UNAPOLOGETIC with Ashfaaq Carim

Episode 72 - How Oil, the Shah, the Islamic Republic, and U.S. Hostility shaped Iran | Roy Casgranda | UNAPOLOGETIC

In this episode of UNAPOLOGETIC, Dr. Roy Casagranda unpacks 125 years of Iranian history - from the 1901 oil concession and the fall of the Qajar dynasty, to the rise of the Pahlavis, the 1953 CIA-backed coup, the 1979 Islamic Revolution, the Iran–Iraq War, and the emergence of the IRGC, the reform movement in Iran and the JCPOA. He then connects this history to the present moment - where a US-Israel war on Iran threatens to escalate into a much wider far-reaching war.

Episode 71 - Israel’s drawing us into an all-out war, and nobody is stopping them | Neil Quilliam | UNAPOLOGETIC

Neil Quilliam, who is a political analyst at Chatham House, joined the UNAPOLOGETIC podcast to discuss how Israel is plunging the USA, the GCC and Iran into an all-out war. By continuing to kill credible leaders and hit key economic infrastructure in Iran, it is diminishing the opportunity for this war to end via a settled compromise, and antagonising Iran to lash out with retaliatory strikes against its neighbours who also host US bases in the region. Who or what will rein Israel in?

Episode 70 - Iran is playing chess, Trump doesn't know where the board is | David Hearst | UNAPOLOGETIC

David Hearst, editor in chief of Middle East Eye, appeared on the UNAPOLOGETIC podcast to discuss how Donald Trump may be losing control of the war he started against Iran. When will the war end? Will Benjamin Netanyahu and Trump achieve their goals? What will happen to the Iranian government? What is the future of relations between the GCC and Iran? Could the conflict escalate into a regional war - and could Israel resort to using a nuclear weapon if it finds itself losing?

Episode 69 - Iran will ‘fight to the death’ and the USA does not get that | Foad Izadi | UNAPOLOGETIC

Foad Izadi is a professor of communication at Tehran University. He has been making the rounds across broadcasters recently where he generally conveys the Iranian government’s position. He spoke to UNAPOLOGETIC to discuss the rationale behind Iran’s defence strategy, how he sees Iranian society rallying behind the Iranian state under this attack, the legacy of US-Iranian relations, Iran’s own exercising of ‘brute’ foreign policy, as well as Israel’s attempt to fashion the region according to its own designs.

Episode 68 - How long will the war on Iran last and who will win it | Trita Parsi | UNAPOLOGETIC

In this episode of UNAPOLOGETIC, we speak to foreign policy analyst Trita Parsi of the Quincy Institute about how long the US-Israel war on Iran will likely last and what its consequences will likely be. The conversation examines Iran’s incentives to keep fighting, Trump’s political calculations, pressure from Gulf states, Netanyahu's opportunism, and how powers like China and Russia may respond if the war drags on