This week, Israel and Lebanon agreed to a 10-day ceasefire, the U.S. began a blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, Viktor Orbán conceded defeat in the Hungarian election to Péter Magyar, the International Monetary Fund and World Bank held their annual Spring Meetings in Washington, and Sudan entered its fourth year of civil war.
Read more below.
This Week’s Content Highlights
Features from Aspen Strategy Group Members
Condoleezza Rice interviewed by Kira K. Dixon for The Masters’ Under the Umbrellas
Nicholas Burns interviewed by Major Garrett for CBS News’ The Takeout: “Breaking Down Strategy Behind U.S. Blockade of Iranian Ports in Strait of Hormuz”
Anja Manuel quoted by Heather Somerville, Alexander Ward, and Gavin Bade for The Wall Street Journal: “Trump Quietly Scraps His Own Playbook on China”
Anja Manuel interviewed by Kailey Leinz and Joe Mathieu for Bloomberg’s Balance of Power: “Former Diplomat on Iran Talks, Oil Disruption”
Kay Bailey Hutchison quoted by Jim Thomas for Newsmax: “Trade Over Aid Boosts Both Sides”
Antony Blinken interviewed by Fareed Zakaria for CNN: “Former Secretary of State Antony Blinken Weighs in on U.S.-Iran War, Negotiations”
Christian Brose interviewed by Kate Odell for Wall Street Journal Opinion Live
Kurt Campbell quoted by David E. Sanger and Tyler Pager for The New York Times: “Trump’s Blockade Risks Upending an Emerging Détente With China”
Chris Coons interviewed by Wolf Blitzer and Pamela Brown for CNN’s The Situation Room: “‘This One Should Be Off Limits’”
Mark Esper interviewed by Sara Eisen, David Faber, and Carl Quintanilla for CNBC’s Squawk on the Street: “Former Defense Secretary Mark Esper Calls U.S. Blockade of the Strait of Hormuz ‘A Smart Move’”
Michael Froman for the Council on Foreign Relations: “Iran, the Global Economy, and the Case Against Complacency”
Jane Harman interviewed by Chris Jansing for MS NOW: “‘Tragic’ That Congress Is ‘Ducking Its Responsibility’ on Iran War”
David Ignatius for The Washington Post: “What Would Trump Do if Putin Struck Europe?”
Dina Powell McCormick interviewed by Justin B. Smith at Semafor’s World Economy Summit
Meghan O’Sullivan interviewed Rose Gottemoeller, Laura S. H. Holgate, Graham Allison, and Matthew Bunn at Harvard Kennedy School’s Carnesale Convenings: “Nuclear Proliferation and American Security”
David H. Petraeus for The Wall Street Journal: “America’s Success Against Iran May Prove a Distraction”
Daniel Poneman interviewed Brad Williams for the Nuclear Energy and National Security Coalition’s Atomically Speaking podcast: “Fueling the Future: A Conversation With Brad Williams, Senior Policy Advisor at the Idaho National Laboratory”
Penny Pritzker interviewed by Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson at Semafor’s World Economy Summit: “The Geoeconomics of AI”
Jack Reed interviewed by Anderson Cooper for CNN’s The Lead
Susan Rice and John Bolton interviewed by Carine Hajjar at The Steamboat Institute: “Is the United States in the Process of Committing Superpower Suicide?”
David Rubenstein interviewed by Evan Smith for America’s Book Club
David E. Sanger, Rebecca F. Elliott, and Eric Schmitt interviewed by Michael Barbaro for The New York Times’ The Daily podcast: “Trump’s Risky Strategy to Blockade Iran’s Blockade”
Anne-Marie Slaughter for the Financial Times: “Armadillo Inspires Middle Powers in a Challenging World”
Jake Sullivan for Foreign Affairs: “The Tech High Ground”
Frances Townsend, Joseph F. Dunford, and Michael Morell for RealClearDefense: “AI Isn’t the Future of Our National Security. It’s the Present.”
