Mark Owen is pleased to welcome Barbara Slavin, a Distinguished Fellow at the Simpson Center. Slavin characterizes the ongoing conflict in the Persian Gulf as a mutually destructive stalemate, noting that neither Washington nor Tehran has identified a politically viable path toward resolution. “There are no winners in this war,” she asserts. Her core thesis suggests that the conflict has evolved into a critical dilemma of political optics and face-saving measures rather than purely a matter of military strategy. While the United States grapples with escalating economic pressures and domestic electoral consequences, Iran is struggling with severe resource shortages, rampant inflation, internal unrest, and increased state repression. In her professional assessment, neither nation can credibly claim a strategic victory.
