On today’s episode we are providing another installment of our MERIP Roundtable, where members of our Editorial Committee discuss recent developments in the region. Today’s roundtable, “On the Regional War” focuses on the fallout from Israel’s September 9th strike on Qatar, a failed assassination attempt targeting the Hamas delegation that is involved in negotiations over a ceasefire and hostage release deal. The panel also discusses the Iran-Israel War, which has been frozen since June but is approaching a period where tensions seem to be quietly ratcheting towards more conflict. Joining the panel are Kevin Schwartz, Deputy Director of the Oriental Institute at the Czech Academy of Sciences, Maziyar Ghiabi, Associate Professor of Political Science at the Institute for Arab and Islamic Studies at the University of Exeter, Shana Marshall, Assistant Research Professor and Associate Director of the Institute for Middle East Studies at the George Washington University, and James Ryan, MERIP’s Executive Director.

This conversation was recorded on September 23, 2025.

The panel provided the following further reading recommendations:

Maziyar Ghiabi — Trita Parsi’s 2008 book Treacherous Alliance: The Secret Dealings of Israel, Iran and the United States https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300143119/treacherous-alliance/

Kevin Schwartz — “Echoes of a Short War: Critical Reflections on Israel’s Attack on Iran” (edited by Nazanin Shahrokhni and Arash Davari) at Jadaliyya https://www.jadaliyya.com/Details/46907/Echoes-of-a-Short-War-Critical-Reflections-on-Israel%E2%80%99s-Attack-on-Iran

Shana Marshall — The American Prestige Podcast (https://americanprestige.supportingcast.fm/listen) and Adam Hanieh’s collected works (latest book here: https://www.versobooks.com/products/2760-crude-capitalism?srsltid=AfmBOoryMbUuLhOyieEStgex70POT89GPm-pCOv57EOU269THYdNYhbd)

James Ryan — Arang Keshavarzian’s review of Elham Fakhro’s The Abraham Accords at MERIP, “The Limits of Protections and Profits, Five Years Into the Abraham Accords”

The MERIP Podcast features exclusive interviews with contributors to the Middle East Research and Information Project from the present and past about their work for MERIP, as well as audio from events we’ve conducted online and in-person that examine contemporary issues in the politics, economy, society and culture of the Middle East. Hosted by James Ryan, MERIP’s Executive Director. Visit our website, www.merip.org, to read all of our work without paywalls.

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