Iran Explained
Episodes
The Latest on the Iran War with Hamidreza Azizi
07 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Send us Fan MailOn this episode, Saman Askari speaks with Dr. Hamidreza Azizi, a Visiting Fellow at SWP Berlin and one of the most closely followed an...
Thoughts on Foreign Intervention in Iran
12 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Send a textIn this episode, Saman Askari reads his latest Substack essay on how Iran’s crisis is being misframed through debates about foreign inter...
Thoughts on the Iranian Opposition
07 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textOn this episode, Saman Askari reads a piece he wrote on his Substack called Iran’s Radicalized Opposition and the Cycle of Ruin. The e...
Thoughts on the Current Iranian Uprising
15 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textThis is a brief emergency episode where Saman Askari shares his thoughts on the current situation in Iran. He does an examination of the...
1979: The Revolution
28 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textIn 1979, Iran underwent one of the 20th century’s most consequential revolutions. What began as a wave of protests against a monarchy ...
Cyrus the Great: The Man Behind the Legend
29 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textAfter a long hiatus, Talk Iran is back. In this new episode, Saman Askari takes us on a deep dive into the life and legacy of Cyrus the ...
A Conversation with John Ghazvinian
30 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textIn this episode, I speak with John Ghazvinian, an author, historian and a former journalist. He's considered a foremost expert on U...
Another Conversation with Amir Afkhami - COVID-19 Edition
18 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textIn this episode, I speak again with a previous guest, Dr. Amir Afkhami, a health policy expert, historian and trained physician. This ep...
A Conversation with Afshon Ostovar
26 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textIn this episode, I speak with Afshon Ostovar, a historian, author and a foremost expert on the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC)....
A Conversation with Naz Deravian
23 Nov 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textIn this episode, I speak with Naz Deravian, a cookbook author and Persian food expert. Naz and I discuss her background, her transition ...
A Coversation with Amir Afkhami
18 Aug 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textIn this episode, I speak with Amir Akhami, a psychiatrist and a historian of medicine, about the history of cholera in Iran. We talk abo...
A Conversation with Narges Bajoghli
04 Jul 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textIn this episode, I speak with Narges Bajoghli, an award-winning anthropologist, filmmaker, writer and an Assistant Professor of Middle E...
A Conversation with Reza Zia-Ebrahimi
21 Apr 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textIn this episode, I speak with Reza Zia-Ebrahimi, a historian and a Senior Lecturer at King's College London. We talk about what he ...
End of Season 1 Update
09 Mar 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textI'm ending Season 1 of talk iran with this short update episode. Stay tuned for Season 2 starting in April!Support the show
A Conversation with Lior Sternfeld
07 Jan 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textIn this episode, I speak with Lior Sternfeld, a social historian of the modern Middle East with a particular interest in the histories o...
A Conversation with Bahman Kalbasi
07 Dec 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textIn this episode, I speak with Bahman Kalbasi, the New York and United Nations Correspondent for BBC Persian. He and I talk about the rec...
A Conversation with Anna Eskamani
27 Nov 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textIn this episode, I speak with Florida State Representative Anna V. Eskamani, the first ever Iranian-American to be elected to the Florid...
A Conversation with Yara Elmjouie
24 Nov 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textIn this episode, I speak with Yara Elmjouie, an Iranian-American video producer and presenter at AJ+. He and I talk about his time in Ir...
A Conversation with Armin Navabi
13 Nov 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textIn this episode, I speak with Armin Navabi, an Iranian-Canadian ex-Muslim atheist, secular activist, author and podcaster. Armin and I t...
A Conversation with Eskandar Sadeghi-Boroujerdi
28 Oct 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textIn this episode, I speak with Dr. Eskandar Sadeghi, a political and intellectual historian of modern Iran and the Middle East. My conver...
A Conversation with Maral Karimi
19 Oct 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textIn this episode, I speak with Maral Karimi, the author of the book 'The Iranian Green Movement of 2009' and a PhD student at t...
A Conversation with Neda Maghbouleh
04 Oct 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textIn this episode, I speak with Neda Maghbouleh, the author of the 2017 book 'The Limits of Whiteness: Iranian Americans and the Ever...
A Conversation with Ervand Abrahamian
26 Sep 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textIn this episode, I speak with Ervand Abrahamian, a world-renowned author and historian of Iran. We start our conversation talking about ...
A Conversation with Trita Parsi
12 Sep 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textIn this episode, I speak with Trita Parsi, an award-winning author and the founder and former president of the National Iranian American...
A Conversation with Anousheh Ansari
05 Sep 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textIn this episode, I speak with Anousheh Ansari, the first ever person of Iranian descent to travel to space and the first female self-fun...
A Conversation with Hooman Majd
29 Aug 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textIn this episode, I speak with Hooman Majd, an Iranian-American journalist and author. Hooman and I talk about the current level of suppo...
A Conversation with Vahid Yücesoy
23 Aug 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textIn this episode, I speak with Vahid Yücesoy, a PhD candidate in political science at the University of Montreal. Vahid and I talk about...
A Conversation with Eli Lake
12 Aug 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textIn this episode, I speak with Eli Lake, a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering national security and foreign policy. Eli and I talk abou...
A Conversation with Holly Dagres
04 Aug 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textIn this episode, I speak with Holly Dagres, an Iranian-American Middle East analyst. Holly and I talk about her background, her time in ...
A Conversation with D. Parvaz
01 Aug 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textIn this episode, I speak with D. Parvaz, an Iranian-American journalist, who was wrongly imprisoned in Syria and Iran in 2011. We talk a...
A Conversation with Barbara Slavin
31 Jul 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textIn this episode, I speak with Barbara Slavin, a journalist and foreign policy expert who focuses on Iran. We talk about how she became i...
A Conversation with Borzou Daragahi
30 Jul 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textIn this episode, I speak with Borzou Daragahi, an award-winning journalist covering the Middle East and North Africa. We talk about the ...