talk iran

About talk iran

This is an independent, non-partisan podcast for discussing Iran-related topics, hosted by Saman Askari, an Iranian-American professional from the San Francisco Bay Area.

Publisher

Saman Askari

Category

history · news · society & culture

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

30 Jul 2018

Latest episode

7 Apr 2026

Latest episodes

1 of 32 episodes have a transcript.

1. 

   7 Apr 2026TRANSCRIPT

   The Latest on the Iran War with Hamidreza Azizi

   Send us Fan Mail On this episode, Saman Askari speaks with Dr. Hamidreza Azizi, a Visiting Fellow at SWP Berlin and one of the most closely followed analysts of the Iran war, about where the conflict stands on Day 38. The conversation covers how the Islamic Republic has proven more resilient than the U.S. and Israel anticipated, what lessons the regime drew from the 12-day war last year, and why Trump's unpredictability may be undermining rather than strengthening American leverage. Azi...

2. 

   12 Feb 2026

   Thoughts on Foreign Intervention in Iran

   Send a text In this episode, Saman Askari reads his latest Substack essay on how Iran’s crisis is being misframed through debates about foreign intervention. The piece centers the mass killing of unarmed protesters by the Islamic Republic and argues that much Western commentary has obscured that reality by prioritizing abstract geopolitical narratives over the lived experience of repression inside Iran. Drawing on Iran’s history and comparative cases elsewhere, the episode explores why skepti...

3. 

   7 Feb 2026

   Thoughts on the Iranian Opposition

   Send us a text On this episode, Saman Askari reads a piece he wrote on his Substack called Iran’s Radicalized Opposition and the Cycle of Ruin. The essay examines the current state of the Iranian opposition in light of the recent regime crackdown and growing fears of war. It traces how the trauma of what has happened recently has reshaped opposition discourse, fueling polarization, purity tests, and the concentration of authority around individuals rather than institutions. The piece argues t...

Inside a recent episode

The Latest on the Iran War with Hamidreza Azizi

Published 7 Apr 2026 · Transcript excerpt

[…] So on the first day of this war, on February 28th, when Israel and the United States initiated that war, the Islamic Republic was no longer the same Islamic Republic as it was a year ago or even six months ago. It was always some sorts of decentralized, you know, system at the command level, especially given the, for example, existence of something like Basij as a sort of a militia slash volunteer mobilization force. But what they did was they kind of doubled on on that. what they call mosaic doctrine, and more authority to provincial commanders for deciding when, how, and at which targets to strike. […]

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Apple Podcasts (US)

5.0 / 5

39 ratings

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