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US-Iran under Trump 2.0: prospects and challenges

In-person and online public event (Sheikh Zayed Theatre, Cheng Kin Ku Building)

Speakers

Dr Dana H Allin

Dr Anahita Motazed Rad

Dr Sanam Vakil

Chair

Professor Peter Trubowitz

This event will examine how a second Trump administration might reshape U.S.-Iran relations and regional security—whether through renewed maximum pressure, diplomatic engagement, or military action to contain Iran’s nuclear and military ambitions.

The Middle East that Donald Trump left in 2021 is vastly different from the one he re-enters in 2025. Since October 7, the region’s strategic landscape has shifted dramatically, leaving Iran at its weakest and most isolated position since 1979. Economic turmoil, internal dissent, and regional setbacks—amid mounting U.S. and Israeli pressure—have further exposed Tehran’s vulnerabilities. 

Meet our speakers and chair 

Dana H Allin is Editor of Survival: Global Politics and Strategy and Senior Fellow at the IISS, based in London. He is also Adjunct Professor of European Studies at the SAIS Bologna Center in Italy. He comments and writes widely on the strategic challenges and historical, political and social roots of US foreign policy.  

Anahita Motazed Rad (@motazedanahita) is a visiting senior sellow in the Department of International Relations. She has translated and published two books from English to Persian, the first one Who won the oil wars? by Andy Stern in 2010, and the second one Meditation on Diplomacy, Comparative Cases in Diplomatic Practice and Foreign Policy by Stephen Chan in 2020.

Sanam Vakil (@SanamVakil) is the Director of the Middle East and North Africa Programme at Chatham House. Her expertise spans Iranian and Gulf politics, regional security dynamics, and US foreign policy, with a particular focus on the evolving strategic landscape of the Middle East and its global connectivity.

Peter Trubowitz (@ptrubowitz) is Professor of International Relations, and Director of the Phelan US Centre at LSE and Associate Fellow at Chatham House, Royal Institute of International Affairs.

More about this event

Join us on campus or register to watch the event online at LSE Live. LSE Live is the home for our live streams, allowing you to tune in and join the global debate at LSE, wherever you are in the world. If you can't attend live, a video will be made available shortly afterwards on LSE's YouTube channel.

The Department of International Relations (@LSEIRDept) at LSE is now in its 97th year, and is one of the oldest as well as largest IR departments in the world, with a truly international reputation. The Department is ranked 2nd in the UK and 5th in the world in the QS World University Ranking by Subject 2024 tables for Politics and International Studies.

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How can I attend? Add to calendar

This public event is free and open to all. This event will be a hybrid event, with an in-person audience and an online audience.

For the in person event: You can request one ticket via the online ticket request form, which will open after 12noon on Monday 22 September. The ticket line will stay open until all tickets have been allocated. 

For the online event: Registration for this event will open in early September.

For any queries email events@lse.ac.uk.

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