Foundation for Defense of Democracies

Iran’s ruling ideologues are murderous and resilient. The Trump administration’s limited military strikes and efforts to “sever every economic lifeline that sustains” the regime are commendable. Yet the thugs in charge won’t abandon their most cherished goals until they fear being unable to suppress the next round of riots by angry Iranians. As long as their hired enforcers believe payment will resume when the government next outwits Washington, Tehran’s negotiators can hew to a hard line, write FDD's Lewis Libby and Justin Fields in The Washington Post. Read the full op-ed: https://bit.ly/4ArhaMj

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Qatar has positioned itself as the world's go-to mediator, brokering deals from Gaza to Ukraine to Venezuela. But does that record hold up? In a new FDD Memo, Natalie Ecanow reports that Qatar's mediation "successes" often come by paying off or empowering groups like Hamas, al-Qaeda, and the Taliban — while its failures just let conflicts keep grinding on. She argues Washington needs a due-diligence policy for vetting mediators in the future. Read more: https://bit.ly/4dq784g

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As the Iran War wages on, some of its emerging victors never fired a shot: Turkey, Pakistan, and Qatar. With the U.S. rationing its power across the Middle East, these three made themselves indispensable to U.S. diplomacy. FDD's Sinan Ciddi and Benjamin Acosta trace how these countries converted the conflict's fallout into lasting diplomatic and security gains with Washington. Read more in The National Interest: https://www.fdd.org/analysis/2026/09/17/the-three-quiet-victors-of-the-iran-war/?utm_campaign=&utm_content=1790020812&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook

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On October 7, 2023, Karni Guez, who commanded Israel's first all-female tank unit, found herself surrounded by waves upon waves of terrorists. She didn't stop fighting for 17 hours. On today's FDD Morning Brief, she shared her heroic and harrowing story with Jonathan Schanzer — with Natalie Ecanow delivering headlines. 👀 Full episode: https://bit.ly/4zkSjsq

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Three years ago today, Hamas launched its October 7 massacre against Israel. FDD experts reflect on the atrocity's legacy — and the lessons it still holds.

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How do you catastrophically fail on October 7th and then execute one of the most sophisticated intelligence operations in history months later? Yonah Jeremy Bob, senior military analyst at The Jerusalem Post, says the answer is a paradox at the heart of Israeli national security. Israel spent 20 years building a brilliant system aimed squarely at Iran and Hezbollah. But the Hamas threat wasn't taken seriously. Bob and Elliot Kaufman, editorial writer at The Wall Street Journal, join FDD's Mark Dubowitz on The Iran Breakdown to unpack the decisions, debates, and personalities that shaped Israel's multi-front war from October 7 to Hezbollah and ultimately Iran. 🎧 Full episode: https://bit.ly/47wpHAo

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Today's date needs no explanation. FDD Senior Research Analyst Natalie Ecanow filled in for Jonathan Schanzer during today's FDD Morning Brief and delivered a moving monologue marking the three-year anniversary of the Hamas atrocities of October 7, 2023. And believe it or not, it’s got a tinge of optimism to it. Check it out: https://bit.ly/4jagBk2

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Told Nicole Zedeck on i24NEWS English: Disarming Hezbollah is not a question of resources and capabilities of the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF), which is capable. It is not a question of political will, which is available in abundance. On March 2, the Lebanese cabinet voted to disband the Hezbollah militia. The problem with Hezbollah's continued armament is the lack of will among the leaders of the Lebanese Army, which on March 5 responded to the cabinet vote by saying that it would not start a civil war, that is, it would not use force to disarm Hezbollah and assert state sovereignty. Lack of army will is perhaps because Lebanese Army chief Rudolph Haykal is auditioning for position of president, in four years. The world must call out Haykal and the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) for not abiding by instructions from the Lebanese cabinet. No other military can do the job, or else, Israel will have to keep the depopulated security zone until the Lebanese figure out how to disarm Hezbollah on their own.

