Steven Bartlett

And the Iranians had a plan already for what would happen if their leadership was killed.

They just – they had a sort of decentralized system.

You know, that will kick into place.

You know, they have allies all over the Middle East.

They have these proxy groups in different parts of the Middle East and famously the control over the Strait of Hormuz possibly.

And he was told that.

But it seems he wasn't told it in a very definitive way.

Like some people said, well, maybe this might be the case.

But nobody said to him, Mr. President, this is a bad idea.

Because he's known if you said, Mr. President, this is a bad idea, he might have said, well, get out of my sight.

Because he's not somebody who listens to other people's views or takes them into consideration.

I think what bothers me the most about Iran, I have friends and I've been involved with organizations that do Iranian human rights.

The thing that bothered me the most was his

utter failure even to talk to or about Iranians.

I mean, it is an unpopular regime.

It's one of the worst regimes, ugliest on the planet.

And yet there seems to have been no communication with the, you know, democratic opposition in Iran, no communication even with Pahlavi, the son of the Shah, the monarchists in Iran.

I mean, there are alternative governments.

There are alternative people who you could speak to, and he never did that.

Because his real interest isn't democracy, you know, or making Iran into a better place.