Understanding the Iran-Hezbollah Connection

Hezbollah supporters, holding posters of leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, chant slogans during an anti-Israeli demonstration in Tehran, Iran on July 18.

Iran has made no secret of its special relationship with Lebanon's Hezbollah. Many commentators suggest that this relationship extends beyond Iran's providing the group with advanced weaponry, arguing that the Iranian government has been calling the shots in Lebanon.

What is Iran's role in fomenting the current conflict between Israel and Hezbollah? What are the implications of the conflict for the Middle East at large? How should the U.S. and the international community respond?

Speakers

• Vali Nasr
  Adjunct Senior Fellow for Middle Eastern Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, and Professor of National Security Affairs at the Naval Postgraduate School
• Kenneth Pollack
  Director of Research, Saban Center at the Brookings Institution
• Hadi Semati
  Public Policy Scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, on leave from his position as Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Law and Political Science at Tehran University
• Ray Takeyh
  Senior Fellow for Middle Eastern Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations
• Daniel Brumberg, Moderator
  Special Advisor, USIP Muslim World Initiative | Dept. of Goverment, Georgetown University

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