Kamran Bokhari, PhD is Senior Director of the Eurasian Security & Prosperity Portfolio at the New Lines Institute for Strategy & Policy. Previously, he was Director of Analytical Development at New Lines Institute. Dr. Bokhari is also a national security and foreign policy specialist at the University of Ottawa’s Professional Development Institute. Bokhari has served as the Central Asia Studies Course Coordinator at U.S. Department of State’s Foreign Service Institute. He was a Fellow with the Program on Extremism at George Washington University. Dr. Bokhari has also been a Senior Consultant with The World Bank. He has 15 years of experience in the private sector intelligence space during which he provided intellectual leadership in the publishing of cutting-edge geopolitical analysis & forecasts. Bokhari is the author of Political Islam in the Age of Democratization (Palgrave Macmillan, 2013). He has also contributed chapters to edited volumes: Wars of Ideas: Theology, Interpretation and Power in the Muslim World (Rowman Littlefield, 2021); Strategic Analysis in Support of International Policy Making (Rowman Littlefield, 2017), Reassessing Order and Disorder in the Middle East: Regional Imbalance or Disintegration? (Rowman Littlefield, 2017), Oxford Handbook on Islam & Politics (Oxford University, 2013) & Debating Moderate Islam: The Geopolitics of Islam and the West (University of Utah, 2007). His core areas of expertise are: Geopolitical/Intelligence Analysis of the Middle East, South Asia, & Central Asia, Governance, Democratization, Civil-Military Relations, & Comparative Political Systems, Geosectarianism, Countering Violent Extremism. Counterterrorism, Deradicalization, and Islamist & Muslim Moderation. Dr. Bokhari has briefed various US, Canadian & UK government agencies, published thousands of analytical/theoretical/op-ed articles, presented papers in int’l academic/policy forums & given hundreds of interviews to leading global media organizations. Bokhari earned his doctorate from the University of Westminster after successfully defending his thesis ‘Moderations Among Salafists & Jihadists’. He tweets at @KamranBokhari.
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Episode 424
Kamran Bokhari
Israel-Iran War: Economic and Strategic Consequences | Kamran Bokhari
Kamran Bokhari, PhD is Senior Director of the Eurasian Security & Prosperity Portfolio at the New Lines Institute for Strategy & Policy. Previously, he was Director of Analytical Development at New Lines Institute. Dr. Bokhari is also a national security and foreign policy specialist at the University of Ottawa’s Professional Development Institute. Bokhari has served as the Central Asia Studies Course Coordinator at U.S. Department of State’s Foreign Service Institute. He was a Fellow with the Program on Extremism at George Washington University. Dr. Bokhari has also been a Senior Consultant with The World Bank. He has 15 years of experience in the private sector intelligence space during which he provided intellectual leadership in the publishing of cutting-edge geopolitical analysis & forecasts. Bokhari is the author of Political Islam in the Age of Democratization (Palgrave Macmillan, 2013). He has also contributed chapters to edited volumes: Wars of Ideas: Theology, Interpretation and Power in the Muslim World (Rowman Littlefield, 2021); Strategic Analysis in Support of International Policy Making (Rowman Littlefield, 2017), Reassessing Order and Disorder in the Middle East: Regional Imbalance or Disintegration? (Rowman Littlefield, 2017), Oxford Handbook on Islam & Politics (Oxford University, 2013) & Debating Moderate Islam: The Geopolitics of Islam and the West (University of Utah, 2007). His core areas of expertise are: Geopolitical/Intelligence Analysis of the Middle East, South Asia, & Central Asia, Governance, Democratization, Civil-Military Relations, & Comparative Political Systems, Geosectarianism, Countering Violent Extremism. Counterterrorism, Deradicalization, and Islamist & Muslim Moderation. Dr. Bokhari has briefed various US, Canadian & UK government agencies, published thousands of analytical/theoretical/op-ed articles, presented papers in int’l academic/policy forums & given hundreds of interviews to leading global media organizations. Bokhari earned his doctorate from the University of Westminster after successfully defending his thesis ‘Moderations Among Salafists & Jihadists’. He tweets at @KamranBokhari.
In Episode 424 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with Kamran Bokhari, Senior Director at the New Lines Institute for Strategy & Policy, who has served in the U.S. State Department and as a Senior Consultant with the World Bank.
Bokhari first appeared on the podcast shortly after the October 7th attacks to discuss the violence ignited by Hamas, the nature and scope of Iranian involvement, and how various regional actors exploited the growing disorder to their advantage, as the Biden administration struggled to stabilize a region on the brink of another major war.
In subsequent appearances, Bokhari has provided the Hidden Forces audience with critical context for understanding U.S.-Israeli and Iranian strategic aims and limitations, the interests and constraints of other regional states (including Saudi Arabia and Turkey), how the events in the Middle East are perceived in Beijing and Moscow, and how the situation may evolve from here.
