The Iran Breakdown with Mark Dubowitz

About the Episode Host Mark Dubowitz is joined by author Roya Hakakian  to trace the Islamic Republic’s decades-long war on dissent — both inside Iran and across the globe. Roya shares her personal journey from a hopeful 12-year-old during the 1979 revolution to a refugee, writer, and fierce advocate for democracy. At the heart of their discussion is the Mykonos trial, the landmark 1997 case in Be...

About the Episode Host Mark Dubowitz is joined by Behnam Ben Taleblu , senior director of FDD's Iran Program and author of Arsenal: Assessing Iran's Ballistic Missile Program , for a masterclass on the Islamic Republic of Iran’s expansive — and still growing — weapons arsenal and the central role it plays in Tehran’s broader military strategy. From the Islamic Republic's ballistic miss...

About the Episode In this episode of The Iran Breakdown, host Mark Dubowitz continues to expose and examine Tehran’s proxy wars. This time, we unravel Tehran’s relationship with the Houthis in Yemen; the Shi’a militias in Iraq; and Hamas in Gaza, specifically looking at the Regime’s hand in the October 7 attack against Israel. Admiral Mark Montgomery, Bill Roggio, and Beni Sabti, join Mark to scru...

About the Episode It's the world’s most dangerous nuclear standoff. Can President Trump get Iran to dismantle its nuclear program — or is Tehran just playing for time? In this episode of  The Iran Breakdown , Mark sits down with award-winning journalist Barak Ravid for an insider’s look at the nuclear talks now underway in Oman.  From enrichment red lines and snapback deadlines to Israel’s str...

About the Episode Hezbollah is not a rogue actor. It’s a tool of the Islamic Republic.   That’s because Iran doesn’t just fund terror — it runs a global terror empire. And Hezbollah is the crown jewel. In this episode of The Iran Breakdown , host Mark Dubowitz sits down with Dr. Matthew Levitt, a top authority on Hezbollah and Iran’s proxy warfare, to break down how Hezbollah operates as Iran’s mo...

About the Episode Mark Dubowitz sits down with journalist Jay Solomon to unpack the new round of U.S.-Iran nuclear negotiations and trace the arc from Obama’s secret backchannels to Trump’s second shot at a deal — raising the question: are we about to do the fatally flawed, Obama-era JCPOA all over again?   They unpack the early U.S. concessions that shaped the first deal, Iran’s global terror pla...

About the Episode "Death to Israel, the little satan!" It's all too familiar, this rallying cry of Islamic Republic regime officials and their sympathizers — they've been chanting this for almost 50 years now. But make no mistake: they mean what they say. With its terrorist proxies across the region, the Iran threat has been knocking at Israel's door for decades. But on October...

About the Episode In today’s episode, host Mark Dubowitz is joined by one of the Iranian regime's most fearless enemies, Masih Alinejad. Masih is not just a journalist or an activist—she’s a one-woman revolution. Born in Iran, exiled for speaking truth to power, and now living under constant threat, Masih has become a voice for the voiceless, especially for Iranian women fighting back against...

About the Episode Whether you’re a seasoned Iran watcher or just starting to explore the topic, understanding the Islamic Republic requires going back to the events that led to the 1979 Islamic Revolution. And to do that we need to revisit 1953, the year a coup overthrew Iran’s Prime Minister, Mohammad Mossadegh. If you think you already know this story, think again. About the Guest Host Mark Dubo...

About the Episode Welcome to The Iran Breakdown, hosted by Mark Dubowitz. If you know anything about Mark, you know he lives and breathes one mission: stopping a nuclear Iran and ending the Islamic Republic. Back in 2018, The New York Times put it this way: “Mark Dubowitz’s campaign to draw attention to what he saw as the flaws in the Iran nuclear deal has taken its place among the most consequent...

Welcome to inaugural episode of The Iran Breakdown, hosted by Mark Dubowitz. About the Episode There’s a truth we’ll come back to again and again on this show: The Iranian people are extraordinary. Whether in Tehran or Los Angeles, Berlin or Toronto — Iranians are known for their brilliance, resilience, and drive. Here’s the tragedy: Only Iranians living outside the Islamic Republic are free to th...

A limited series from FDD Podcasts hosted by Mark Dubowitz.