{"version":1,"type":"rich","provider_name":"Libsyn","provider_url":"https:\/\/www.libsyn.com","height":90,"width":600,"title":"Bonus Episode: Tehran\u2019s Brewing Troubles","description":"This bonus episode of Middle East Focus features a conversation from MEI's Virtual Briefing Series. Director of Communications Zeina Al-Shaib is joined by Distinguished Diplomatic Fellow Alan Eyre and Senior Fellow Alex Vatanka to discuss the ongoing protests in Iran. The street demonstrations, sparked by the country\u2019s economic nosedive and at times turning violent, are the largest in three years. As regime arrests and killings of protesters have intensified, US President Donald Trump has threatened to intervene, his remarks potentially taking on a more vivid significance in light of the American military extraction over the weekend of Venezuela\u2019s President Nicol\u00e1s Maduro, an ally of Tehran. Eyre and Vatanka discuss what these latest developments mean for an Iranian regime already under intense internal and international pressure; the political impact of President Trump\u2019s threats; the limits of Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian\u2019s power to de-escalate the situation at home; and how the instability inside Iran may affect the wider region.   Watch the Virtual Briefing Series here.   Find Alex Vatanka's analysis of the latest wave of protests in Iran here.   Recorded on January 7, 2026. ","author_name":"Middle East Focus","author_url":"http:\/\/www.mei.edu","html":"