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Lipstick on the Rim
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1 Amy Schumer & Brianne Howey on the Importance of Female Friendships, Navigating Hollywood's Double Standards, Sharing Their Birth Stories, and MORE 50:05
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This week, in what might be the funniest episode yet, Molly and Emese are joined by co-stars Amy Schumer and Brianne Howey. They get candid about motherhood, career evolution, and their new film, Kinda Pregnant —which unexpectedly led to Amy’s latest health discovery. Amy opens up about how public criticism led her to uncover her Cushing syndrome diagnosis, what it’s like to navigate comedy and Hollywood as a mom, and the importance of sharing birth stories without shame. Brianne shares how becoming a mother has shifted her perspective on work, how Ginny & Georgia ’s Georgia Miller compares to real-life parenting, and the power of female friendships in the industry. We also go behind the scenes of their new Netflix film, Kinda Pregnant —how Molly first got the script, why Amy and Brianne were drawn to the project, and what it means for women today. Plus, they reflect on their early career struggles, the moment they knew they “made it,” and how motherhood has reshaped their ambitions. From career highs to personal challenges, this episode is raw, funny, and packed with insights. Mentioned in the Episode: Kinda Pregnant Ginny & Georgia Meerkat 30 Rock Last Comic Standing Charlie Sheen Roast Inside Amy Schumer Amy Schumer on the Howard Stern Show Trainwreck Life & Beth Expecting Amy 45RPM Clothing Brand A Sony Music Entertainment production. Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts and follow us at @sonypodcasts To bring your brand to life in this podcast, email podcastadsales@sonymusic.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices…
Iran's Gambit
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Conteúdo fornecido por Ali Alfoneh. Todo o conteúdo do podcast, incluindo episódios, gráficos e descrições de podcast, é carregado e fornecido diretamente por Ali Alfoneh ou por seu parceiro de plataforma de podcast. Se você acredita que alguém está usando seu trabalho protegido por direitos autorais sem sua permissão, siga o processo descrito aqui https://pt.player.fm/legal.
"Iran's Gambit" is a weekly podcast produced by Ali Alfoneh, on Iranian politics, and Iran's national security strategy, intentions, capabilities and impact.
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64 episódios
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Conteúdo fornecido por Ali Alfoneh. Todo o conteúdo do podcast, incluindo episódios, gráficos e descrições de podcast, é carregado e fornecido diretamente por Ali Alfoneh ou por seu parceiro de plataforma de podcast. Se você acredita que alguém está usando seu trabalho protegido por direitos autorais sem sua permissão, siga o processo descrito aqui https://pt.player.fm/legal.
"Iran's Gambit" is a weekly podcast produced by Ali Alfoneh, on Iranian politics, and Iran's national security strategy, intentions, capabilities and impact.
…
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64 episódios
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1 S1/E64: Khamenei Nixes U.S. Negotiations, Rumors of Pezeshkian’s Resignation 23:28
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Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has once again recalibrated his strategic posture concerning diplomatic engagement with the United States. In his January 28 address , he appeared to tacitly endorse diplomatic negotiations with Washington. However, on February 7, Khamenei asserted that engaging in negotiations with President Donald J. Trump’s administration is “neither wise and intelligent, nor is it honorable.” The rationale behind this apparent policy shift remains unclear, though some Iranian analysts speculate it may be a reaction to the presidential memorandum recently signed by President Donald J. Trump. Khamenei’s statements have also fueled speculation regarding President Masoud Pezeshkian’s purported threats to resign, in protest to Khamenei’s opposition to negotiations. The statements have also reignited a contentious discourse in which both proponents and detractors of diplomatic engagement with the United States selectively interpret Khamenei’s remarks to advance their respective political narratives.…
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1 S1/E63: Collective Leadership in the Face of Internal and External Threats? 17:03
