Stay ConnectedThe Middle East never stops moving. Neither does the FDD Morning Brief.
Three mornings a week, FDD Executive Director Jonathan Schanzer cuts through the noise with the experts who have spent their careers studying, shaping, and living the region’s most consequential moments. All before your morning coffee gets cold.
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A CONVERSATION WITH HOSTAGE FAMILIES AT THE SUKKAH OF HOPE
FDD Executive Director Jonathan Schanzer sits down with the families of hostages held in Gaza for a conversation recorded at the Kennedy Center on October 8, 2025 — just hours before details of the hostage deal began to emerge.
Recording credit: Production Management One (https://www.instagram.com/pm1pro/)
Learn more at: fdd.org/fddmorningbrief
A DEAL HAS BEEN MADE. NOW WHAT?
HEADLINE 1: The Treasury Department rolled out a fresh round of Iran sanctions.
HEADLINE 2: The U.S. Department of Commerce added over a dozen Chinese companies to a restricted trade list.
HEADLINE 3: Israel disrupted a major arms smuggling operation into the West Bank.
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FDD Executive Director Jon Schanzer provides timely situational updates and analysis, followed by a conversation with former Israeli National Security Advisor Eyal Hulata.
Learn more at: https://www.fdd.org/fddmorningbrief
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Featured FDD Pieces:
"Israel Moves To Counter Drone Threat on Egyptian Border" - Mariam Wahba, FDD
"Hamasniks in fox holes" - Cliff May, The Washington Times
"Recipe for Success: Guidance Based on the Experience of the Cyberspace Solarium Commission" - Sophie McDowall, FDD
HOW HAS THE WAR RESHAPED THE MIDDLE EAST TWO YEARS AFTER OCTOBER 7?
HEADLINE 1: A prisoner exchange deal between Iran and France is in the works.
HEADLINE 2: Some interesting stuff coming out of Lebanon and Syria.
HEADLINE 3: Speaking of Syria, Syria and Kurdish Forces in the country agreed to a ceasefire yesterday.
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FDD Executive Director Jon Schanzer provides timely situational updates and analysis, followed by a conversation with New York Times bestselling author Yossi Klein Halevi.
Learn more at: https://www.fdd.org/fddmorningbrief
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Featured FDD Pieces:
"Combatting PRC Illegal, Coercive, Aggressive, and Deceptive Behavior in the Indo-Pacific" - Craig Singleton, Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee
"America must stop aiding our enemies by enabling the shadowy world of dirty cash" - Josh Birenbaum, New York Post
"Is Qatar Finally Ready to Split With Hamas?" - Natalie Ecanow, Wall Street Journal
IS HAMAS SERIOUS ABOUT ENDING THE WAR?
HEADLINE 1: The U.S. government approved a new aid package for Lebanese security forces.
HEADLINE 2: Syria held elections for the first time since Bashar al-Assad’s fall.
HEADLINE 3: Israel intercepted all the boats and there was no violence or bloodshed. But poor Greta Thunberg was grumpy because she wasn’t greeted with hugs and a dance party.
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FDD Executive Director Jon Schanzer provides timely situational updates and analysis, followed by a conversation with Council on Foreign Relations Senior Fellow The Honorable Elliott Abrams, who formerly served as U.S. Special Representative for Iran and Venezuela and Deputy National Security Advisor.
Learn more at: https://www.fdd.org/fddmorningbrief
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Featured FDD Pieces
"Trump will help Ukraine hit Putin where it hurts — to finally end his bloody war" - John Hardie, New York Post
"5 Ways to Curb Iran’s Oil Exports to China" - Saeed Ghasseminejad, The National Interest
"Europe Should Support Moldova Against Russian Meddling" - Ivana Stradner and RADM (Ret.) Mark Montgomery, Foreign Policy
"Hamas Says 'Yes, But...'" - Elliott Abrams, The Free Press
WHAT CRIMINAL NETWORKS ARE DOING IRANS BIDDING?
HEADLINE 1: German authorities arrested three suspected Hamas operatives one day before Yom Kippur.
HEADLINE 2: Israeli forces dismantled a large rocket cache in the West Bank.
HEADLINE 3: Israel’s Navy intercepted the flotilla attempting to break the so-called blockade on Gaza. Except, guess what? The navy reports that a bunch of boats didn’t have any aid all.
HEADLINE 4: The U.S. Treasury Department slapped sanctions on 21 entities and 17 individuals involved in Iranian weapons procurement networks supporting the regime’s ballistic missile and military aircraft programs.
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FDD Executive Director Jon Schanzer provides timely situational updates and analysis, followed by a conversation with Amotz Eyal, founder and CEO of the Israeli newswire Tazpit Press Service (TPS).
Learn more at: https://www.fdd.org/fddmorningbrief
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Featured FDD Pieces:
"The Quiet Return of Hezbollah’s Smuggling Network in Syria" - Ahmad Sharawi, FDD
"Trump Administration Plan for Gaza Puts Unprecedented and Unified Pressure on Hamas" - Aaron Goren, FDD
"8 UN Failures in Yemen" - Bridget Toomey, FDD
"Iran on Your Soil: Tehran’s Global Crime Network Exposed" - The Press Service of Israel
HOW IS QATAR GROWING ITS INFLUENCE IN THE U.S.?
