The Iran Podcast

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.

Negar Mortazavi speaks with Annie Tracy Samuel about the history and formation of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards (IRGC), the role of the guards after the revolution and during the Iran-Iraq war, and how the group has evolved into a prominent organization today that influences Iran’s foreign and security policies. Our guest is Annie Tracy Samuel, Associate Professor of History at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga who specializes in the modern history of Iran and the Middle East. She is the author of The Unfinished History of the Iran-Iraq War: Faith, Firepower, and Iran's Revolutionary Guards.

Negar Mortazavi speaks to Murtaza Hussain, a senior reporter at The Intercept and co-host of the Intercepted podcast, about Biden’s policy towards Iran and how he kept Trump’s “maximum pressure” sanctions that discourage even legal, humanitarian trade.

Negar Mortazavi speaks to Zep Kalb at the department of sociology at UCLA about Iran’s labor movement and recent rounds of labor protests, and how the Iranian state relies on labor support, bargains with workers, and responds to labor protests. The Iran Podcast is fiscally sponsored by the Center for International Policy in Washington.

Negar Mortazavi speaks to Bijan Khajehpour, a managing partner at EUNEPA based in Vienna and a leading analyst of Iranian political and economic affairs, about the current state of economy in Iran, record inflations, systemic corruption and mismanagement, domestic unrest, and international sanctions, and how they all impact the lives of everyday Iranians.

Negar Mortazavi speaks to ⁠Dina Esfandiary⁠, Senior Advisor for Middle East and North Africa at the International Crisis Group, about the new agreement between Iran and Saudi Arabia that was brokered by China, Tehran’s shifting regional policy in the Middle East, and its continuous move towards the East and away from the West. Iran Podcast is fiscally sponsored by the ⁠Center for International Policy⁠ in Washigton.

Negar Mortazavi speaks to Rouzbeh Parsi, head of the Middle East and North Africa program at the Swedish Institute of International Affairs in Stockholm, about Europe-Iran relations in 2023, recent prisoner swaps between the two sides, how Russia’s attack on Ukraine has impacted Europe-Iran ties, and Iran’s continuous shift to the East and away from the West.

Negar Mortazavi speaks to Barbara Slavin, a distinguished fellow at the Stimson Center in Washington and a lecturer in international affairs at George Washington University, about US-Iran tensions, possibilities for nuclear diplomacy and prisoner swaps, Iran’s domestic repression and shift to the East, and a new geo-political landscape in the Middle East. Iran Podcast is sponsored by the Center for International Policy in Washington.