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My latest Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) policy brief on a Hamas crowdfunding network that targeted American donors: "Treasury Sanctioned a Hamas Crowdfunding Network. Its French Front Should Be Next." https://lnkd.in/eUz8zKHC #Sanctions #TerrorFinance #OFAC

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When did the war with Iran really begin? On today's episode of The Iran Breakdown, Simon Sebag Montefiore, historian and author of "The Cauldron," joins me to trace this fight back to October 7 and the 1979 Islamic Revolution, and examine the forces still shaping the Middle East today.

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The U.S. has sanctioned every active Iranian airline ✈️ — but they're reportedly still landing in Turkey. Ahmad Sharawi and Sinan Ciddi Ph.D. found that Iranian planes touched down in Turkey more than 90 times after Washington's deadline to ground them, reportedly aided by Turkish firms like FUGO Ground Services, which works with at least eight sanctioned carriers. They argue Washington needs to target those ground crews next if the sanctions are going to work. Read more in the New York Post: https://lnkd.in/e8scxK9K

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Many Lebanese speak out against Hezbollah. Their lives are not at risk. Mohamad Chatah did something far more threatening. Ronnie Chatah joins host Jonathan Schanzer on the FDD Morning Brief to tell the story of his father, a former Lebanese official who was assassinated by Hezbollah and Iran in 2013. The reason, his son explains, was not that he criticized the group publicly. It was that he challenged Hezbollah's security domain, and then went further still, reaching out directly to the Iranian regime to find a diplomatic path to resolving Hezbollah's weapons. In Lebanon, that kind of challenge crosses a line. Watch Chatah's full conversation with Jonathan Schanzer on the FDD Morning Brief: https://bit.ly/4y2NqmC

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He once hated Israel. Today, he argues that the Arab world’s future depends on making peace with it. What does it take to rethink everything you once believed? Hussain Abdul-Hussain joins me on Echoes of Jewish History for one of my most anticipated conversations — a remarkable personal journey that opens up a much bigger question: what could the Middle East become if more people followed his lead? Click the podcast link and follow to hear his story. https://lnkd.in/dX4KSd4M Become a Recognized Member: https://lnkd.in/eA2Brs55 #middleeastpeace #abrahamaccords

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The Houthis' slogan is short and blunt. FDD's Bridget Toomey and I discuss why the slogan says so much about what the group stands for. Watch the full conversation with Edmund Fitton-Brown on Foreign Podicy: https://bit.ly/4hDmROy

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In 2024, Motaz Azaiza became known as "the voice of Gazans" for photographs that shaped global coverage of the war. But a new three-hour interview raises hard questions about what he chose not to show. In an analysis for Atlantico, FDD Senior Envoy for Europe Simone Rodan-Benzaquen explains that Azaiza has now described witnessing hostages being beaten on October 7 without publishing the footage, ties to Hamas figures, and a WhatsApp group allegedly used to pressure dissenting journalists. She argues that the outlets and public figures who amplified him now examine their own ethical standards. 📝 Read more from FDD's Simone Rodan-Benzaquen in Atlantico: https://bit.ly/4yfolpq

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Why is 🇹🇷 permitting Iranian air carriers to land at Turkish airports? With my Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) colleague Ahmad Adam S. , we documented the variety of Iranian carriers that landed in 🇹🇷 and received ground services Ankara is supporting a murderous regime https://lnkd.in/ec-fA67j

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Do the Lebanese government and LAF have the will — and the capability — to disarm Hezbollah and reclaim their country? Bilal Saab of the Atlantic Council's Scowcroft Center joined Jonathan Schanzer on the FDD Morning Brief to discuss. 👀 Full episode: https://bit.ly/46QDZvq

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Why is 🇹🇷 permitting Iranian air carriers to land at Turkish airports? With my Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) colleague Ahmad Adam S. , we documented the variety of Iranian carriers that landed in 🇹🇷 and received ground services Ankara is supporting a murderous regime https://lnkd.in/ec-fA67j

