The Iran Podcast

Negar Mortazavi speaks to NPR radio about the six candidates cleared to run in Iran’s upcoming presidential election. The snap election comes less than a month after former President Ebrahim Raisi died in a helicopter crash. The winner of the June 28 election will have to contend with a struggling economy, social discontent, and the ongoing challenge of U.S. sanctions.

Will Iran change its nuclear strategy after the death of its president Ebrahim Raisi? Negar Mortazavi speaks to Kelsey Davenport of the Arms Control Association and Sina Azodi of George Washington University.

Negar Mortazavi speaks to Giorgio Cafiero, CEO of Gulf States Analytics and an adjunct professor at Georgetown University, about the Israel-Hamas war and the GCC countries.

Negar Mortazavi speaks to Barbara Slavin, a distinguished fellow at the Stimson Center in Washington, about the Israel-Hamas war, US-Iran tensions, the Axis of Resistance, the influence of Arab countries, and the impact of this war in the Middle East on the upcoming US presidential elections.

Negar Mortazavi speaks to Benjamin Friedman, policy director at Defense Priorities in Washington. Friedman previously worked as a defense analyst at the Cato Institute and at the Center for Defense Information. He has edited three books on defense policy and strategy and has published academic essays in International Security, Political Science Quarterly, Foreign Affairs, and World Affairs.

Negar Mortazavi speaks to Mehran Kamrava, Professor of Government at Georgetown University in Qatar and director of the Iranian Studies Unit at the Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies. Kamrava is the author of a number of books including Righteous Politics: Power and Resilience in Iran; A Dynastic History of Iran: From the Qajars to the Pahlavis; Triumph and Despair: In Search of Iran's Islamic Republic; and, A Concise History of Revolution.

Negar Mortazavi speaks to Matt Duss, Executive Vice President, and Sina Toosi, Senior Fellow, at the Center for International Policy, about the Israel-Hamas war, the Biden administration’s policy, and the role of Iran and its regional allies.

Negar Mortazavi speaks to Nader Hashemi, Director of the Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding and Associate Professor of Middle East and Islamic Politics at Georgetown University.

Negar Mortazavi speaks to Trita Parsi, Executive Vice President of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft in Washington DC.

Negar Mortazavi speaks with Alex Vatanka about Iran’s domestic politics and mass protests, the crisis of legitimacy and the issue of leadership succession, Tehran’s deescalation with Washington and regional engagement with Arab rivals, and the continuous shift to the East towards Russia and China. Guest: Alex Vatanka, Director of Iran Program at the Middle East Institute, and author of “The Battle of the Ayatollahs in Iran: The United States, Foreign Policy, and Political Rivalry Since 1979”.