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The Islamic Republic operated under a system of collective leadership throughout the 1980s. At the time, this governance structure remained largely unrecognized by external observers, but those with insight into Iran’s political dynamics understood that supreme authority did not rest solely with Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. Instead, the Islamic Republic’s decision-making and policy implementation were effectively managed by a quadrumvirate comprising key institutional figures: the head of the legislative branch, Parliamentary Speaker Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani; the head of the executive branch, President Ali Khamenei; and the head of the judiciary, Mr. Abdol-Karim Mousavi Ardabili. The fourth figure in this arrangement was Mr. Ahmad Khomeini, son of the Grand Ayatollah, who wielded significant procedural power by controlling access to his father’s seal, thereby formalizing state decrees in his father’s name. This oligarchic configuration not only ensured the continuity of state functions but also reinforced regime legitimacy and facilitated the enforcement of policy decisions. I perceive that the Islamic Republic is once again reverting to a form of collective leadership. While Ayatollah Ali Khamenei may not be physically incapacitated, he appears increasingly insulated from both internal political realities and the broader geopolitical landscape. The heads of the three branches of government, cognizant of Khamenei’s evolving role, seem to be consolidating authority in response to both domestic instability and external strategic pressures. This emergent political arrangement suggests a recalibration of power within the regime, potentially signaling a return to coordinated elite decision-making as a mechanism for regime preservation. Should the Revolutionary Guard cooperate with the heads of three branches of the government, they regime may significantly improve its chances of survival. However, should Ayatollah Khamenei, feel left out by the president, the parliamentary speaker and the judiciary chief, he may use the Revolutionary Guard to counter balance the civilians and thereby undermine the regime.…
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1 S1/E62: Renewed Trump Optimism in Tehran 17:45
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As Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi lays the groundwork for a new round of nuclear negotiations with the United States, and Ali Larijani, senior adviser to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, signals a willingness to offer nuclear-related concessions in exchange for sanctions relief, Iranian political analysts view President Donald J. Trump’s psychology and Republican dominance across the executive and legislative branches as strategic levers to circumvent opposition from U.S. allies critical of Iran and to secure a durable bilateral agreement with Washington.…
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1 S1/E61: Khamenei Greenlights Iran-U.S. Talks, Will Trump? 15:34
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Today's program discusses renewed speculations about direct negotiations between Tehran and Washington, and as before, the two capitals appear out of sync: historically, when Washington was ready to negotiate with Iran, formidable impediments, primarily Iran's Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, prevented Tehran to take part in negotiations. Now that Tehran appears most interested, if not desperate for negotiations, President Donald J. Trump is possibly playing hard to get. Framing his authorization within his characteristic anti-imperialist rhetoric, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has officially sanctioned direct diplomatic engagement between the Islamic Republic and the United States. However, Washington appears unresponsive, as inferred from statements by Iranian officials and domestic media discourse.…
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1 S1/E60: Consequences of a Potential Withdrawal of U.S. Forces From Syria 10:20
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Officially, the United States has maintained a military presence in Syria since September 2014. As of December, approximately 900 U.S. troops reportedly remain in Syria - a number which according to the latest reports may be closer to 2000. This military posture could face a rapid reconfiguration with President-elect Donald J. Trump’s impending return to the White House, given his predisposition toward minimizing direct U.S. involvement in foreign military operations. While such a withdrawal is likely to erode U.S. leverage over the emerging governance structure in Syria, it may not significantly shift the strategic balance of power in Syria and the broader Middle East in a way that would generate a power vacuum conducive to exploitation by U.S. adversaries, including anti-American terrorist organizations or the Islamic Republic of Iran.…
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1 S1/E59: Leadership Succession & Negotiation with the U.S. 25:43
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There is renewed speculation about Mr. Mojtaba Khamenei succeeding his father as the leader of the revolution and Iran's head of state. Separatelly, President Masoud Pezeshkian and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi are engaged in poorly coordinated attempts to reach out to President-Elect Donald J. Trump to prepare the ground for negotiations with the United States. I am not entirely sure the president and the foreign minister are communicating the same signal, let alone the regime in its entirety, including the Revolutionary Guard and Ayatollah Khamenei. The Islamic Republic really needs to coordinate better. Still better, Ayatollah Khamenei himself must communicate with the president-elect.…
