press, Agence France-Presse, Politico, and Axios, among others. Additionally, he has contributed to or coauthored articles for The Wall Street Journal, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, Politico Europe, Fox News, The Hill, War on the Rocks, Newsweek, and The National Interest. Behnam has appeared on a variety of broadcast programs, including PBS Newshour, BBC News, Fox News, CNN International, CBS News, C-SPAN, France 24, and Deutsche Welle.
Behnam earned his M.A. with honors in international relations from The University of Chicago, and his B.A. in international affairs and Middle East studies from The George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs. Behnam is also a member of the Anti-Defamation League’s Task Force on Middle East Minorities and a contributing editor to National Security Journal.
