In recent months, Iran has faced its most sustained wave of domestic protest in years, as economic collapse and political frustration have driven thousands into the streets. Iranian security forces have responded with a harsh crackdown, and the human toll continues to mount amid widespread reports of arrests and deadly force used against demonstrators.
At the same time, rhetoric between Tehran and Washington, D.C. has intensified. President Donald Trump has publicly urged Iranians to persist in protest and signaled that “help is on the way” for demonstrators, while warning that Tehran must “show humanity” or risk U.S. action. Washington has also deployed significant naval assets to the region amid concerns over potential escalation.
Join us on February 20 at 11:00 am ET for a virtual discussion on the rapidly evolving situation in Iran, featuring Dr. Cornelius Adebahr, who brings a European perspective. The discussion will assess how Iranian leadership is navigating these internal pressures, what the evolving U.S.–Iran dynamic means for Europe – especially Berlin and Brussels – and the implications for the transatlantic relationship, from sanctions coordination to shared regional strategy.
Dr. Cornelius Adebahr has been working as an independent consultant and analyst based in Berlin, where he works on European and global issues and promotes citizen dialogue on foreign policy. He has worked at the DGAP Research Institute since early 2006 and lived first in Tehran between 2011 and 2016, then in Washington, DC, and from 2021 to 2024 in Rome. He is the author of ‘Learning and Change in European Foreign Policy: The Case of the EU Special Representatives’ (Nomos 2009) and ‘Europe and Iran: The Nuclear Deal and Beyond’ (Routledge 2017).
Dr. Adebahr is also Adjunct Faculty at the Hertie School in Berlin and Associate Researcher at the Istituto Affari Internazionali in Rome as well as a member of Team Europe Direct, an expert network of the European Commission. Since 2005, he has taught as a lecturer at international universities, including the Willy Brandt School of Public Policy in Erfurt, the Faculty of World Studies at the University of Tehran ,and the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University. From 2014 to 2024, he worked for the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington, DC and Brussels.
Dr. Adebahr studied Political Science, Philosophy, Public Law, and International Economics in Tübingen, Paris, and at the Free University of Berlin. His academic, post-graduate and research work was supported by scholarships from the German National Academic Foundation, the Volkswagen Foundation, the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom, and the Fulbright Program.
