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Almost impenetrable from the outside, where it feels, is the nature of internal Iranian politics and the politics of the Iranian state.

We had to basically every single day before going to our classrooms chant death to America,

death to Israel. What difference do you think that will make?

It has made all of the problems that we were dealing with with regards to Iran, whether

it's domestic repression or regional aggression or nuclear ambitions

or relations with Russia and China, exponentially harder to solve.

The US-Iran-Israel war is now 45 or so days old.

There has been so much analysis, counter-analysis, fire and brimstone about its causes, its effects, its aims.

The fog of war has seldom felt thicker.

Though Iran has long been a security menace, this war at this moment was a war of choice,

launched by Trump and Netanyahu.

Much has been written and explored on this show and many others

about the mistakes from its first days, the lack of a clear plan, the overestimation of American

military might and underestimation of Iranian political resolve. A belief that regime change

would be easy from the air. But there is a longer story here too.

About two nations, well, three really.

Iran, the US and Israel, which never understand each other,

which have competing and contradicting versions of their own histories and how they interplay.

Donald Trump is just one manifestation of that lack of understanding, but the most important

one as the most powerful man in the room and on the planet. So on this episode, we're going to

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