On the latest episode of IsraelCast, powered by Jewish National Fund-USA, host Steven Shalowitz welcomed Gregg Roman, Executive Director of the Middle East Forum, for an in-depth analysis of Israel’s military campaign against the Iranian Regime.
Long exposure of missiles over israel (credit gabriel cohen)
Roman opened by framing the conflict’s roots: “This is a war that has been 46 years in the making and that Israel has been planning since at least 2007.” He explained that Israel's recent strikes targeted over 1,000 Iranian sites tied to nuclear, missile, and proxy terror programs, calling the campaign “a dress rehearsal” for future strategic dominance.
Shedding light on the covert operations behind enemy lines, Roman revealed that “the Mossad allegedly set up different drone manufacturing facilities throughout Iran,” smuggling components across borders and through civilian airports.
When asked about regime change in Iran, Roman emphasized that it should be “a controlled implosion of the state… like you would maybe take down an old building,” rather than a chaotic overthrow. He stressed that “you have to take the Islamists out of Iran, but you keep the Iranian state intact.”
Roman also addressed growing cyber warfare capabilities: “ATM machines and the central bank in Iran went down… Nordatech lost over $98 million in assets… [and] Israeli or some force was able to hijack the Iranian satellite television channel.”
Asked what surprised him most in recent weeks, Roman didn’t hesitate: “How fast [the] 'woke' Right… collapsed and [got] run over by the more mainstream elements within their political factions.”
This episode offers critical context to a fast-evolving geopolitical crisis. As Roman summed up, “If you wanna remove a strategic threat to America’s presence and role in the world, taking the regime off the chessboard will only make Americans more safe in the long run.”
