8 MAR 21, "New Paradigms with Sargis Sangari", Episode #42, (Richard Goldberg)

On 8 MARCH 2021, “New Paradigms with Sargis Sangari” returns to the Middle East to focus on the Abraham Accords, exploring whether the peace and stability the accords brought to the region can be sustained, or whether they will be swept aside by a return to regional conflict and international terrorism instigated by a resurgent Iran.

My guest is my friend, the remarkable and ever-insightful Richard Goldberg. Mr. Goldberg is a senior advisor at Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD). From 2019-2020, Richard served as the Director for Countering Iranian Weapons of Mass Destruction for the White House National Security Council. Mr. Goldberg addressed the Iran issues and topics in the context of the current administration’s aims and objectives for our nation’s dealings with Iran and, by extension, for the entire Middle East.

The success of the Abraham Accords in furthering the normalization of relations between Israel and the Arab states, contends Goldberg, validates the "outside in" approach for containing Iranian aggression by building alliances between the Gulf States, Israel, and the U.S. But, he says, the apparent return by the Biden administration to the JCPOA policies of the Obama presidency threatens to negate all the progress made in that regard, thus raising the specter of a resumption of possible conflict and bloodshed in the Middle East and beyond.

Join us for the discussion of this very important issue at Near East Center for Strategic Engagement (NEC-SE).