Opportunities Amid Geopolitical Difficulties: A Look at Global Threats in 2025

Jacob Olidort, Ph.D.
Director, Center for American Security, America First Policy Institute
House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform
“Emerging Global Threats: Putting America’s National Security First”
Subcommittee on Military and Foreign Affairs

February 25, 2025, 10:00am

Mr. Chairman, Mr. Ranking Member, esteemed members of the committee, thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today.

Last week, we learned about an Israeli mother, Shiri Bibas, and her two boys, Ariel and Kfir, who would be five and two years old today. They were murdered in cold blood by Hamas monsters. An autopsy of the bodies of the boys, the youngest of whom was just shy of 10 months old at the time, revealed indications of torture with bare hands.

In a further twist of the knife, when the caskets were returned with the expectation—under these unthinkable circumstances—that a mother could be together with her children, Shiri's body was not there.

This is the true face of Hamas and its acolytes around the world. It is a wake-up call about the true face of evil and our responsibility to never, ever allow it to succeed.

The Middle East is the part of the world that I know best, and it is there that I will focus my remarks. Today, our close partners in the region—Israel and the Arab states—are eagerly looking to the United States to lead. I believe that what happens in this region will shape world events for years to come, with implications for how we deal with the People's Republic of China and with Russia.

President Trump and his team bring the exact right focus, innovation, and boldness to confront this anti-American axis. Their approach worked in 2017, yielding historic achievements, and it will work today. It is thanks to President Trump and his team that we are finally seeing American hostages returning home from around the world, including those who have suffered unthinkable conditions in Hamas's terror tunnels.

The world in 2025 could not be more different from the one President Trump inherited in 2017. The Middle East has transformed overnight in unimaginable ways due solely to the bravery and sacrifice of the men and women of the Israeli Defense Forces and the Israeli Air Force, with the invaluable support of the United States. This has made Iran its weakest in decades. And yet, paradoxically, Iran is also at its most aggressive, inching closer toward acquiring a nuclear weapon.

Those parts of the region that were once under Iran’s empire of terror—parts of Syria and Lebanon—are today entering new chapters of transition and uncertainty, thanks to the effectiveness of Israel’s military pressure. These changes present both challenges.

In the Middle East today, I believe there are three key priorities for the United States that require urgent attention:

1. How to deal with the Islamic Republic of Iran.
2. How to effectively eliminate the threats facing Israel.
3. How to restart the Abraham Accords.

Earlier this month, President Trump reintroduced an expanded version of his maximum pressure campaign, scaled to address the full range of threats that the Iranian regime poses to the American people—both abroad and at home.

On that very same day, President Trump unveiled a bold new vision for the future of Gaza—one that explicitly promises and guarantees the prosperity and security of the Gazan people, just as it does to their neighbors to the north. This is a subject that nobody had wanted to talk about, much less one for which anyone had previously offered a plan. By making this announcement, President Trump immediately catapulted this issue to a top priority in the region, compelling our regional partners to cooperate on a plan, as they are doing today.

It is in America's interest to see that the Palestinians are free from Hamas, from Islamic Jihad, and from Iranian regime influence.

So what can Congress do? There are two general things I believe Congress can do.

First, visit the region. There is no better education for you and your staff than to be on the ground, visit key sites, and hear directly from our friends on the front lines. There is also no greater symbol of support than for our elected officials to appear shoulder-to-shoulder with our allies in their time of need.

Second, I encourage you to support and follow the administration's policy on Iran, augmenting it as events develop on the ground. At the same time, we must look pragmatically at places like Syria and Lebanon, where our regional partners can help lead and shape events and reinforce our deterrence against our adversaries. This is not a job for the United States alone, yet only the United States can point the way forward.

America First foreign policy is not America alone. It is the projection of American strength abroad on behalf of the American people, marshaling our allies and partners to build a better world of peace and security. I encourage you to help build that world—for the sake of our people and for our children.

Thank you, and I look forward to your questions.