The central government in Iran, whether under the Pahlavi regime or the Islamic Republic, has historically provided institutionalized spaces for experts to engage in debates on technical—and occasionally political—issues aligned with state interests. These platforms, often manifesting as think tanks, policy research centers, and other quasi-official institutions, fulfill several critical functions: First, they channel dissent by allowing critics of government policies to articulate their objections within controlled environments, thus preventing such dissent from escalating into mass mobilizations or street protests against the regime. Second, they serve as a mechanism for the state to gauge the prevailing intellectual currents among elite circles, potentially co-opting and incorporating ideas that align with state priorities. Third, these fora can act as a tool for the regime to coopt members of oppositional elites by integrating them into the bureaucratic or executive apparatus. With the advent of the internet, both opposition groups and the regime have utilized digital spaces to establish new platforms for discourse. Alongside entertainment content such as cooking shows, pet videos, and pornography, these digital spaces occasionally host serious and substantive debates. Notably, the Islamic Republic has refrained from censoring these discussions, likely because entertainment content overwhelmingly dominates viewer attention. From a political strategy standpoint, this ensures that the regime can extract value from these debates without risking significant political activation or mobilization among the broader Iranian public. A pertinent example is the January 11 debate between Dr. Ali-Naqi Mashayekhi, Professor Emeritus at Sharif Institute of Technology (often referred to as Iran’s MIT), who holds a Ph.D. in management, and Seyyed Ehsan Khandouzi from Allameh Tabatabaei University. The two scholars engaged in a critical discussion on the structural and institutional factors underlying the stagnation of Iran’s development, with a particular focus on economic development.…
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1 S1/E57: IRGC Commander on Assad's Ineptitude and Putin's Treachery 39:22
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Commander Behrouz Esbati, the Public Affairs Director of the Joint Force Cyber Command, on January 7 centered his speech on his firsthand observations of the systemic collapse of the Assad regime. Approximately one hour of his speech was published by Tabnak News Agency, an outlet affiliated with Dr. Mohsen Rezaei, the longest-serving Chief Commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). Commander Esbati's remarks can be categorized into two distinct sections. The first section presents an Iranian perspective on the progressive disintegration of the Syrian regime, including the erosion of military morale and widespread demoralization among the Syrian populace. This portion of his analysis appears to be both credible and candid. The second section, however, where Commander Esbati projects the future trajectory of the so-called 'Axis of Resistance,' is imbued with ideological rhetoric and serves more as propaganda. I have chosen to place limited emphasis on this part of his discourse.…
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1 S1/E56: Iranians Connect to the Internet by Starlink 12:06
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There has always been a correlation, if not causality, between technological innovation and sociopolitical transformation: Gutenberg’s printing press catalyzed the Protestant Reformation, and from his exile in Iraq, Grand Ayatollah Rouhollah Khomeini famously utilized cassette tape recordings of his sermons to galvanize the Iranian populace against the Pahlavi regime during the 1970s. BBC Persian's radio service too aided the Iranian revolutionaries. The Internet similarly embodies revolutionary potential, a reality that underscores the Islamic Republic’s systematic strategies to regulate and suppress it since Iran's initial connection in 1993. Following Israel, Iran became the second nation in the Middle East to gain access to the World Wide Web in 1993. However, during this nascent stage, Internet usage in Iran was confined to academic research within universities, rendering it inaccessible to the broader public sphere. Concurrently, an increasing number of Iranians began to adopt satellite television as an alternative information ecosystem. In 1994, the Iranian parliament enacted legislation criminalizing the ownership and use of satellite receivers—colloquially referred to as "dishes"—which facilitated access to transnational satellite broadcasts. This legislative intervention was intended to preserve the monopoly of the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) as the hegemonic apparatus for information dissemination and cultural programming within Iranian society. Nevertheless, despite state-enforced compliance mechanisms such as law enforcement raids to confiscate satellite equipment and the deployment of advanced signal-jamming technologies, a substantial segment of the population—including members of the political elite—circumvented these restrictions. Satellite television emerged as a parallel media domain, offering alternative