رابط فيديو ونص مقابلة مع د. شارل شرتوتي/قراءة في السياسة الأميركية الشرق أوسطية والإنتخاب النصفيىة/موقع ومواقف السعودية والحرب التي تتعرض لها ومن يحميها/الإستراتجيات العربية الفاشلة/الحرب الشاملة على إيران/شحنة المتفجرات، شبكات التواطؤ، ومخاطر الاغتيالات وخلط الأوراق/أزمة التعيينات وانهيار مؤسسات الدولة من الداخل/مساعي تفكك لبنان ومستقبل الحضور المسيحي والوطني/التضييق القضائي في لبنان والرسائل السياسية/حتمية السلام مع إسرائيل/الانتخابات الإسرائيلية وانعكاساتها على الواقع اللبناني/Video link and transcript of an interview with Dr. Charles Chartouni/

Video link and transcript of an interview with Dr. Charles Chartouni/A reading in American Middle Eastern policy and the midterm elections/Saudi Arabia’s position and the war it is facing and who protects it / Failed Arab strategies/The comprehensive war on Iran/The explosives shipment, collusion networks, and risks of assassinations and shuffling the cards/The appointments crisis and collapse of state institutions from within/ Attempts to dismantle Lebanon and the future of the Christian and national presence/Judicial harassment in Lebanon and political messages/The inevitability of peace with Israel/The Israeli elections and their repercussions on the Lebanese reality

Interview conducted by journalist Patricia Samaha from Transparency website on YouTube
13 October/2026
Note/ The interview was transcribed and fully drafted with all its vocabulary, introduction, table of contents, conclusion and English translation by Elias Bejjani with complete freedom.

A Long and Detailed Introduction
This interview comes at a highly complex and dangerous regional moment, whose main title is the transition of the Iranian-American confrontation from the phase of conflict management and long negotiations to the phase of decisive resolution. Dr. Charles Chartouni, the political writer and university professor residing in Washington, reads the scene from a grand strategic angle and not from a daily tactical angle. His starting point is that the Iranian regime is not by its nature a negotiating regime, but a regime positioned within closed and non-negotiable equations. Its declared goal for 47 years has been to export the revolution and Wilayat al-Faqih, and all its negotiations are not to reach a solution, but to gain time and re-establish its strategic, military and political locks inside Iran and at the level of its arms in the region. In this context, Chartouni sees that Tehran’s current bet is divided into two parts: betting on the end of President Donald Trump‘s term within two years, and betting on the American midterm elections to restrict Trump and prevent him from disbursing funds or continuing the war through the 60-day mechanism. But he considers this bet to be wrong, as American policy toward Iran has become a fixed strategic choice that will not change with the shrinking or remaining influence of Republicans in Congress. On another level, Chartouni links what is happening in Yemen and the targeting of Saudi Arabia by the Houthis, and what is happening in Lebanon from the seizure of C4 explosives shipments in Dahr al-Baidar and through smuggling on mules from Syria via the Qasr area in Hermel, to the same Iranian strategy: investing in a state of generalized regional chaos and prolonged disintegration in the Greater Middle East. He considers that this reality will not continue and will move towards a decisive resolution after the American midterm elections, not through a single knockout blow as Condoleezza Rice said, but through a prolonged war of attrition aimed at dismantling Iran from within and reducing its influence abroad.
As for the Lebanese file, the interview reveals a very bleak reading. Chartouni considers that the cards available to Hezbollah are no longer large, and its only remaining bet is civil war and striking internal stability and stirring sectarian conflicts. He accuses the current Lebanese regime, headed by Joseph Aoun and the government of Nawaf Salam, of giving the party an opportunity to reposition itself within the administrative, military and political equations and to refloat itself after the crushing blows that hit its leadership, instead of benefiting from the armistice agreement and the new strategic reality. Reaching his most dangerous reading: that Hezbollah seeks to gradually dismantle Lebanon to seize certain areas that allow it to relaunch, and that its coup project uses political, economic, military and real estate levers, from the Beirut Port explosion to the real estate expansion in Metn, Baabda, Hadath and Furn El Chebbak, and its ultimate goal is to eliminate Christians as a fundamental actor because it considers them the only obstacle to the Iranian Islamic project, to be able after that to make a settlement with the Sunnis through Turkey and Qatar.

