Jan 8, 2026
This bonus episode of
Middle East Focus features a conversation from MEI's Virtual
Briefing Series. Director of Communications Zeina Al-Shaib
is joined by Distinguished Diplomatic Fellow Alan Eyre and Senior
Fellow Alex Vatanka to discuss the ongoing protests in
Iran. The street demonstrations, sparked by the country’s economic
nosedive and at times turning violent, are the largest in three
years. As regime arrests and killings of protesters have
intensified, US President Donald Trump has threatened to intervene,
his remarks potentially taking on a more vivid significance in
light of the American military extraction over the weekend of
Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro, an ally of
Tehran. Eyre and Vatanka discuss what these latest
developments mean for an Iranian regime already under intense
internal and international pressure; the political impact of
President Trump’s threats; the limits of Iranian President Masoud
Pezeshkian’s power to de-escalate the situation at home; and how
the instability inside Iran may affect the wider region.
Watch the Virtual Briefing Series here.
Find Alex Vatanka's analysis of the latest wave of
protests in Iran here.
Recorded on January 7, 2026.