narratives that undermined the state-controlled information architecture, thereby challenging the government's capacity to sustain informational hegemony. Back to the internet, initially, Internet access in Iran was restricted to universities and research institutions. However, according to World Bank data, fixed broadband subscriptions in the country surged from 176 in year 2000 to nearly 11 million in 2021. Similarly, mobile cellular subscriptions grew from 9,200 in 1994 to almost 136 million in 2021. An increasing proportion of these mobile devices are Internet-enabled, granting users access to social media platforms. This exponential growth signifies a notable milestone for a developing nation but simultaneously presents profound challenges to an authoritarian regime intent on constraining personal and political freedoms. To preserve its dominance over the digital information ecosystem, the regime has systematically imposed restrictions on widely used platforms, including YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Telegram. Nonetheless, Iranian citizens have adeptly utilized Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) to circumvent state-imposed censorship and access restricted content. From the regime’s perspective, this challenge has been further exacerbated by advancements in satellite Internet technology. Increasingly, Iranian users are bypassing government-controlled telecommunications infrastructure by connecting to global satellite networks, such as Starlink, provided by the international aerospace and telecommunications corporation SpaceX. This trend is extensively documented in the Tehran E-Commerce Association’s fourth report on the "State of the Internet in Iran.…
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1 S1/E55: Larijani Defends Iran's Track Record in Syria 23:44
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· On January 1, Dr. Ali Larijani , former Supreme National Security Council secretary, and adviser to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, defended Iran's track record in Syria. It is not known if Dr. Larijani's spin is only meant for the Iranian public, or he delivers the same message to Khamenei.…
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1 S1/E54: Foreign Ministry vs. Quds Force Part II 20:53
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As the Islamic Republic commemorated the fifth anniversary of assassination of Quds Force Chief Major General Qassem Suleimani, many public figures, who had personal interactions with him delivered lengthy interviews discussing this near-mythical individual. On January 2nd, I discussed former Foreign Minister Mohammad-Javad Zarif's interview with Khorasan newspaper, and today, I'll discuss current Foreign Minister Seyyed Abbas Araghchi's interview. He delivered the interview on January 1, and my translation is based on the partial transcription released by Iran's al-Alam network. As you will see, there are significant differences between Dr. Zarif's account and Dr. Araghchi's, but this is understandable: the former no longer serves as foreign minister, and the latter is and must deal with the Quds Force bureaucracy in his everyday work. Nevertheless, as you will hear, you can always detect signs of inter-agency rivalry between the Foreign Ministry and the Quds Force, even in the guarded comments delivered by Dr. Araghchi.…
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1 S1/E53: Foreign Ministry vs. Quds Force Part I 28:41
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Former Foreign Minister Dr. Mohammad-Javad Zarif's interview with January 1, 2025 edition of Khorasan newspaper not only provides some insights into his relationship with the late Quds Force Chief Major General Qassem, but also into inter-agency rivalry between the Foreign Ministry and the Quds Force. An audio recording, allegedly leaked to the media in 2021, provides greater insights into how the Quds Force undermined the Foreign Ministry's diplomatic efforts.…
In the history of most countries, some eras appear more glorious than others. And at times, the past appears more glorious than what we expect of the future. This was my sense monitoring Iran's state-censored media today. Addressing the families of martyrs, including the family of Quds Force Chief Major General Qassem Soleimani, widows of Hezbollah fighters in Lebanon, and other affiliated groups, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei delivered a speech commemorating the fifth anniversary of Soleimani's assassination. In his address, Ayatollah Khamenei reflected on the apex of Soleimani's influence, particularly from 2003 to 2020—a period, which coincides with the height of Iranian geopolitical leverage in the Middle East. Regarding future prospects, however, Ayatollah Khamenei’s rhetoric conveyed aspirations and hope but lacked a clearly articulated strategic framework. Clearly, glory was in the past and the future looks more uncertain.…
