What the CIA Knows About Iran That Washington Keeps Getting Wrong (with Mark Fowler) episode artwork

EPISODE · Jun 14, 2026 · 52 MIN

What the CIA Knows About Iran That Washington Keeps Getting Wrong (with Mark Fowler)

from Mission Implausible · host Jon Stern

Former CIA Iran ops officer Mark Fowler joins Jerry and John to explain why Iran is one of the hardest targets on earth. From running agents and sources, Fowler has insight into the Iranian worldview: a persecuted Shia minority that sees walls behind every wall, craves American attention while calling us the Great Satan, and negotiates by treating signed contracts as opening bids. He separates the educated, reform-minded Iranian people from a regime led by men forged in the trenches of the Iran-Iraq War and traces the IRGC's rise from teenage revolutionary militia to a corrupt, self-sufficient parallel army that controls Iran's missiles, ports, and economy. On the current conflict, Trump jumped in without preparation against an adversary that has spent a generation planning for exactly this. Watch Mission Implausible on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@MissionImplausiblePodWatch Mission Implausible on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@MissionImplausiblePod

Episode metadata supplied by the publisher feed · Published Jun 14, 2026

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What the CIA Knows About Iran That Washington Keeps Getting Wrong (with Mark Fowler)

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