Oct 9, 2026 · 1 hr 3 min · 10 segments
Former U.S. Ambassador to Russia and Stanford political scientist Michael McFaul joins renowned democracy scholar Larry Diamond for a timely conversation on the 2026 midterm elections, America's role…
Michael McFaulGuestJanice Kaminer-ResnickHost
So first, I want to underscore that every president I've ever known or read about, Democrat or Republican, agrees that Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon.
Other presidents, Democrats and Republicans, also have tried to limit Iran's support of terrorists in the Middle East, including to Hamas and Hezbollah.
The third piece, there is disagreement about, but I believe that the world, Iran, the Middle East, would all be better off if this theocracy, this dictatorship, were not in power.
And Larry, you and I have written about this for decades with our colleague Abbas Malani.
I believe very strongly that everyone, especially the Iranian people, but their neighbors and America's national security interests would be better off if this regime were no longer in power.
The question is how do you achieve those objectives most effectively? And where I disagreed with President Trump, even before he launched his attack with Israel against the regime, is I think there were better ways to achieve those ends than the one that he has chosen.
When I worked at the White House, I wrote a bunch of decision memos or participated in the writing of them.
And when you give the president a decision memo, the last, last, last option has to be the use of military force.
Because when you do that, you are you know that Americans could die and they have died in this war and other people are going to die.
I worried about would it be renewed again or all that, but it stopped them from obtaining a nuclear weapon.
And so after he tore it up, that then created the menace, the threat that he then inherited when he came back in.
So first, I want to underscore that every president I've ever known or read about, Democrat or Republican, agrees that Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon.
Other presidents, Democrats and Republicans, also have tried to limit Iran's support of terrorists in the Middle East, including to Hamas and Hezbollah.
The third piece, there is disagreement about, but I believe that the world, Iran, the Middle East, would all be better off if this theocracy, this dictatorship, were not in power.
And Larry, you and I have written about this for decades with our colleague Abbas Malani.
I believe very strongly that everyone, especially the Iranian people, but their neighbors and America's national security interests would be better off if this regime were no longer in power.
The question is how do you achieve those objectives most effectively? And where I disagreed with President Trump, even before he launched his attack with Israel against the regime, is I think there were better ways to achieve those ends than the one that he has chosen.
When I worked at the White House, I wrote a bunch of decision memos or participated in the writing of them.
And when you give the president a decision memo, the last, last, last option has to be the use of military force.
Because when you do that, you are you know that Americans could die and they have died in this war and other people are going to die.
I worried about would it be renewed again or all that, but it stopped them from obtaining a nuclear weapon.
And so after he tore it up, that then created the menace, the threat that he then inherited when he came back in.
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