Jackie Northam

I spoke with Javad Salehi Isfahani, and he's an economics professor at Virginia Tech specializing in the Iranian economy.

And he said another thing is that the 12-day war with Israel this past summer was expensive, and there's a widespread belief now that Israel will start another war, which is smothering investment.

And Michelle, the threat of another war grew larger when President Trump said on Monday that the U.S.

would back an Israeli attack if Iran appeared to be building up its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs.

The protests haven't reached that point yet, Michelle.

You know, there was a serious challenge to the regime in 2022 during an uprising after an Iranian woman died in police custody after being arrested for not wearing a headscarf.

And, you know, those protests lasted for over a month and more than 500 people were killed.

20,000 people were arrested.

You know, we are a long way from that.

But there's been anger and frustration for months in Iran over severe water and energy shortages, civil rights abuses and widespread corruption.

You add all this on to the protests about the economy.

And, you know, there are serious concerns that this could spiral into something much larger.

Well, they said they would come down hard.

They said that they would retaliate in kind to anything that the U.S.

can throw at Iran.

You know, at the end of the day, the hope is that there can be some negotiations, but neither side are in the position to start those.

53-year-old Najez Mohammadi is widely known for her fight for women's rights and democracy in Iran.

She was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2023 while she was incarcerated at Iran's notorious Evin prison.

A year ago, the Iranian authorities granted Mohammadi temporary leave from her 13-year sentence for health reasons.

She suffered multiple heart attacks in the past.