On December 30, Tehran witnessed two competing demonstrations emblematic of Iran's polarized political climate: one orchestrated by the regime and the other a spontaneous expression of public dissent triggered by the latest depreciation of the Iranian Rial against the U.S. Dollar. The state-organized rally aimed to commemorate the fifteenth anniversary of what the regime frames as "the sedition of 2009," a characterization starkly contrasting with global narratives that recognize this period as the Green Movement uprisings in Iran. As some may recall, Mr. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's re-election in 2009 under contentious circumstances ignited political contention. His rivals, Mr. Mir-Hossein Mousavi and Mr. Mehdi Karrubi, contested the election results, sparking mass mobilizations. On December 27, 2009, millions of demonstrators took to the streets, marking a pivotal moment as chants against Ayatollah Ali Khamenei emerged for the first time. In reaction, the regime organized pro-government demonstrations on December 30, 2009, events that the Islamic Republic’s propaganda apparatus celebrated yesterday in an act of political mythmaking. In contrast, the second rally, as noted earlier, arose organically as thousands of merchants in Tehran’s Grand Bazaar protested the Rial's devaluation against the Dollar. This economic grievance underscores the regime’s persistent struggle with public dissatisfaction fueled by economic mismanagement. In today’s program, I will analyze the Iranian media’s selective coverage—or deliberate omission—of these dueling demonstrations, alongside a critical examination of the function and symbolism of pro-regime rallies within the broader context of Iranian political strategy and governance.…
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1 S1/E50: Tahrir al-Sham's Iranian Fighters - Radicals or Infiltrators? 19:39
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While presence of Iranian nationals among the Tahrir al-Sham Movement risks radicalizing the Sunnis in Iran, and therefore constitutes a security threat to the Islamic Republic, some of those radicals may be Intelligence Ministry infiltrators. However, infiltrators too can at times go rogue and pursue their self-interests.…
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1 S1/E49: Why Did the Regime Shelve the "Hijab and Chastity Bill"? 18:02
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On December 15, Iran's Supreme National Security Council issued a statement announcing suspension of the so-called "Hijab and Chastity Law," formally known as the "The Bill Supporting Families By Propagating the Culture of Chastity and Hijab". The bill, which was passed on June 13, 2024, was the regime's reaction to anti-hijab protests in the wake of the September 16, 2022 killing of 22-year-old Ms. Mahsa Amini in the custody of the so-called "Morality Police". It was also a reaction to the fact that increasingly, many women ignore the requirements for covering their head with a scarf in public spaces. Why is the regime capitulating on the hijab issue? In short, because President Masoud Pezeshkian, his Cabinet, and even the Revolutionary Guard and the Law Enforcement Forces, no longer believe enforcement of the bill can intimidate Iran's urban middle class into submission. On the contrary, enforcement of the Hijab bill can potentially provoke another round of anti-regime protests. The 1980's are over!…
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1 S1/E48: Regime Conflicted On How to Deal With Syria 17:31
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While President Masoud Pezeshkian, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and the technocratic elites of the Islamic Republic appear to have accepted Iran’s total defeat in Syria, and are reaching out to the new rulers of that country to establish formal relations, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, the Revolutionary Guard and IRGC affiliated media outlets are still in denial and talk of “Syrian youth” rebelling against the new regime.…
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1 S1/E47: Does Ayatollah Khamenei Believe His Own Propaganda? 21:05
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Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's December 22 address on the occasion of the birth anniversary of Fatemeh Zahra had little to do with plight of women, and a good deal to do with regional developments, in particular Syria. He appeared irritated by Israel's "boasting" and "grand standing," assured the Iranian public that Israel was defeated rather than victorious, and expressed hope Israel would be "evicted" from the Middle East region. On the same day, Ali-Akbar Ahmadian, Supreme National Security Council secretary, delivered an interview expressing similar views. Doest the regime, and in particular, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, believe his own propaganda? If his advisers, the likes of Mr. Ahmadian, constantly confirm his worldview, is Ayatollah Khamenei capable of distinguishing between propaganda and reality?…
In the Islamic Republic, there is no government. Everyone is a member of the opposition when there is public criticism of the regime's performance. Rear Admiral Ali Shamkheni, Supreme National Security Council secretary from 2013 to 2023 is one of the few exceptions to this rule, and today's program is dedicated to his answers to critical questions from a group of students visiting Nour News Agency's headquarters at the Supreme National Security Council.…
