Iran faces growing problems at home and abroad. At home, a building collapse added fuel to the fire of protests that had started over rising food prices. Abroad, the International Atomic Energy Agency’s Board of Governors has just condemned the regime’s lack of compliance with nuclear safeguards measures. Nuclear negotiations are frozen. Sanctions remain on. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has complicated the Ebrahim Raisi administration’s efforts to reorient foreign policy away from the West.

Negar Mortazavi is an Iranian American journalist and political analyst based in Washington DC, who has been covering Iranian affairs and US-Iran relations for over a decade. She is host of The Iran Podcast. Her previous work includes serving as a columnist and diplomatic correspondent at The Independent, a host on Voice of America and as Washington Correspondent for Iran International.