Lawfare Daily: Gulf Countries Hedging Amid Iran War Debacle

Lawfare Public Service Fellow Julia Curlee talks with former CIA analyst Shawn Howard and Ariane Tabatabai of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs about Shawn’s new Foreign Policy essay on how the Gulf states are coping with a war they didn’t start. They discuss why U.S. protection has made the Gulf states targets, how Tehran sees them, Iran’s strikes on the mediators, the possibility of a UAE side deal, and what a post-midterm return to U.S. bombing would mean for the region.
Mentioned in this episode:
• Shawn A. Howard, “Gulf States Are Hedging and Suffering (foreignpolicy.com/2026/09/25/gulf-states-iran-…),” Foreign Policy
• Julia Curlee and Ariane Tabatabai, “How Could Iran Happen? An Autopsy (foreignpolicy.com/2026/09/09/trump-iran-deep-s…),” Foreign Policy
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