The Iran Podcast

Negar Mortazavi speaks to Peter Beinart about sanctions and how the United States has been using this tool to choke weaker adversaries, pressuring large populations without much policy gain. Subscribe to The Beinart Notebook on Substack: peterbeinart.substack.com

Negar Mortazavi speaks to Sima Shakhsari and Assal Rad about a new grassroots movement in the US against sanctions on Iran. A coalition of Iranian-American academics, activists, and artists is trying to pressure the Biden administration to lift sanctions on Iran. *Music by Aida Shahghasemi.

Negar Mortazavi speaks with Iranian foreign minister Javad Zarif about the current impasse in diplomacy between Tehran and Washington and a sequence of return to the nuclear deal; President Biden’s interest in follow-on negotiations on Iran’s missile program, regional presence and human rights; Iran’s fight against Covid19 and plans for mass vaccination; the IRGC shooting down of the Ukrainian plane last year; and whether Zarif will run for president. *This interview was recorded for Politico magazine on March 15, 2021.

Negar Mortazavi talks to Borzou Daragahi, International Correspondent for The Independent who has been covering conflicts in the Middle East for two decades. They discuss the current impasse in US-Iran diplomacy, the war in Syria, corruption in Lebanon, rivalry between Turkey and Saudi Arabia, and new friendships between Israel and Arab states of the Persian Gulf.

Negar Mortazavi speaks to Mohsen Milani, Founding Executive Director of Center for Strategic & Diplomatic Studies at University of South Florida, about the 1979 revolution in Iran, America’s position towards the revolution and the significance of the hostage crisis, and today’s situation in Iran and similarities and differences with the years leading to 1979.

Negar Mortazavi speaks to Nancy Gallagher, Director of the Center for International and Security Studies at University of Maryland, about Iranian public opinion on Covid19, economy, nuclear policy, regional security, and domestic politics, based on two in-depth surveys fielded in September-October 2020 and January-February 2021.

Negar Mortazavi speaks to John Glaser, director of foreign policy at the Cato Institute, about America's role in the world and the case for Restraint in US foreign policy that calls for reducing America's global military presence and decades of wars and armed intervention in the Middle East. (Interview was recorded on February 23) Producer: Joshua Barlow - Music: 127Band

Negar Mortazavi speaks to Fatemeh Keshavarz, Director of School of Languages and Cultures at University of Maryland, about the importance of people-to-people exchanges with Iran, the role of arts and culture in making bridges, how the poetry of Rumi and Hafez and other prominent Persian poets has lived on for centuries, and about her life growing up in the city of Shiraz. Music by 127Band

Negar Mortazavi speaks to Ambassador John Limbert, former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Iran and one of the last US diplomats to serve in Tehran where he was taken hostage in 1979. They discuss four decades of animosity between Tehran and Washington and how both sides have been wrestling with the ghosts of history.

Negar Mortazavi speaks to Kelsey Davenport, Director of Nonproliferation at the Arms Control Association, about the current state of Iran’s nuclear program, the limits set by the JCPOA, Iran’s past nuclear activities, and the path forward for a full return to the Iran nuclear deal.