Philip Zelikow, Steven Davis, Joshua Rauh, and Dan Wang participated in the Hoover Institution’s Panel on Industrial Policy for National Security
Post of the Week
Young Leaders Spotlight
Features from ASG Rising Leaders and Former Fellows
Chris Herrmann interviewed by Håkon Syrrist at YATA Norway’s Nordic Security Conference
Jessica Ji (‘26), Kyle Crichton, and Abhiram Reddy for the Center for Security and Emerging Technology: “Operationalizing AI Guidance: A Reference Guide for Translating High-Level Goals Into Practical Implementation”
Eliza Mace (‘24) et al. for Springer’s Lecture Notes in Computer Science series: “Scaling Remote Sensing Foundation Models: Data Domain Tradeoffs at the Peta-Scale”
Sahil V. Shah (‘21) and Federica Mogherini for Foreign Affairs: “How to End the Iran Crisis”
Things to Know
Content Relevant to Aspen Security Forum Discussions
Raja Abdulrahim for The New York Times: “U.S. Completes Handover of Military Bases in Syria”
Rachel Chason, Rael Ombuor, and Abiodun Jamiu for The Washington Post: “Airstrike by Nigeria, a U.S. Ally Against Islamist Militants, Kills Scores”
Benoit Faucon for The Wall Street Journal: “How the U.S. Is Uniting Libyan Rivals to Squeeze Out Russia”
Henry Foy for the Financial Times: “Nato in ‘Turf War’ With EU Over Defence Spending”
Lien Hoang for Nikkei Asia: “Vietnam Leader To Lam’s China Trip Yields Rail, Airline, Security Deals”
Samy Magdy and Sam Mednick for AP News: “Sudan Enters a Fourth Year of War as Officials Lament an ‘Abandoned Crisis’”
Amber D. Miller for RealClear Policy: “America’s AI Governance Gap Needs Independent Oversight”
Khanyisile Ngcobo for BBC News: “South Africa Names Apartheid-Era Politician as New Ambassador to the U.S.”
Grégoire Roos for Chatham House: “Hungary Election: Orbán Has Been Defeated – But Will Orbánism Survive?”
Denis Staunton for The Irish Times: “As EU Leaders Beat a Path to Beijing, Their Tone Shifts”
Aidan Stretch for CBS News: “Russia Launches Deadliest Aerial Assault of the Year on Ukraine, Killing 16, Officials Say”
Johanna Urbancik for Euronews: “120,000 Drones and More Missiles: Allies Double Down on Ukraine Aid in Berlin”
Josh Wingrove, Patrick Sykes, and Arsalan Shahla for Bloomberg: “Trump Sees Good Prospects for Permanent U.S.-Iran Ceasefire Deal”
From the Archives
As the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank convene in Washington, DC this week, revisit our conversation on economics and trade from the 2025 Aspen Security Forum.
The International Economy and the Art of the (Trade) Deal
Jonathan Black, Deputy National Security Advisor, Cabinet Office, United Kingdom
Penny Pritzker, Chairman, PSP Partners; 38th U.S. Secretary of Commerce
Robert Zoellick, Chairman, Temasek Americas; Former President, World Bank; Former U.S. Trade Representative
Moderator: Edward Luce, Financial Times
Book of the Week
Defending Taiwan: A Strategy to Prevent War With China
By Eyck Freymann
“In Defending Taiwan, Eyck Freymann presents the first integrated strategy to deter war with China and preserve an honorable peace. Drawing on untranslated Chinese sources, cutting-edge military and economic analysis, and deep historical research, Freymann argues that Washington’s deterrence strategy must extend beyond conventional military power and familiar threats of mutually assured destruction. America must work with allies to develop a bold new vision of technological and economic statecraft–and a plan to secure its interests if deterrence fails. Freymann examines China’s full range of strategic options. The United States can deter them all. But to do so, it must integrate its military strength, economic leverage, technological leadership, and diplomatic influence into a single, coherent plan to prevent war. This is not just a book about Taiwan. It is a grand strategy to ensure lasting stability in the U.S.-China relationship.”
Podcast of the Week
heng Ting-Fang joined Shotaro Tani for Nikkei Asia’s Tech Latest podcast: “Taiwan Chip Industry Looks to Avoid Energy and Helium Shortages”