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The Houthis are no longer just a regional nuisance. They are a serious and growing threat. Since declaring a blockade against Saudi Arabia on July 20th, the Houthis have struck vessels in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, fired missiles and drones at Saudi cities, and — over recent weeks — seized Yemen's entire Red Sea coast, along with islands in the Bab al-Mandeb, the southern exit from the Red Sea. On the latest episode of Foreign Podicy, I sat down with two of FDD's leading experts on Yemen and the Houthis — Senior Fellow Edmund Fitton-Brown, a former British Ambassador to Yemen, and Research Analyst Bridget Toomey — to make sense of all of it. We also discuss the complete withdrawal of U.S. forces from their last base in Iraq — and what that means for American influence in the region. Plus, how an attempt to hijack and crash a flydubai passenger jet was foiled by an Indian pilot and Israelis passengers. 🎙️ Listen to the latest Foreign Podicy here: https://lnkd.in/ekMmqFVT

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In September, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced that "all the Iranian airlines will be shut down around the world.” In Turkey, they're still flying. FDD's Ahmad Sharawi and Sinan Ciddi Ph.D. found that at least 83 flights operated by U.S.-sanctioned Iranian carriers landed in Turkey in the days after the announcement and were kept in the air by Turkish ground-handling firms like FUGO Ground Services. They argue that Treasury should sanction FUGO directly for helping these airlines stay operational. Read more: https://bit.ly/4iTapwA

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Hezbollah's fighting forces can no longer operate openly in Syria. But the commercial networks tied to its former financial facilitators haven't disappeared. A new memo from FDD's Ahmad Sharawi reports that companies tied to Hezbollah financier Mohammad al-Bazzal, spanning the battery manufacturing, copper trading, and agribusiness industries, remain active more than a year after the Assad regime's fall. If Washington fails to address this infrastructure now, Syria's economic reopening could let Hezbollah preserve, and eventually rebuild, the financial networks it needs to regenerate. Read the full memo: https://bit.ly/3Tznpxa

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How does Israel actually run a war on three fronts at once — Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iran? On today's episode of The Iran Breakdown, I speak with Elliot Kaufman and Yonah Jeremy Bob , co-authors of new book "In the War Room," about the decisions, debates, and personalities that shaped Israel's fight from October 7 to the strikes on Iran.

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Thrilled to share a major investigation that I started almost a year ago. I believe this is the first publicly documented example of a covert network of watchdog organizations and news websites advancing Qatari interests. You can read the report here: https://lnkd.in/e4czz3He. I will also be presenting these findings in person at the UK OSINT Community’s conference next week. This network attempts to discredit Belgium’s investigation into the Qatargate corruption scandal in Europe. It also consistently attacks Qatar’s geopolitical rivals, chiefly the UAE, often framing Qatar and the Muslim Brotherhood as the victims of various smear campaigns. It also targets at least 250 U.S. individuals, organizations, and companies, including dozens of pro-Israel and Jewish organizations. The network calls for institutional action against some of its targets, including blacklisting, investigations, and even sanctions. The network spans at least 11 websites that present themselves as independent organizations and news outlets. The primary network includes an NGO watchdog (ngoreport[.]org), an anti-money laundering website (amlnetwork[.]org), a Brussels-focused watchdog (brusselswatch[.]org), a European news website (informeurope[.]com), and a UK news website (eveningstar[.]uk). A secondary network includes Nordic Rights (nordicrights[.]org) and Fokuset (fokuset[.]com), which present themselves as Scandinavian human rights and news outlets; Dagblad Bergen (dagbladbergen[.]com), a Norwegian digital newspaper; and three French-language news websites: Bureau de Presse (eupressdesk[.]com), L’Europe Libre (leuropelibre[.]com), and Le Parisien Temps (leparisientemps[.]com). None of these websites publicly acknowledges its connection to the others. The investigation is very complex technically, and most of the details are spelled out in the appendices of the memo. We can say with high confidence that a Bangladeshi web developer and digital marketer, possibly with associates, created and managed these websites. The man appears to be a commercial, rather than political, actor, leaving the question of who paid him to create these websites. What is clear is that whoever pays for these sites seeks to advance Qatari interests. Thank you to Maria Riofrio for co-authoring this memo with me, and to Natalie Ecanow, Ethan Sheinker, Emmerson O., Kyrylo Busorgin, and Mariam Lomtadze for supporting the investigation.

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