In the Islamic Republic, there is no government. Everyone is a member of the opposition when there is public criticism of the regime's performance. Rear Admiral Ali Shamkheni, Supreme National Security Council secretary from 2013 to 2023 is one of the few exceptions to this rule, and today's program is dedicated to his answers to critical questions from a group of students visiting Nour News Agency's headquarters at the Supreme National Security Council.…
In the Islamic Republic, there is no government. Everyone is a member of the opposition when there is public criticism of the regime's performance. Rear Admiral Ali Shamkheni, Supreme National Security Council secretary from 2013 to 2023 is one of the few exceptions to this rule, and today's program is dedicated to his answers to critical questions from a group of students visiting Nour News Agency's headquarters at the Supreme National Security Council.…
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1 S1/E43: Khamenei and the IRGC Slam Critique 20:41
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Collapse of Bashar al-Assad’s regime and manifest defeat of the Revolutionary Guard’s strategy in Syria have exposed the organization to public critique in Iran. While still short of demanding accountability, reformist politicians are openly calling for civilian control over the military, and civilian supremacy in national security decision-making. There is, however, no indication that the Revolutionary Guard leadership is willing to voluntarily subject itself to civilian control or give up its decisive influence over national security decision-making. On the contrary, as evident on the front page of Revolutionary Guard mouthpiece Javan newspaper, the Guard is likely to use the Judiciary to prosecute and terrorize critics.…
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1 S1/E42: Khamenei on Syria: Defiance in Defeat 21:44
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Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei showed defiance in defeat in his first public statement in the wake of the collapse of the Assad regime in Syria. Indirectly, he accused the new rulers of Syria of being agents of the United States and Israel. Furthermore, he claimed Iran was willing, but incapable of airlifting troops to Syria due to U.S. and Israel closing the skies over Syria to Iranian airplanes. He further added that former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad had not requested military assistance from Iran. Khamenei used many a minute talking of invulnerability of the Axis of Resistance, his term for what remains of Iran’s proxies, despite collapse of the Assad regime, but his final warnings against those, who try to “demoralize” the Iranian public prove what is evident for all to see: the Assad regime’s collapse was Iran’s defeat, and defeat of Iran’s proxy strategy.…
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1 S1/E41: In the Wake of Fiasco, Catastrophic Outlook 24:39
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On Asr-e Iran's satirical commentary on the 95% of Syrian voters, who voted for Bashar al-Assad in the May 2021 presidential election in Syria, but failed to support him in the face of armed opponents; and Fars News Agency's involuntarily commical comment on Ayatollah Ali Khamenei urging Assad to "democratise Syria". The program also features an English translation of an undated interview by Ahmed hussein al-Shara, Tahrir al-Sham group leader, who in an undated interview threatened to "bring the war to Iran" by inciting Iran's ethnic and religious minorities against the central government in Tehran. Finally, the program features a translation of Foreign Minister Dr. Abbas Araghchi's interviw with Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting, in which he assured the viewers that changes in Syria will not significantly weaken the Axis of Resistance.…
Fiasco!
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1 S1/E39: Iran: Economic Failure, Introspection and Denial 17:10
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Iran’s national security strategy is evident. Lebanese Hezbollah, Tehran’s most prominent proxy, is in disarray, while the Assad regime in Syria, once a linchpin for the strategic overland corridor linking Iran to Lebanon via Iraq, is on the verge of either disintegration or defection from Iran’s camp. Today, rather than delving into real-time updates from Syria or elsewhere which other media do much better than yours truly, I will point at a few really simple economic factors driving the unraveling of Iran’s geopolitical strategy.…
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1 S1/E38: Domino Dancing From Beirut to Aleppo 20:56
