Iran Explained

Send us Fan MailOn this episode, Saman Askari speaks with Dr. Hamidreza Azizi, a Visiting Fellow at SWP Berlin and one of the most closely followed analysts of the Iran war, about where the conflict stands on Day 38. The conversation covers how the Islamic Republic has proven more resilient than the U.S. and Israel anticipated, what lessons the regime drew from the 12-day war last year, and why Trump's unpredictability may be undermining rather than strengthening American leverage. Azizi walks through the internal debate inside Iran's strategic circles between advocates of massive preemptive escalation and those favoring a more incremental approach, and explains why the Strait of Hormuz has become Tehran's most powerful card. The episode also examines how public sentiment inside Iran has shifted since the war began, from initial welcome among many Iranians hoping for regime change to growing disillusionment as civilian infrastructure is destroyed with no collapse in sight. The conversation closes with a sobering look at the possible outcomes: regime change, a change from within, or the darker prospect of state collapse. Support the show

Send us Fan MailIn this episode, Saman Askari reads his latest Substack essay on how Iran’s crisis is being misframed through debates about foreign intervention. The piece centers the mass killing of unarmed protesters by the Islamic Republic and argues that much Western commentary has obscured that reality by prioritizing abstract geopolitical narratives over the lived experience of repression inside Iran.Drawing on Iran’s history and comparative cases elsewhere, the episode explores why skepticism toward intervention is deeply ingrained, yet secondary for many Iranians facing survival under an increasingly brutal regime. It is a reflection on moral clarity, historical context, and the limits of theory when confronting mass state violence.Support the show

Send us Fan MailOn this episode, Saman Askari reads a piece he wrote on his Substack called Iran’s Radicalized Opposition and the Cycle of Ruin. The essay examines the current state of the Iranian opposition in light of the recent regime crackdown and growing fears of war. It traces how the trauma of what has happened recently has reshaped opposition discourse, fueling polarization, purity tests, and the concentration of authority around individuals rather than institutions. The piece argues that without protecting dissent, constraining power, and grounding any transition in enforceable democratic norms, the opposition risks reproducing the same cycles of repression it seeks to escape. Support the show

Send us Fan MailThis is a brief emergency episode where Saman Askari shares his thoughts on the current situation in Iran. He does an examination of the desperation behind the protests, the limits of outside intervention, and the hard realities facing the opposition. This episode looks at what happens when a population no longer sees a future within the system it is living under. Support the show

Send us Fan MailIn 1979, Iran underwent one of the 20th century’s most consequential revolutions. What began as a wave of protests against a monarchy transformed the country into an Islamic Republic that would reshape its identity and place in the world.In this episode, Saman Askari traces the arc of power, from the rise of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi to the return of Ruhollah Khomeini, and unpacks the forces that fueled the uprising: rapid modernization, political repression, cultural tension, and a deep civilizational pride colliding with national insecurity.Through this lens, he explores why Iran’s upheavals so often search for saviors and strongmen, why the country struggles to build enduring institutions, and how the ghosts of empire still shape its political psyche to this day.Support the show

Send us Fan MailAfter a long hiatus, Talk Iran is back. In this new episode, Saman Askari takes us on a deep dive into the life and legacy of Cyrus the Great—the founder of the Persian Empire. He explores his rise, his wars against Croesus of Lydia and Babylon, the famous Cyrus Cylinder, and the myths that surround him. Was he truly the world’s first champion of human rights—or is that a modern projection onto an ancient conqueror? This is the paradox of Cyrus: ruthless conqueror, pragmatic ruler, and enduring legend.Support the show

Send us Fan MailIn this episode, I speak with John Ghazvinian, an author, historian and a former journalist. He's considered a foremost expert on US-Iran relations and has written a comprehensive book about the subject. John and I start off by talking about his book and the relationship between the US and Iran, going all the way back to the 1720’s up until the current times.In the first half of the episode, we look at this interesting relationship in various phases and try to go beyond the narratives of the 1953 coup and the hostage crisis. In the second half, we discuss current events including the unrest that has resulted from the death of Mahsa Amini, the opposition movement in the diaspora, the recent rapprochement between the Islamic Republic and Saudi Arabia, the possibilities of how events can unfold in Iran in the future and finally the prospects of the future of US-Iran relations.Support the show

