The Bigger Picture in the Iran-Israel Conflict: Russia, Missiles, Militias, and More

As Iran and Israel continue exchanging military strikes, many questions about the endgame and potential geopolitical consequences remain unanswered. In Iran, is the leadership’s calculus shifting as the conflict goes on? What would trigger Tehran and its proxies in Iraq and other theaters to widen their attacks on American and Gulf targets? In Israel, how do officials assess their military performance so far and the prospects of escalation, with or without U.S. cooperation? And what outcome does Russia seek, particularly in terms of its growing strategic partnership with Iran?

To discuss these issues, The Washington Institute is pleased to announce a virtual Policy Forum with four American and Israeli experts, to be moderated by Grant Rumley, the Institute’s Meisel-Goldberger Senior Fellow and director of its Diane and Guilford Glazer Foundation Program on Great Power Competition and the Middle East:

Anna Borshchevskaya, the Grinspoon Senior Fellow in the Glazer Foundation Program and author of Putin’s War in Syria: Russian Foreign Policy and the Price of America’s Absence.

Michael Knights, the Institute’s Bernstein Senior Fellow and co-creator of its Militia Spotlight platform.

Farzin Nadimi, a senior fellow with the Institute, co-creator of its interactive Middle East Maritime Attack Tracker, and author of The Next Generation of Iranian Ballistic Missiles.

Brig. Gen. Assaf Orion, IDF (Res.), The Washington Institute’s Rueven International Fellow, a senior research fellow at the Institute for National Security Studies, and former head of the Israel Defense Forces Strategic Planning Division. 

The Policy Forum series is made possible through the generosity of the Florence and Robert Kaufman Family.