My guest this week is Dr. Assal Rad. Dr. Rad graduated with a PhD in Middle Eastern History from the University of California, Irvine in 2018. Her PhD research focused on Modern Iran, with an emphasis on national identity formation and identity in post-revolutionary Iran. Assal works with the policy team of the National Iranian American Council as a Research Fellow on Iran policy issues and U.S.-Iran relations.

We discuss the recent history of Iran, the reasons why the US is threatening Iran and imposing crippling sanctions, the Iranian people's attitudes toward the government and other topics.