Send us Fan MailIn this episode, I speak again with a previous guest, Dr. Amir Afkhami, a health policy expert, historian and trained physician. This episode is all about COVID-19! Early in the episode, we discuss the nature of this coronavirus and how it affects the body. Then, we get into the subject of Iran and how the country became one of the epicenters of the disease, its government’s response, the historical parallels with Iran’s past health crises, why the city of Qom was where the virus got its foothold in Iran, the role of religion, reported versus actual numbers of infections, testing failures, the role of US sanctions in Iran’s ability to fight the pandemic, if the curve has flattened in Iran, the effect of the pandemic on geopolitics and Iran’s internal politics, the balancing act between the economic and health impacts of the crisis, achieving herd immunity quickly versus flattening the curve, the psychological impact of being quarantined and many other topics. Support the show

Send us Fan MailIn this episode, I speak with Afshon Ostovar, a historian, author and a foremost expert on the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). Afshon and I cover a lot of ground. We start by talking about the historical context around the IRGC, when and how it was started, its role in the Iran-Iraq war, how the organization evolved through the years, how it is different than Iran’s regular military, its Quds Force and the Islamic Republic’s foreign involvements, where Qasem Soleimani fit into the picture, his relationships with various Shia militia groups and other groups such as the Taliban and Al Qaeda, the mythology surrounding Soleimani and his role in ISIS’s rise and fall. We also discuss the recent events surrounding Trump’s decision to kill Soleimani, the legality of and the logic behind the killing, the downing of the Ukrainian jetliner and its implications on the survival of the Islamic Republic as a system, whether the system would have been strengthened as a result of Soleimani’s killing if the downing of the jetliner hadn’t happened, protests in Iran and their frequency, the possibility of an all-out collapse of the Islamic Republic and other topics. Support the show

Send us Fan MailIn this episode, I speak with Naz Deravian, a cookbook author and Persian food expert. Naz and I discuss her background, her transition into the culinary world, the magic of tahdig and Iranian rice, regional varieties and diversity of Iranian cuisine, spiciness of Persian food or rather the lack thereof and of course kabab! As a warning, you’re going to get really really hungry if you already aren’t!Support the show

Send us Fan MailIn this episode, I speak with Amir Akhami, a psychiatrist and a historian of medicine, about the history of cholera in Iran. We talk about his multi-disciplinary career and how his various areas of knowledge converge in his work. We discuss what Cholera is, its history starting in the 19th century and its role in the history of Iran in particular, from a medical, social and political perspective. He takes us through a historical journey all the way from the Qajar era to today’s Iran and its current public health challenges. We touch a lot of different subjects such the role of global trade, imperialism, the role of religion, history of medicine and many other topics. Support the show

Send us Fan MailIn this episode, I speak with Narges Bajoghli, an award-winning anthropologist, filmmaker, writer and an Assistant Professor of Middle East Studies at Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies. We mostly talk about the topics in her upcoming book titled 'Iran Reframed,' which is about the state-controlled media in the Islamic Republic of Iran. We discuss what it means to be pro-regime in Iran and the debates around the future of the Islamic Republic taking place in that country. We also discuss the prospects of war between Iran and the US and many other topics.Support the show

Send us Fan MailIn this episode, I speak with Reza Zia-Ebrahimi, a historian and a Senior Lecturer at King's College London. We talk about what he calls 'dislocative nationalism', a sort of Iranian nationalism that was deliberately devised and disseminated, starting in the 19th century. He outlines the founding of dislocative nationalism and how it aimed to cast Iran’s pre-Islamic period as the nation’s golden age, interpreting Islam as an alien religion. He explains the otherization of Arabs in Iran and how the country was dislodged from its empirical reality and tied to Europe and the Aryan race by transforming and using European racial ideas of the time. Support the show

