Iran-North Korea Cooperation | The Capital Cable #116

What is happening with Iran-North Korea cooperation in the aftermath of the U.S. strikes on Iran? What does it mean for the Axis of Upheaval?

Joining Mark Lippert and Victor Cha to discuss this and more are Sydney Seiler of CSIS and Daniel B. Shapiro of the Atlantic Council, the former U.S. ambassador to Israel (2011 to 2017) and former deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for the Middle East (2024 to 2025).

Sydney Seiler was the national intelligence officer for North Korea at the National Intelligence Council from 2020 to 2023 and is one of the nation’s top experts on North Korea. He has over 40 years of experience focusing on Korean Peninsula affairs, 17 of them in South Korea. Previously, he was the U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) senior analyst and senior defense intelligence expert for North Korea from 2016 to 2020, serving as the principal adviser and senior expert on Korean Peninsula security issues to the USFK commander and the U.S. Defense Intelligence Enterprise. Mr. Seiler also served as the U.S. special envoy for Six Party Talks (2014–2015), where he coordinated U.S. diplomacy and policy on the DPRK and led negotiations with North Korea.

Daniel B. Shapiro is a distinguished fellow with the Atlantic Council’s Scowcroft Middle East Security Initiative. From 2022 to 2023, he was the Director of the N7 Initiative. In his most recent government service, Shapiro was Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for the Middle East from 2024 to 2025, and prior to that was Senior Adviser on Regional Integration in the State Department’s Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs. He is a former US ambassador to Israel, having served in that role from 2011 to 2017. Prior to his appointment, he worked as senior director for the Middle East and North Africa on the National Security Council at the White House, following his role as senior policy adviser in Barack Obama’s presidential campaign.

The Capital Cable is made possible through general support to CSIS.