Interview File Titles
Introduction and questions about Lebanon’s role in the Iranian-American confrontation
*Will Lebanon be an additional arena if Trump decides to deliver a decisive blow to Iran?

*The positioning of the Iranian regime and its non-negotiable equations
Why negotiations with Tehran fail, and how it uses time as a weapon?

*The Israeli elections and their repercussions on the Lebanese reality
Will the results of the 27 October elections change Israel’s policy toward Lebanon in the event of Netanyahu‘s departure and the arrival of Eisenkot or a joint coalition?

*Targeting Saudi Arabia, the role of the Houthis, and the weakness of the Arab regional system
A reading on the targeting of Riyadh airport, and the failure of the Turkish-Saudi-Pakistani alliance and the Mecca Agreement.

*The inevitability of a comprehensive confrontation and options to uproot Iranian influence
From negotiations since 2015 to a comprehensive war to destroy Iranian influence, and the expansion of threats to include digital infrastructure and artificial intelligence in the Gulf.

*The Mecca Agreement, normalization with Israel, and shifting regional priorities
Will Houthi attacks push Saudi Arabia to abandon its policy of resistance and move towards normalization?

*The explosives shipment, collusion networks, and risks of assassinations and shuffling the cards
From the Dahr al-Baidar truck to 200 grams of smuggled C4, the role of security agencies and their collusion, and are we facing a wave of assassinations in the manner of the assassination of Rafik Hariri and Gebran Tueni?

*The appointments crisis and collapse of state institutions from within
The farce of appointments, seizing control of state institutions, and the role of the Ministry of Finance, the Financial Public Prosecutor and the judiciary.

*Attempts to dismantle Lebanon and the future of the Christian and national presence
Why Hezbollah seeks to dismantle Lebanon, and the project of Shiite real estate expansion from the southern coast of Beirut to the capital.

*Hezbollah’s financial support program and a reading of the internal Shiite mood
The “Promise and Commitment” program, the speech of Sheikh Ali Damoush and Naim Qassem, and has Hezbollah’s influence in the Shiite environment shrunk?

*A quick word on judicial harassment and political messages
The case of the summons for an interview about an episode with Samah Hajj 3 years ago as a sword hanging over head.

Interview Summary
*In the Iranian-American file: Chartouni believes that the Iranian regime does not want a solution, and its goal is to export the revolution. All its negotiations aim to consolidate its locks. The American administration is coming to decisive positions in the coming weeks after the midterm elections. A comprehensive confrontation has become inevitable and there is no room for coexistence with Iranian influence policy. No Russian or Chinese intervention will prevent it. The solution will be through a long war of attrition to dismantle Iran from within.

*In the Israeli file: The Israeli elections will not witness substantial adjustments in strategy towards Lebanon, whether Netanyahu or Eisenkot wins. Policy will remain on an equatorial line that has not changed since the beginning of confrontations, with some cosmetic adjustments.

*In the Saudi-Yemeni file: What is happening in Yemen is not new, it is a conflict arena since the Cold War. Iran invests in chaos. The Saudi scene shows the weakness of the Arab regional system and the weakness of the rising regional power called Saudi Arabia. The alliance with Turkey and Pakistan did not achieve its purposes. Saudi Arabia has returned to classic equations: the visible American umbrella and the hidden Israeli umbrella behind the scenes. The Mecca Agreement to defend Saudi Arabia is not activated and will not be activated because of the Saudi regime’s fear of Islamists and the Muslim Brotherhood.

