This week on Babel, Jon speaks with Dr. Shirin Hakim, head of the Environment, Climate Security, and Public Health unit at the Center for Middle East and Global Order. They talk about Iran’s worsening environmental issues, the Iranian government’s decades-long mismanagement and overexploitation of its natural resources, and how Western sanctions play into the Iranian regime’s environmental strategy. Dr. Hakim closes the interview with thoughts on how U.S. policymakers should weigh environmental protection with broader foreign policy priorities. Later in the episode, Jon sits down with Will Todman and Danny Sharp to break down Will’s latest report “The Unique Promise of Environmental Cooperation in the Gulf,” which argues that diplomacy on environmental issues could be one pathway to reducing tensions and breaking through on some of the trickier security issues in the Gulf.

Shirin Hakim and Karen Makuch, “Springtime in Iran signals the renewal of an environmental movement,” Atlantic Council, April 21, 2023.

Shirin Hakim and Barney Bartlett, “Economic sanctions are triggering environmental damage,” Al Jazeera, February 15, 2021.

Will Todman, Lubna Yousef, and Mennah Abdelwahab, “The Unique Promise of Environmental Cooperation in the Gulf” CSIS, July 11, 2023.

Transcript, “Shirin Hakim: Iran's Environmental Challenges” CSIS, July 11, 2023.