1979: How the U.S. and Iran Went From Allies to Enemies episode artwork

EPISODE · Jun 12, 2026 · 49 MIN

1979: How the U.S. and Iran Went From Allies to Enemies

from The Daily · host The New York Times

At the heart of the current U.S. war against Iran is an inconvenient truth: that the United States is, in many ways, responsible for creating the very regime it now seeks to topple. Today, Scott Anderson, a New York Times Magazine contributor, tells the story of America’s outsize role in the Islamic Revolution, and why all these years later we’re still no closer to understanding Iran. Guest: Scott Anderson, a contributing writer for The New York Times Magazine. Background reading: It has been a trying time for the Islamic republic of Iran. Photo: George Tames/The New York Times For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.  Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

At the heart of the current U.S. war against Iran is an inconvenient truth: that the United States is, in many ways, responsible for creating the very regime it now seeks to topple. Today, Scott Anderson, a New York Times Magazine contributor and author of “King of Kings”, tells the story of America’s outsize role in the Islamic Revolution, and why all these years later we’re still no closer to understanding Iran.

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1979: How the U.S. and Iran Went From Allies to Enemies

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This episode was published on June 12, 2026.

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At the heart of the current U.S. war against Iran is an inconvenient truth: that the United States is, in many ways, responsible for creating the very regime it now seeks to topple. Today, Scott Anderson, a New York Times Magazine contributor, tells...

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