Tikvah
Editors’ Pick

April 22, 2026

The Man Who Predicted the Fall of the Shah Predicted the Fall of the Islamic Republic

Uri Lubrani.

While talks between Iran and the U.S. did not take place in Islamabad yesterday, they have been postponed rather than canceled, and the cease-fire has been extended. It is far too soon to tell what this portends. But in the long run, the only surefire way to stop the Islamic Republic from manufacturing nuclear weapons is regime change. This was the argument advanced for many years by the Israeli diplomat Uri Lubrani, whose distinguished career included playing a key role in the rescue of thousands of Ethiopian Jews in 1991. Martin Kramer takes a look at Lubrani’s evolving, and prescient, evaluations of Iran, where he was Israel’s chief representative from 1973 to 1978:

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