Eli Lake and Andrew Sullivan Debate the Iran War

Eli Lake and Andrew Sullivan Debate the Iran War

From Breaking History by The Free Press

March 19, 2026 · 2h 10m

About this episode

Eli Lake and Andrew Sullivan engage in a debate covering historical and contemporary issues related to the Iran War and America's role in global politics.

This week I joined The Dishcast with Andrew Sullivan, who has generously agreed to let us share the conversation here. Andrew and I go way back, and few people are as willing as he is to really go toe-to-toe over our disagreements—especially on Israel and America’s role in the world. In our discussion, we cover a broad range of history and politics: from the Iran-Contra affair to the Oslo Accords, and the Second Intifada to Iraq, Iran, Hamas, and the current war in Gaza—along with my bar mitzvah speech about nuclear proliferation and early Zionist influences. Of course we bring it to the present day, debating the political, strategic, and moral stakes shaping Washington’s arguments about the war in Iran today. Take a listen, and you can find Andrew’s Substack here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

People in this episode

Host: Eli Lake

Guest: Andrew Sullivan

Topics covered

  • Iran War
  • Israel
  • America's role in the world
  • Iran-Contra affair
  • Oslo Accords
  • political debate
  • moral stakes

Keywords

  • Iran War
  • Israel
  • Andrew Sullivan
  • Eli Lake
  • politics
  • history
  • Gaza
  • nuclear proliferation
  • Zionism

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: The Dishcast, Israel, America

Books & works: bar mitzvah speech

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