*In the normalization file: There is no escape from normalization. Netanyahu broke the policy of unity of arenas and opened the horizon to new equations of influence. The Iraqi and Syrian regimes with Ahmed al-Sharaa understood that, while the Lebanese regime has not entered this line. The American option has become a vital option for Lebanon and there is no possibility for stability and reform outside it, and it presupposes normalization with Israel. Saudi-Israeli normalization has become a current entitlement that mortgages Saudi security.

*In the Lebanese security file: The explosives shipment that was seized on Monday and known through foreign media on Friday reveals internal collusion. The security agencies are ruled by Hezbollah within the agencies, not just its agents. He names the State Security apparatus controlled directly by Major General Mursel Suleiman and Edgar Lawandos as a facade, while the actual ruler previously was Hassan Shaqar who is today at the head of General Security. The appointment of Mohammad Safa as responsible for the Bekaa, who is responsible for the Captagon trade, proves that the arms smuggling operation continues. The army in the South and Bekaa is practically affiliated with the Iranian faction in Lebanese army clothing.

*In the state and appointments file: He describes appointments as a farce and a direct seizure of state institutions with collusion and cowardice. The agencies cannot be purged because Hezbollah has swallowed the state from within gradually with clear political collusions since the Taif Agreement in 1990, including collusions of March 14 and all who have been in power. Parliament is ruled by a mafia run by Nabih Berri. The Salam government did not bring anything new, but rather ministers of the Lebanese Forces were obstructed by withholding funds from the Minister of Energy to make him fail, and financial control through Finance Minister Yassin Jaber is a basic entry point for Shiite control.

*In the assassinations and shuffling cards file: Assassinations cannot be ruled out. There are indications monitored that the Presidents of the Republic and the Government are potential targets for Hezbollah. The seized explosives are the same material used in the assassination of Rafik Hariri, Marwan Hamadeh and Gebran Tueni.

*In the Christian presence file: He considers that Hezbollah has targeted the elimination of Christians as an actor and essential variable, because they are the only obstacle to the expansion of the Iranian project. After eliminating them, it can make a settlement with the Sunnis through Turkey and Qatar. This is what Naim Qassem said and appeared in contacts with the Sharaa regime and meetings in Turkey and dealing with organizations such as the Ahbash and the Association of Muslim Scholars since 1979.

*In the internal Shiite file: Wrong and delusional is anyone who claims that Hezbollah’s influence in the Shiite interior has shrunk. Except for liberal Shiites, the Shiite public still moves according to the Shiite narrative and interests managed by Hezbollah and organized crime. The financial support program will not tighten bonds more because they are already tight.

Conclusion
The conclusion of Dr. Chartouni is a decisive conclusion that does not accept compromise:
At the regional level, we are facing the end of the conflict management phase and the beginning of the decisive phase. The policy of containment and negotiation with Iran from 2015 to today has failed. The only solution is to uproot Iranian influence policy through a comprehensive confrontation and war of attrition, because prolonging the file means prolonging chaos to the straits and oil prices and targeting the Gulf states and their digital infrastructure.

• At the Saudi level, Riyadh must determine its real size and adapt to Washington’s priorities and not vice versa, and change its priorities from protecting official lies and internal stability built on ideological illusions to protecting its national security through new strategic choices that open it towards normalization with Israel, because the American-Israeli umbrella is the only real protection.

• At the Lebanese level, the conclusion is the bleakest: The Lebanese state does not exist to carry out the process of destroying Hezbollah. What exists today is the Israeli who will carry out this work because he does not want to postpone the battle 70 more years on his northern borders. Hezbollah is not a regular army that can be completely terminated, but Lebanon is heading towards gradual disintegration and this is what Hezbollah itself seeks. The solution is not by addressing topical problems – an explosives shipment here and an appointment there – but by changing the big picture and destroying Hezbollah as a larger goal, otherwise this reality will establish structural imbalances that will blow up the Lebanese and regional interior.