Is the Collapse of the Iranian Regime Necessary for Regional Stability?
Featuring: Barak M. Seener of the Center for a New Middle East of The Henry Jackson Society
Note Change in Date: Thursday, September 11, 2025
Time 12 noon, Eastern Standard Time, 5 p.m. London Time, 7 p.m. Jerusalem Time
Over the last several decades, the Islamic Republic of Iran had established a “ring of fire” around Israel. With the sole exception of the Houthis in Yemen, Israel has been able to eliminate a great deal of this existential threat. The Islamic Republic used their terror proxies to shield itself and to empower its strategic depth, The biggest existential threat, however, emanates from the nuclear program of the Islamic Republic of Iran. During the 12-Day War of June 13th through 24th, Israel and the United States were able to eliminate a great deal of the nuclear and the ballistic threat, as well as the cult of hero-worship for Ayatollah Ali Khomeini. This is a grand departure from previous US administrations and their philosophy which served to de-escalate the status of Israel and to embolden the Islamic Republic. Iran is now is encountering a period of destabilization. How likely is it that the Islamic Republic will rebuild their nuclear enrichment and ballistic missile program, which is a core value of the regime? Will their goals of the elimination of Israel remain unchanged? Where are the regime’s current vulnerabilities? What must Israel and the United States do in order to undermine the regime’s survivability and possibly lead to the collapse of the regime and replace it with a more palatable alternative?
About our Speaker: Barak Seener is an Associate Research Fellow at the Henry Jackson Society and the founder of Strategic Intelligentia and the Gulf Futures Forum. Barak also co-hosts The Geo-Godfather Wars podcast on geopolitical affairs. Previously, Barak was a Global Intelligence Manager at HSBC and the Middle East Fellow at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) on whose behalf he has debriefed international defence and security policy makers and diplomats on matters relating to Middle East security. Barak has lectured at NATO as well as the Royal College for Defense Studies. He also staged the world’s first, and hugely successful conference in London at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) on Palestinian statehood. This examined the security implications for the Region bringing together leading Israelis, Palestinians, US and European representatives in London. Prior to joining RUSI, Barak was one of the Henry Jackson Society’s founders in Westminster and was the Henry Jackson Society’s Greater Middle East Section Director.
Barak published a book in 2018 entitled, ‘Commercial Risks Entering the Iranian Market: Why sanctions make investment in the Islamic Republic of Iran a high-risk proposition.’
Barak has published and provided analysis and expert commentary for a range of international broadcasters including Al-Jazeera, BBC, CNN, Chinese CCTV, Fox News, Sky News, Voice of America, and news outlets such as Bloomberg, Reuters, Associated Press, the Evening Standard, Jerusalem Post and Xinhua.
Barak has published in publications including Newsweek, the National Interest, the American Interest, Jane’s Intelligence Review and Jane’s Islamic Affairs Analyst on counter-terrorism, US-China dynamics, risks to supply chains, globalization and the end of the liberal international order, transatlantic relations, universal jurisdiction, nuclear proliferation and Middle East issues including the Arab Spring, tensions in Libya, Egypt and Syria, strategic and security dynamic between Iran and the Gulf, and the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
