We've had a number of substantive discussions with the Iranians. That's the good news.

The bad news is that we have not reached an agreement. And I think that's bad news for Iran much more than it's bad news for the United States of America.

It's Thursday, April 16, 2026, and welcome back to Goodfellows, a Hoover Institution broadcast examining history, economics, and geopolitics.

I'm Bill Whalen. I'm a distinguished policy fellow here at the Hoover Institution, and I will be your moderator today. But before we get to the show, I'd like to say on behalf of my colleagues that we look forward to seeing you here at the Hoover Institution on Wednesday, April 22nd for our live show. and the reception after we're done filming where you'll get to meet the Goodfellows.

The only bad news I had to report is that the show is now sold up, but we take that as a positive because we are thrilled at the response. And again, we're looking forward to seeing you here at Hoover on the campus of Stanford University on the 22nd. Now, on with the show in our first order of business, which is meeting the aforementioned Goodfellows in case you're watching this show for the 22nd. Now on with the show in our first order business, which is meeting the aforementioned

good fellows in case you're watching this show for the first time. Our three good fellows, as we

jokingly referred to them, are the historian Sir Neil Ferguson, the economist John Cochran,

and former presidential national security advisory lieutenant general H.R. McMaster.

Guys, good to see you on this Thursday.

We're going to go back to some familiar turf and talk about Iran, but from a different

perspective today.

We want to talk to a Hoover colleague who actually knows the country very well.

That is Abbas Maladi.

Abbas Malani is a Hoover Institution Research Fellow and co-director of Iran's Democracy

Project.

He's also the Hamid and Christina

Mogadam, Director of Iranian Studies at Stanford University. Abbas Malani's expertise is

U.S. Iranian relations and Iranian cultural, political, and security issues. And we're going to tap

into that knowledge to figure what this conflict looks like from the Iranian perspective.

Abbas, welcome to Goodfellow's.

It's a pleasure to join us, and the good fellows. Let me start the conversation, then I'll turn

it over to the fellows with two questions folded into one, Abbas. I look at the government in Iran

...