HEADLINE 1: The IDF took out two Hezbollah operatives in Lebanon.
HEADLINE 2: Israeli authorities thwarted an ISIS-linked bomb plot.
HEADLINE 3: The Houthis attacked a Dutch-flagged cargo ship in the Gulf of Aden.
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FDD Executive Director Jon Schanzer provides timely situational updates and analysis, followed by a conversation with journalist Frannie Block of The Free Press.
Learn more at: https://www.fdd.org/fddmorningbrief
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Featured FDD Pieces:
"Hidden Huaweis" - Nathan Picarsic and Emily de La Bruyère, Real Clear Defense
"The Chance to Save Myanmar" - Dan Swift and Sean Turnell, Foreign Affairs
"FAQ: 5 Things to Know About Israel’s Gaza City Offensive" - Joe Truzman, FDD
"The Middle Kingdom Meets Higher Education" - Craig Singleton, FDD
WHAT IS WRONG WITH THE UNITED NATIONS?
HEADLINE 1: U.S. ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee will travel to Egypt soon.
HEADLINE 2: The mayor of Gaza City reportedly sent a letter to President Trump.
HEADLINE 3: Another Houthi missile fired at Israel out of Yemen. Another Israeli interception.
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FDD Executive Director Jon Schanzer provides timely situational updates and analysis, followed by a conversation with former UK Ambassador to Yemen and current FDD Senior Fellow Edmund Fitton-Brown.
Learn more at: https://www.fdd.org/fddmorningbrief
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Featured FDD Pieces:
"5 Recent Instances of Foreign Malign Influence Threatening U.S. National Security" - Mark Montgomery and Max Lesser, FDD
"When Erdoğan Shifted Focus to the Kurds in Syria" - Sinan Ciddi and Ahmad Sharawi, The Jerusalam Strategic Tribune
"Qatar Is Knocking on Canada’s Door" - Natalie Ecanow, FDD
WHAT HAPPENS WHEN ERDOGAN COMES TO VISIT?
HEADLINE 1: Italy and Spain deployed navy ships to escort the flotilla attempting to break Israel’s blockade on Gaza.
HEADLINE 2: Iran says it obtained a trove of documents about sensitive Israeli sites and nuclear facilities.
HEADLINE 3: Russia and Iran signed a memorandum of understanding for the construction of nuclear power plants in Iran.
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FDD Executive Director Jon Schanzer provides timely situational updates and analysis, followed by a conversation with Council on Foreign Relations Adjunct Senior Fellow Henri Barkey.
Learn more at: https://www.fdd.org/fddmorningbrief
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Featured FDD Pieces:
"China Has Weaponized Battery Production Against the United States" - Elaine Dezenski and Josh Birenbaum, The National Interest
"The United Nations is falling apart" - Edmund Fitton-Brown, The Spectator
"Qatar is no Arab Switzerland" - Cliff May, The Washington Times
HOW DID ARAB CITIZENS OF ISRAEL EXPERIENCE THE OCT. 7TH HAMAS MASSACRE?
HEADLINE 1: If you weren’t already worried about the rise of thinking machines, you definitely want to think twice about getting your news from AI chatbots.
HEADLINE 2: Israel will close the Allenby crossing between the West Bank and Jordan indefinitely.
HEADLINE 3: Hamas-led authorities in the Gaza Strip executed three alleged “collaborators” as they face rising pushback from militias.
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FDD Executive Director Jon Schanzer provides timely situational updates and analysis, followed by a conversation with Arab-Israeli journalist and social activist Yoseph Haddad.
Learn more at: https://www.fdd.org/fddmorningbrief
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Featured FDD Pieces:
"Will Israel stop the carnage? A brutal occupation won’t work" - Reuel Marc Gerecht, UnHerd
"A Surge in Islamism Widens Rift Between Sudanese Army and Its Regional Allies" - Hussain Abdul-Hussain, FDD
"Palestine recognition would reward terrorism and contradict international law" - Irwin Cotler and Orde Kittrie, National Post
ARE TENSIONS RISING IN THE SINAI?
HEADLINE 1: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wants Washington’s help diffusing tensions with Egypt. And man, is that overdue.
HEADLINE 2: Qatar is still making a stink about Israel’s strike in Doha.
HEADLINE 3: As the Gaza City offensive ramps up, Gaza-based terrorists fired two rockets at the southern Israeli city of Ashdod yesterday.
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FDD Executive Director Jon Schanzer provides timely situational updates and analysis, followed by a conversation with Steven Cook, the Eni Enrico Mattei Senior Fellow for MENA at the Council on Foreign Relations.
Learn more at: https://www.fdd.org/fddmorningbrief/
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Featured FDD Pieces:
"As Beijing beckons, is Washington sleepwalking on Egypt?" - Mariam Wahba and Ryan Brobst, Breaking Defense
"Africa’s debt collector: China’s shifting role offers US a golden opportunity" - Daniel Swift, The Hill
"'Scientific Malpractice’: Israel Publishes 58-Page Report Dissecting Claims of Famine in Gaza" - David Adesnik, FDD
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