Cole Caven ’26 was selected for a prestigious fellowship last summer in Washington, D.C., along with students from Harvard, Princeton and Oxford universities.

While there, Caven connected with one of the guest speakers. Elliott Abrams served in foreign policy positions for President Reagan, President George W. Bush and President Trump. He currently is senior fellow for Middle Eastern studies at the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington.

On Friday night, the two sat side by side in the Lynn Presentation Room as Caven asked far ranging questions about the October 7 attack on Israel, the yearlong war in Gaza and Iran’s use of terrorist groups as proxies to wield influence throughout the Middle East.

The two-hour talk on “The Middle East & US Foreign Policy” was hosted by Stetson’s chapter of The Alexander Hamilton Society, which prepares students for careers in foreign policy and national security. 

Caven is the chapter’s president and an Honors student pursuing dual majors in International Studies and Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies.

“Thankfully over the course of the summer, I had the luxury of being a Security Studies Fellow with the Hertog Foundation, which is a nationally renowned educational nonprofit that helps future leaders in politics, foreign policy and other such outlets for future careers,” Caven said, “and ultimately to learn from people like Mr. Abrams.

“I had the luxury of meeting him and, from there, we used the Alexander Hamilton Society as a platform to invite him here to Stetson,” he added.

The talk attracted students, faculty, top administrators, including President Christopher Roellke, and members of the public.

During the talk, Abrams called on the United States to enforce the oil sanctions against Iran, which were imposed by former President Trump. By failing to enforce the sanctions, the Biden administration has allowed Iran to generate billions of dollars more from selling its oil, primarily to China.

This money funds terrorist organizations that serve as proxies to advance Iran’s agenda to try to dominate the Middle East and eliminate the state of Israel, he said. These terrorist proxies include Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon, Shi’ite militias in Iraq, and the Houthis in Yemen. 

“I don’t think we have pushed back hard enough against Iran,” he said. 

He clarified that he wasn’t criticizing the people of Iran, but the Islamic Republic of Iran, the religious fanatics who run the country without democratic elections.

During a question-and-answer period at the end of Abrams’s talk, retired American Studies Professor Paul Croce commented, “Thanks for your wide sweep, almost the whole world. This has been a really great educational moment for all of us.”