David Remnick

What do you make of American intentions here, and what is the wisdom of them?

The United States, I think it was Phil Gordon, a national security figure for Democrats, for Obama, as well as for Kamala Harris.

I think Phil Gordon once said, we invaded Iraq fully and it was a disaster.

We invaded Libya partly and it was a disaster.

And we kept out of Syria and it was a monumental disaster.

And now with Iran...

The humanitarian question of the killing of thousands of demonstrators is without question.

The question is what to do about it.

We're told all the time that Iran, unlike other countries in the region, is quite pro-American.

What does that mean and what does that imply for what's going on now?

Well, I remember on the brink of the Iraq war, I forget who said it in the Bush circle, maybe it was Kenneth Edelman, that we would be

greeted, American soldiers would be greeted by flowers and candy.

And to be sure, in the first couple of days, there were scenes of ecstasy when statues of Saddam Hussein were toppled in Baghdad.

What is predictable in Iran?

Let's say the combined military and intelligence forces that are arrayed around Iran succeed in that way, in that immediate way.

if that's what the operation is.

What's in place to fill that vacuum?

It seems to me one of the dynamics in Iran that maybe people aren't thinking about enough is

is that the real establishment in Iran is the Revolutionary Guard Corps, which is not only a military and intelligence establishment, but it comprises much of the economic elite, factories, ports, all kinds of enterprises.

And there's an upper crust of the Revolutionary Guard Corps that's quite rich and entrenched in