Send us Fan MailI'm ending Season 1 of talk iran with this short update episode. Stay tuned for Season 2 starting in April!Support the show

Send us Fan MailIn this episode, I speak with Lior Sternfeld, a social historian of the modern Middle East with a particular interest in the histories of the Jewish populations of the region. Lior and I talk about the 2,700-year history of the Iranian Jewish population focusing mostly on the 20th century and the misperceptions of the lives of Jews in Iran. We further talk about how Iranian Jews became a prominent community within Iran during the course of the 20th century, whether Iranian Jews identify primarily as Jewish or Iranian, the difference between the Jewish communities of Iran and of other Middle Eastern countries, the status of Jews under the Islamic Republic, the Iranian Jewish community in Israel and the United States and other related topics.Support the show

Send us Fan MailIn this episode, I speak with Bahman Kalbasi, the New York and United Nations Correspondent for BBC Persian. He and I talk about the recent US sanctions against Iran and the reports of related shortages in food and medicine coming out of that country, how the tension between the US and Iran may unfold, the various Iranian opposition movements in exile and whether they have mobilizing potential, the Jamal Khashoggi murder and its implications on the geopolitics of the Middle East, the US midterm elections and how the Democrats’ newfound power affects US foreign and domestic policies, the various Persian-language channels based in the UK and their sources of funding, the recent high-profile departures at BBC Persian, his interviews with high-profile American politicians and other topics.Support the show

Send us Fan MailIn this episode, I speak with Florida State Representative Anna V. Eskamani, the first ever Iranian-American to be elected to the Florida legislature and one of only a handful of Iranian-Americans to ever be elected to public office in the US. She and I talk about her historic win, her family background and why she decided to run, why Iranian-Americans have shied away from running for public office in the US, national politics and President Trump, her platform and how she plans to achieve her objectives as a State Representative, her future plans and other topics.Support the show

Send us Fan MailIn this episode, I speak with Yara Elmjouie, an Iranian-American video producer and presenter at AJ+. He and I talk about his time in Iran as a freelance journalist, his background and how he became a video producer, the video making process, Iranian politics and the sanctions, the Iranian-American identity and whether to identify as Persian or Iranian and many other topics.Support the show

Send us Fan MailIn this episode, I speak with Armin Navabi, an Iranian-Canadian ex-Muslim atheist, secular activist, author and podcaster. Armin and I talk about his experience as a child growing up in Iran and becoming indoctrinated in the Shia Muslim faith, a fateful suicide attempt, how he left religion and started the Atheist Republic online community, the operations of Atheist Republic, atheism and anti-Islamic sentiment in Iran, the government of Iran, the various Iranian opposition groups, what would happen to Islamists in a democratic Iran, his book, the difference between his criticism of Islam and the right-wing xenophobic criticisms, the need for spirituality and a sense of community in people’s lives and other topics.Support the show

Send us Fan MailIn this episode, I speak with Dr. Eskandar Sadeghi, a political and intellectual historian of modern Iran and the Middle East. My conversation with him mostly revolves around Iran’s post-revolutionary reform movement. We further discuss the ascent of Ayatollah Khamenei to become Iran’s Supreme Leader after the death of Ayatollah Khomeini, the presidency of Mohammad Khatami, the obstacles to reform within the Iranian system, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the 2009 Green Movement, current events and Donald Trump’s maximum pressure policy towards Iran, the various opposition groups in exile and other topics. Support the show

Send us Fan MailIn this episode, I speak with Maral Karimi, the author of the book 'The Iranian Green Movement of 2009' and a PhD student at the University of Toronto. Besides the green movement and the concepts in her book, Maral and I discuss the overall state of the reform movement in Iran, the alternatives to reform, how the recent protests in that country compare to the 2009 protests, the various opposition groups in exile and other topics.Support the show

