The Iran Podcast

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”.

A year has passed since the death in custody of Mahsa Amini and the Woman, Life, Freedom protests in Iran. This panel discusses the current state of Iran’s domestic dissent, Tehran’s foreign policy and shift to the East, the prisoner swap and nuclear tensions with the US, and Iran’s engagement with its regional rivals. Negar Mortazavi joins Farnaz Fassihi from the New York Times, Kelsey Davenport from the Arms Control Association, Nader Hashemi from Georgetown University, and Barbara Slavin at the Stimson Center in Washington. (More details: www.stimson.org/event/iran-one-year-after-the-death-of-mahsa-amini/)

In this episode we discuss Iran’s shift to the East towards big powers in Asia, mainly Russia and China, and engaging with regional rivals like Saudi Arabia, and most recently joining the BRICS, and what this all means in a shifting global order. Host Negar Mortazavi speaks to Nicole Grajewsky at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and Mathieu Droin at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).

Washington and Tehran have reached a deal to swap prisoners and unblock Iran’s frozen assets in South Korea. Iran will release a number of American prisoners in exchange for the U.S. releasing a number of Iranian prisoners and unblocking $6 billion of Iranian funds to be used for humanitarian transactions. What does this agreement mean for each side? Will this be a prelude for more deescalation between Iran and the U.S.?  Negar Mortazavi speaks to Stephen Miles, the president of Win Without War, a coalition of organizations that work for a more peaceful and progressive U.S. foreign policy. He previously worked for the global campaigning organization Avaaz, was the Executive Director of the American Hellenic Council, and has worked on multiple federal, state, and local electoral campaigns.