This is Democracy- Episode 319: U.S. Decision Making on Iran

This is Democracy- Episode 319: U.S. Decision Making on Iran

From This is Democracy by This is Democracy

March 26, 2026 · 27 min

About this episode

Zachary and Jeremi interview Eliot Cohen about U.S. decision making regarding Iran and his insights on military history.

This week, Zachary and Jeremi interview Atlantic writer and Johns Hopkins professor emeritus Eliot Cohen about his article “One War Two Mistakes” and how to think about the current U.S. war with Iran. Eliot Cohen is a contributing writer at The Atlantic. He is a professor emeritus at Johns Hopkins University, author of the forthcoming book The Strategist: How to Think About War and Politics, and co-host of the Shield of the Republic podcast. Cohen is also the author of The Hollow Crown, Supreme Command, Conquered Into Liberty, The Big Stick, and other works on military history and national-security policy. He created the strategic-studies program at Johns Hopkins SAIS and served as the school’s ninth dean. He has also served as the counselor of the Department of State and in other positions in the U.S. Department of Defense and the intelligence community.

People in this episode

Hosts: Zachary, Jeremi

Guest: Eliot Cohen

Topics covered

  • U.S. decision making
  • Iran
  • military history
  • national-security policy
  • war politics

Keywords

  • Iran
  • U.S. war
  • Eliot Cohen
  • military history
  • national security

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: The Atlantic, Johns Hopkins University

Books & works: One War Two Mistakes, The Strategist: How to Think About War and Politics, The Hollow Crown, Supreme Command, Conquered Into Liberty, The Big Stick

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