Dr. Hamidreza Azizi is a Visiting Fellow at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP) in Berlin. He also serves as a Nonresident Fellow at the Middle East Council on Global Affairs in Doha and as an associate researcher at Clingendael – the Netherlands Institute of International Relations. Azizi holds a Ph.D. in Regional Studies from the University of Tehran and has lectured at several Iranian universities, including the University of Tehran (2016–2018) and Shahid Beheshti University (2016–2020). His research focuses on security and geopolitical issues in the Middle East and Central Eurasia, Iran’s foreign and security policy, and Iran-Russia relations. Azizi’s research has been widely published in academic journals such as Mediterranean Politics, the Journal of Balkan and Near Eastern Studies, and Small Wars & Insurgencies, and his analyses have been featured by leading think tanks and media outlets, including TIME Magazine, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, and The National Interest. He also appears frequently as a commentator on CNN, BBC, and Al Jazeera, among others. Azizi is the author of The Axis of Resistance: Iran, Israel, and the Struggle for the Middle East, forthcoming with Polity in May 2026.
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Episode 483
Hamidreza Azizi
Ending the Iran War: a New Balance of Power in the Middle East | Hamidreza Azizi
Dr. Hamidreza Azizi is a Visiting Fellow at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP) in Berlin. He also serves as a Nonresident Fellow at the Middle East Council on Global Affairs in Doha and as an associate researcher at Clingendael – the Netherlands Institute of International Relations. Azizi holds a Ph.D. in Regional Studies from the University of Tehran and has lectured at several Iranian universities, including the University of Tehran (2016–2018) and Shahid Beheshti University (2016–2020). His research focuses on security and geopolitical issues in the Middle East and Central Eurasia, Iran’s foreign and security policy, and Iran-Russia relations. Azizi’s research has been widely published in academic journals such as Mediterranean Politics, the Journal of Balkan and Near Eastern Studies, and Small Wars & Insurgencies, and his analyses have been featured by leading think tanks and media outlets, including TIME Magazine, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, and The National Interest. He also appears frequently as a commentator on CNN, BBC, and Al Jazeera, among others. Azizi is the author of The Axis of Resistance: Iran, Israel, and the Struggle for the Middle East, forthcoming with Polity in May 2026.
In Episode 483 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with Hamidreza Azizi — expert on Iranian foreign policy and international security, and author of The Axis of Resistance: Iran, Israel, and the Struggle for the Middle East — about the evolution of the US-Israeli war against Iran since the early weeks of Operation Epic Fury, the contours of the emerging peace process, and the broader transformation of the Middle Eastern order in its wake.
The first hour picks up from Azizi’s previous appearance and traces how the war has developed: the transformation of Iran’s leadership following the assassination of Ali Khamenei and the consolidation of power within the IRGC, the memorandum of understanding signed between the US and Iran, whether Iran’s demonstrated control over the Strait of Hormuz has negated its need for a nuclear weapon, the role of Hezbollah and Lebanon as the most volatile variable in any lasting peace arrangement, and an honest accounting of what Iran has lost — and why those losses, not just its leverage, are driving Tehran to the negotiating table.
The second hour turns to the broader regional and geopolitical consequences of the conflict. They examine whether the Islamic Republic’s ruling mandate has fundamentally shifted and what that means for its relationship with the United States going forward, how Netanyahu faces elections with a war record that looks nothing like the total victory he promised, and how Trump’s willingness to negotiate with Iran without Israeli participation has forced a reckoning with the limits of that alliance. They also discuss what a new Middle Eastern order looks like in the face of a potential US strategic withdrawal or retrenchment — defined less by competing visions than by fluid, transactional balance-of-power dynamics — before closing with China: what Iran’s foreign minister’s recent comments about a new era of cooperation between Beijing and Tehran mean in practice, how China’s behavior during the war signals a qualitative shift in its strategic calculus, and what three scenarios could cause the current peace process to collapse before a comprehensive deal is reached.
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Dr. Hamidreza Azizi is a Visiting Fellow at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP) in Berlin. He also serves as a Nonresident Fellow at the Middle East Council on Global Affairs in Doha and as an associate researcher at Clingendael – the Netherlands Institute of International Relations. Azizi holds a Ph.D. in Regional Studies from the University of Tehran and has lectured at several Iranian universities, including the University of Tehran (2016–2018) and Shahid Beheshti University (2016–2020). His research focuses on security and geopolitical issues in the Middle East and Central Eurasia, Iran’s foreign and security policy, and Iran-Russia relations.
Azizi’s research has been widely published in academic journals such as Mediterranean Politics, the Journal of Balkan and Near Eastern Studies, and Small Wars & Insurgencies, and his analyses have been featured by leading think tanks and media outlets, including TIME Magazine, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, and The National Interest. He also appears frequently as a commentator on CNN, BBC, and Al Jazeera, among others.
Azizi is the author of The Axis of Resistance: Iran, Israel, and the Struggle for the Middle East, forthcoming with Polity in May 2026.
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.
