Click Here to Watch LIVE on YouTube
Wednesday April 8, 2026
10:00 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. / Eastern Time
Registration is NOT REQUIRED to view the program.
Submit questions to the specialists: questions@ncusar.org
Background and Context
This webinar will explore the current escalation-de-escalation paradox in the U.S.-Israel-Iran war, in which combatants are trapped in a cycle of escalating attacks and increasing threats despite the preference of two of the three countries to avoid a lengthy, full-scale conflict. Focusing on the GCC and Lebanon, the Council’s diplomatic, geopolitical, and geo-economic experts will analyze how escalating energy and civilian infrastructure attacks and Lebanon’s role as a second front create a volatile potential tipping point. The GCC security dilemma is how both manage increased threats to infrastructure and maintain de-escalation efforts. Lebanon’s dual crisis is how to manage its role as the primary arena for escalating Israel Hezbollah warfare, while preferring to end it. Panelists will discuss the urgent need for diplomatic off-ramps and the implications of U.S. efforts to limit the duration and targeting extensions of the war while managing the risk of being pulled deeper into a widening regional conflict.
Moderator:
- Dr. Abderrahim Foukara, Former Washington D.C. Bureau Chief and Host of Min Washington, Al Jazeera | Bio
Featured Speakers:
- Ambassador Joey Hood, Former Acting Assistant Secretary, Department of State’s Near Eastern Affairs Bureau; Former Consul General and Principal Officer, U.S. Consulate, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia; Former U.S. Ambassador to Tunisia | Bio
- Ambassador Massoud Maalouf, Former Ambassador of Lebanon to Canada, Poland, and Chile | Bio
- Dr. Kristian Coates Ulrichsen, Fellow for the Middle East, Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy; Co-Director, Middle East Energy Roundtable | Bio
- Dr. John Sfakianakis, Chief Economist and Head of Economic Research, Gulf Research Center, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; Associate Fellow, Middle East and North Africa Programme, Chatham House | Bio
- Col. David Des Roches, U.S. Army Retired, Principal, Thayer Marshall Institute | Bio