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If you’ve been keeping an eye on global developments, as I assume many of you have, you’re likely aware of the seismic shift in Syria: Aleppo has fallen under the control of Tahrir al-Sham, a faction designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization by the United States in May 2018. While the rapidity of this development may have taken some by surprise, the evolving power dynamics in Syria were long evident. Lebanese Hezbollah, a strategic ally of Syria and a linchpin in Iran’s so-called Axis of Resistance, is in disarray. Having incurred devastating losses in Lebanon, it has redeployed many of its forces from Syria to Lebanon to confront perceived threats from Israel. Iran, Hezbollah's primary patron, is increasingly constrained in financing its regional alliances, while Russia, whose aerial campaigns were instrumental in preserving the Assad regime, has deprioritized Syria amid its protracted conflict in Ukraine. Additionally, the Assad regime, potentially under Israeli pressure and enticed by wealthy Arab states, has sought to distance itself from Tehran, potentially even curtailing arms transfers to Hezbollah. With the United States maintaining only a minimal military footprint in Syria and a likely complete withdrawal once President-elect Donald J. Trump takes office, the geopolitical calculus has shifted. Tahrir al-Sham, reportedly backed by Turkey, has seized the opportunity to expand its territorial gains in this fragmented and volatile environment. Today, we’ll delve into Iranian media reactions to these developments and assess the broader implications of losing northern Syria for Tehran's defense doctrine – which I can assure you, is in ruins.…
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1 S1/E37: Preposterous Commentary On Ceasefire in Lebanon, Sensible Commentary on Iran-U.S. Relations 8:29
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In today’s program, I’ll spend a few minutes critiquing the Revolutionary Guard-affiliated media's preposterous commentary on the ceasefire in Lebanon. However, I won’t dwell on these absurdities for too long. Instead, I’ll transition to discussing an interview in Etemad newspaper with Mr. Mohsen Mir-Damadi, a reformist political activist, who provides an astute and pragmatic assessment of the state of Iran-U.S. relations.…
Today’s program focuses on a story from Jamaran News Agency, which may not be a familiar name to most of you, but it represents a noteworthy institution expressing the perspectives of the household of the late Grand Ayatollah Rouhollah Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic Republic. For context, "Jamaran" refers to a village situated on the mountain slopes of northern Tehran, where Grand Ayatollah Khomeini’s compound was located during the Iran-Iraq War. At that time, Grand Ayatollah Khomeini was often referred to as “Pir-e Jamaran,” or the Old Man of Jamaran. While I am not entirely convinced that members of the Khomeini household harbor explicit political ambitions—having lost the post-Khomeini power struggle to Messrs. Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and Ali Khamenei—it seems Mr. Hassan Khomeini, the most prominent figure of the Khomeini clan, is intent on remaining relevant. This is evident in Jamaran News publishing quality interviews with figures who held key public offices in the 1980s. Yesterday, Jamaran News released an interview with Hojjat al-Eslam Seyyed Mahmoud Alavi, a politician who began his career in the 1980s and rose to prominence under President Hassan Rouhani. Mr. Alavi served as Minister of Intelligence from 2013 to 2021. Now, I can imagine what some of you might be thinking at the mention of a Minister of Intelligence in the Islamic Republic of Iran—perhaps picturing a figure combining Dostoevsky’s Grand Inquisitor with the KGB. Yet, believe it or not, Mr. Alavi is known as an intellectual, and Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence, for the most part, operates as a professional institution. Currently, Mr. Alavi serves as an adviser to President Masoud Pezeshkian on matters concerning ethnic minorities, religion, and religious sects. Yesterday, he attended a book launch for a publication titled Oral History Biographies of Nuclear Martyrs, dedicated to Iran’s nuclear scientists who were assassinated, allegedly by Israeli intelligence.…
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1 S1/E35: Ali Larijani Greenlights Washington 14:43
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Today, my focus is on two articles featured in yesterday's edition of Sazandegi newspaper, a publication representing the technocratic elites of Iran. The editor and most of the columnists associated with this newspaper have held governmental responsibilities, which grants them a distinctly pragmatic approach to politics compared to the average Iranian journalist, who is typically oppositional—oppositional to the Cabinet, or oppositional to the opposition! In contrast, Sazandegi adopts a perspective focused on practical political solutions. Yesterday’s edition of the newspaper featured two particularly intriguing articles—an uncommon occurrence in any daily publication. It’s not every day you find two exceptional articles even in The New York Times , let alone elsewhere. The first article delves into the political resurgence of Mr. Ali Larijani, the former parliamentary speaker and erstwhile Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council. Mr. Larijani has re-emerged in Iranian politics and appears highly active in signaling toward the United States. The second article discusses the policy options of the incoming administration of U.S. President-Elect Donald J. Trump vis-à-vis Iran.…
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