Iran Unchained: How the Islamic Republic Holds Power and Why Protests Keep Returning | Sana Ebrahimi & Ameen Soleimani

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Tech News, Technology, News

4.7 • 1.2K Ratings

🗓️ 27 January 2026

⏱️ 95 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Iran is a real-world stress test of freedom: the Islamic Republic is built to outlast dissent. In this special Iran Unchained episode, David talks with Sana Ebrahimi and Amin Soleimani about the regime’s control stack, including unelected theocracy, street-level coercion, corruption as governance, and propaganda that reaches far beyond Iran’s borders. They unpack gender apartheid, internet blackouts during uprisings, why protests keep returning, and what the West gets wrong about “intervention” and regional stability. --- 📣SPOTIFY PREMIUM RSS FEED | USE CODE: SPOTIFY24 https://bankless.cc/spotify-premium --- 🔮POLYMARKET | #1 PREDICTION MARKET https://bankless.cc/polymarket-podcast 🏅BITGET TRADFI | TRADE GOLD WITH USDT https://bankless.cc/bitget-futures 👑BANKLESS PREMIUM | AD-FREE & BONUS EPISODES https://bankless.cc/spotify-premium 🎯THE DEFI REPORT | ONCHAIN INSIGHTS https://bankless.cc/TDR-pro 💰ICO WATCH | UPCOMING PUBLIC TOKEN SALES https://bankless.cc/ico-watch --- TIMESTAMPS 0:00 Intro 1:21 “How does it feel to be Iranian right now?” 3:39 Sana’s background: Tehran → U.S., and a life shaped by protests 4:38 What is the Iranian regime and what does it want? 9:51 What an Ayatollah is and how that status concentrates power 16:46 Promises vs reality: revolutionary slogans, economic collapse, and control loops 24:15 1979’s alliance, the Marxists, and the purge that followed 34:53 Repression as a system: arrests, torture, and fear as governance 39:15 “Let this land burn”: why the regime doesn’t step down 41:23 Gender apartheid, Mahsa Amini and the spark that keeps reigniting protests 51:58 Protest math: why people still return to the streets 55:18 The internet blackout playbook 1:02:52 “Regime apologists” abroad: media, think tanks, and narrative capture 1:07:17 Why the West gets confused: Palestine politics and cognitive dissonance 1:17:56 Western intervention: “Not Iraq, not Afghanistan” 1:28:57 The diaspora, brain drain, and what a free Iran could unlock 1:31:40 What they’re hoping for next and how to help --- RESOURCES Ameen Soleimani https://x.com/ameensol Sana Ebrahimi https://x.com/__Injaneb96 Iran Unchained fundraiser https://www.iranunchained.com/ --- Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures

Transcript

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0:00.0	I think what people don't really understand is that we are not dealing with a normal government.
0:07.1	We're dealing with a terrorist mob and they are armed to their teeth.
0:11.7	And they are not hesitant to use all of those arms and all of those powers on their own civilians.
0:20.7	You cannot just stand here and watch and say, let them handle it themselves.
0:27.5	Well, they will be killed.
0:28.6	What we hear from people underground is something above like 30,000 people killed.
0:33.1	They kill thousands, and if they have to, they will kill millions.
0:40.2	Bankless station, I'm here with Amin Soleimani and Sana Ibrahimimi.
0:44.2	Amin, Sana, welcome to the show.
0:46.5	Hi.
0:47.4	Thanks for having you.
0:48.0	We are going off of our beaten path today to talk about a subject matter I think is
0:53.3	critically important for the world.
0:55.0	This is usually a crypto podcast. But crypto is about freedom, freedom from oppression and
1:00.7	freedom to exit from systems that we don't agree with or align with. And so maybe there is
1:06.8	some overlap between what we typically talk about on the show and what we're going to talk about here on today's episode.
1:13.3	Amin, Sana, you guys are both Iranians.
1:16.6	How does it feel to be an Iranian right now?
1:20.7	Right now, being an Iranian in the diaspora
1:23.6	feels stressful, feels very tense, alone.
1:30.7	Sometimes I feel very guilty to just not be there,
1:35.8	especially when you see all the names and all the photos of the people who have been murdered.
	...

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