Behind the News: What’s Going On in Iran? w/ Sohrab Ahmari

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4.7 • 1.5K Ratings

🗓️ 30 June 2025

⏱️ 53 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Sohrab Ahmari, US editor of UnHerd, provides perspectives on the current state of the conflict between Iran, Israel, and the US.

Leigh Claire La Berge, author of Fake Work recounts her journey into the ludicrous side of financialized capitalism.

Behind the News, hosted by Doug Henwood, covers the worlds of economics and politics and their complex interactions, from the local to the global. Find the archive online: https://www.leftbusinessobserver.com/radio.html

Transcript

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0:00.0	The
0:07.0	The Hello and welcome to Behind the News. My name is Doug Henwood.
0:36.5	We're not driven by disruption here at Behind the News, at least in the formal sense, two guests today in two segments. We'll hear from Sarab Omari on Iran, Israel, and the U.S. and then from Lee Claire LaBerge about her brief career as a businessman and what it taught her about capitalism. It's been hard to keep straight what's been going on with Iran over the last several weeks.
0:56.0	First, the Trump administration distanced itself from Israel's attack in the country,
1:00.0	and then seeing its military successes, Trump turned cheerleader, then participant,
1:05.0	and then having dropped a bunch of giant bombs, he seemed to lose interest in the fighting,
1:10.0	and attacked both Iran and especially Israel
1:12.1	in terms we can't quote in the air lest the FCC finest. Iran retaliated, but barely. What's it all
1:18.5	mean? And what's been going on inside Iran? To explore these questions, we're joined by Sarab
1:23.7	Mari. Sorab is a bit out of our normal ideological orbit, but the occasional voyage
1:28.6	into the unfamiliar is a good way to expand one's understanding of the world. He's also from Iran,
1:33.7	though he came here at a fairly young age. This gives him a lot of contacts in the country.
1:38.6	Sorab is the U.S. editor of Unheard and author most recently of Tyranny Inc. and exploration of capitalist
1:43.6	attacks on freedom and
1:44.7	dignity. Sarab Amari. Trump's approach to the Middle East is looking as volatile as his tariff policy.
1:51.3	Unpredictability might be a nice thing in Shobiz, but it seems less than ideal in economic policy
1:55.9	or diplomacy. He's been all over the place in Iran over the last few weeks. One day, he's
2:00.0	distancing himself from Israel. The next day he's celebrating him. Next day, he's cursing him out. He's been all over the place in Iran over the last few weeks. One day, he's distancing himself from Israel.
2:01.4	The next day he's celebrating him.
2:02.7	Next day, he's cursing him out.
2:04.5	He's long been against regime change, but then he embraced it for about 12 hours.
2:08.5	What do you make of all this?
	...

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