The broader conflict with Iran, which has consistently framed these discussions, has now directly involved the United States following its recent deployment of fourteen 30,000-pound bombs targeting three Iranian nuclear sites: the Fordow Uranium Enrichment Plant, the nuclear facility in Natanz, and the Isfahan Nuclear Technology Center. What happens next—and whether the White House’s actions will ultimately prove beneficial to America’s long-term strategic objectives—forms the central focus of this two-hour conversation.
In the first hour, Bokhari and Kofinas update listeners on recent developments, assessing the initial successes and failures of U.S. and Israeli strategic planners, the Iranian response, immediate risks to the United States and its allies, and how this war is likely to reshape the economic and security order of the Middle East over the next five years.
In the second hour, Demetri and Kamran widen their aperture to examine how the conflict will affect the economic and military imperatives of the United States and China, along with their respective alliances and trading networks. They also discuss the potential economic repercussions and secondary impacts resulting from America’s attack on Iran. The episode concludes with an examination of best- and worst-case scenarios, ranging from a new investment supercycle in the Middle East to the deployment of battlefield nuclear weapons and heightened risks of international terrorism in the United States and Europe.
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Kamran Bokhari, PhD is Senior Director of the Eurasian Security & Prosperity Portfolio at the New Lines Institute for Strategy & Policy. Previously, he was Director of Analytical Development at New Lines Institute. Dr. Bokhari is also a national security and foreign policy specialist at the University of Ottawa’s Professional Development Institute. Bokhari has served as the Central Asia Studies Course Coordinator at U.S. Department of State’s Foreign Service Institute. He was a Fellow with the Program on Extremism at George Washington University. Dr. Bokhari has also been a Senior Consultant with The World Bank. He has 15 years of experience in the private sector intelligence space during which he provided intellectual leadership in the publishing of cutting-edge geopolitical analysis & forecasts. Bokhari is the author of Political Islam in the Age of Democratization (Palgrave Macmillan, 2013). He has also contributed chapters to edited volumes: Wars of Ideas: Theology, Interpretation and Power in the Muslim World (Rowman Littlefield, 2021); Strategic Analysis in Support of International Policy Making (Rowman Littlefield, 2017), Reassessing Order and Disorder in the Middle East: Regional Imbalance or Disintegration? (Rowman Littlefield, 2017), Oxford Handbook on Islam & Politics (Oxford University, 2013) & Debating Moderate Islam: The Geopolitics of Islam and the West (University of Utah, 2007). His core areas of expertise are: Geopolitical/Intelligence Analysis of the Middle East, South Asia, & Central Asia, Governance, Democratization, Civil-Military Relations, & Comparative Political Systems, Geosectarianism, Countering Violent Extremism. Counterterrorism, Deradicalization, and Islamist & Muslim Moderation. Dr. Bokhari has briefed various US, Canadian & UK government agencies, published thousands of analytical/theoretical/op-ed articles, presented papers in int’l academic/policy forums & given hundreds of interviews to leading global media organizations. Bokhari earned his doctorate from the University of Westminster after successfully defending his thesis ‘Moderations Among Salafists & Jihadists’. He tweets at @KamranBokhari.
Demetri Kofinas is a media entrepreneur and financial analyst whose mission is to help uncover the hidden forces and pivotal patterns shaping our lives. His contrarian perspective and critical-thinking approach has helped hundreds of thousands of people make smarter, informed decisions. This same methodology has helped guide Demetri’s decision-making as an early-stage investor and as a creator of several innovative media properties and live events.
Demetri Kofinas is a media entrepreneur and financial analyst whose mission is to help uncover the hidden forces and pivotal patterns shaping our lives. His contrarian perspective and critical-thinking approach has helped hundreds of thousands of people make smarter, informed decisions. This same methodology has helped guide Demetri’s decision-making as an early-stage investor and as a creator of several innovative media properties and live events.
Demetri Kofinas is a media entrepreneur and financial analyst whose mission is to help uncover the hidden forces and pivotal patterns shaping our lives. His contrarian perspective and critical-thinking approach has helped hundreds of thousands of people make smarter, informed decisions. This same methodology has helped guide Demetri’s decision-making as an early-stage investor and as a creator of several innovative media properties and live events.
Demetri Kofinas is a media entrepreneur and financial analyst whose mission is to help uncover the hidden forces and pivotal patterns shaping our lives. His contrarian perspective and critical-thinking approach has helped hundreds of thousands of people make smarter, informed decisions. This same methodology has helped guide Demetri’s decision-making as an early-stage investor and as a creator of several innovative media properties and live events.
Demetri Kofinas is a media entrepreneur and financial analyst whose mission is to help uncover the hidden forces and pivotal patterns shaping our lives. His contrarian perspective and critical-thinking approach has helped hundreds of thousands of people make smarter, informed decisions. This same methodology has helped guide Demetri’s decision-making as an early-stage investor and as a creator of several innovative media properties and live events.
