In this episode of Occupied Thoughts, FMEP President Lara Friedman speaks with Middle East policy journalist, analyst, and author Omar Rahman about the Iran War and its impacts in the region. Their conversation explores:

• Iran-U.S. diplomatic efforts to achieve a ceasefire, and challenges to ending this war.
• The Trump Administration’s blockade of Iran’s blockade of the Straits of Hormuz
• The impact of the Iran War on the policies/interests/unity of Gulf states
• Israel’s war on Lebanon and its impacts for the region
• The rapidly expanding/shifting Overton window with respect to support for Israel in the U.S.

Articles by Omar discussed in this podcast:

• His 4/7/26 article in Foreign Policy: The Gulf’s Wartime Unity Is Unraveling
• His 4/15/26 article in the National Interest: In Blockading Iran, the US Forgot About China
• His 3/4/26 co-authored piece in Foreign Policy: Security Alliances With the U.S. Have Made Gulf States More Vulnerable

Omar H. Rahman is a fellow at the Middle East Council on Global Affairs, where he focuses on Palestine, Middle East geopolitics, and American foreign policy in the region. He is the Editor of Afkār, the Council’s online publication providing insights and analysis on current events in the region. He was previously a non-resident fellow at the Baker Institute for Public Policy, a visiting fellow at the Brookings Doha Center, and a research analyst at the Arab Gulf States Institute, where he focused on the political economy of the Gulf states. Rahman established his career as a journalist based in the U.S. and the Middle East, including three years in Palestine where he was a columnist for +972 Magazine. Rahman was also an associate editor at World Politics Review in New York, as well as an editor and senior Middle East correspondent at Argus Media. His writing has been published in The Washington Post, Foreign Policy, The Guardian, Rolling Stone, The National Interest, Lawfare, VICE, PBS NewsHour, Quartz, Al-Jazeera English, and The National, among other outlets. Rahman’s other work includes peer-reviewed policy papers. academic articles, and book chapters including in the recently-published volume: What is Israel/Palestine? (Routledge, 2022). Follow Omar’s work on X at: @omarrahman

Lara Friedman is FMEP’s president. With more than 25 years working in the Middle East foreign policy arena, She is a leading authority on the Middle East, with particular expertise on U.S. foreign policy in the region, on Israel/Palestine, and on the way Middle East and Israel/Palestine-related issues play out in Congress and in U.S. domestic politics, policies, and legislation. Lara is also a preeminent subject-matter expert in the area of anti-Palestinian legislation and “lawfare,” including the weaponization and instrumentalization of the definition of and concerns about antisemitism. Lara’s research on lawfare and antisemitism-related topics – which she makes available to the public – is widely cited and widely recognized as the authoritative data in the field. Prior to joining FMEP, Lara was the Director of Policy and Government Relations at Americans for Peace Now, and before that she was a U.S. Foreign Service Officer, serving in Jerusalem, Washington, Tunis and Beirut.