Send us Fan MailIn this episode, I speak with Neda Maghbouleh, the author of the 2017 book 'The Limits of Whiteness: Iranian Americans and the Everyday Politics of Race' and an Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of Toronto. She and I talk about her background, race within the Iranian and the Iranian-American contexts, the Aryan myth as it exists among Iranians, the history of racial classification in the US, the importance of racial classification or lack thereof, the definition of whiteness, the research that’s currently being done on these subjects and other topics.Support the show

Send us Fan MailIn this episode, I speak with Ervand Abrahamian, a world-renowned author and historian of Iran. We start our conversation talking about the reasons for the success of the clerical establishment in bringing about the Islamic revolution of 1979, and we also talk about the Persian identity versus the Shia identity, the similarities between Zoroastrianism and Shiism, the failure of democracy in Iran, foreign interference in Iranian affairs, the perseverance of the Islamic Republic in the face of various challenges, and finally current events and the Trump administration’s maximum pressure policy towards Iran.Support the show

Send us Fan MailIn this episode, I speak with Anousheh Ansari, the first ever person of Iranian descent to travel to space and the first female self-funded space traveler of any nationality. Anousheh and I talk about her spaceflight experience, her background and how her Iranian identity has affected her life, the controversy around having an Iranian flag on her spacesuit, the overview effect and the epiphanies she had looking down on planet earth from space, the future of space travel, her take on the current political situation in Iran and other topics.Support the show

Send us Fan MailIn this episode, I speak with Hooman Majd, an Iranian-American journalist and author. Hooman and I talk about the current level of support the Islamic Republic has inside Iran, the Iranian revolution and the current struggles of the Iranian people, democracy and secularism within the Iranian context, the role of the US and the Iranian diaspora in regards to Iran, the criticism he has received because of his connections to the Islamic Republic and other topics. Support the show

Send us Fan MailIn this episode, I speak with Vahid Yücesoy, a PhD candidate in political science at the University of Montreal. Vahid and I talk about his background, how he became disillusioned with the Iranian reform movement, the intentions and the role of the US in regards to Iran, Reza Pahlavi, the validity and the results of various polls conducted in Iran, the divisions amongst Iranians on social media and other topics.Support the show

Send us Fan MailIn this episode, I speak with Eli Lake, a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering national security and foreign policy. Eli and I talk about the recent US sanctions on Iran, the general role of the US and other external forces in shaping Iran’s future, how various historical events in other countries can serve as a model for change in Iran, the possibility of war, the various players opposing the regime, and other topics.Support the show

Send us Fan MailIn this episode, I speak with Holly Dagres, an Iranian-American Middle East analyst. Holly and I talk about her background, her time in Cairo, the recent protests in Iran, Reza Pahlavi and other alternatives to the Islamic Republic, and of course the Trump administration. Support the show

Send us Fan MailIn this episode, I speak with D. Parvaz, an Iranian-American journalist, who was wrongly imprisoned in Syria and Iran in 2011. We talk about her imprisonment, the potential of hardliners gaining more power in Iran, the approval of the release of 2009 opposition figures Mousavi and Karroubi, the possibility of future US-Iran negotiations, Iran’s proxies in the region and other topics. Support the show

Send us Fan MailIn this episode, I speak with Barbara Slavin, a journalist and foreign policy expert who focuses on Iran. We talk about how she became interested in Iran, the Trump administration’s approach to Iran and the Mike Pompeo event, the Iran nuclear deal, potential pathways for change in that country, and the possibility of a military dictatorship, as well as other topics. Support the show

Send us Fan MailIn this episode, I speak with Borzou Daragahi, an award-winning journalist covering the Middle East and North Africa. We talk about the Trump administration and its recent war of words with Iran, Mike Pompeo addressing Iranian-Americans, the role of the Iranian diaspora in shaping the future of Iran, various pathways for change in Iran, the social media environment and other topics.Support the show