Iran Explained

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On 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. 

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In 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.

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On 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. 

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This 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. 

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In 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.

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After 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.

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In 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.

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In 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. 

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In 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. 

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In 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!

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