Eye For Iran

Tom Sharpe, a retired Royal Navy Commander, who served alongside US forces in the Red Sea for 20 years, said the Americans are losing to the Houthis, an Iran-backed rebel group. He describes it as a dire situation with economic, geopolitical and environmental impacts on the world. Sharpe warns on the 'Eye for Iran' podcast that Iran is winning, and the US and West are losing this battle if policymakers don't change tactics.

A recent report questions the accuracy of Tehran's long-vaunted missile program.  On this episode of Eye for Iran,  we speak with Farzin Nadimi, a Senior Fellow at the Washington Institute, specializing in the security and defense affairs of Iran and the greater region, and Jay Solomon, an investigative reporter with the Free Press. They tell us about how some of Iran's missiles are percise and deadly and how Iran is a lot closer to the nuclear bomb than most experts thought. Find out how Iran's missile program is connected to its nuclear ambitions, and why that matters.

Russia and Iran are embroiled in regional conflicts that seem to have no end in sight. Ukraine's Aug 6 incursion into Russia took the war back to the country that started it, while the apparent Israeli assassination of Hamas’ leader in Tehran on July 31 has left Iran spitting venom at its foes, with uncertainty on its next move.   Joining this week’s episode of Eye for Iran is Greg Brew, a senior analyst at the Eurasia Group, who brings together the web of connections between Iran, Russia and their allies in the Middle East while war wages on two continents.

A French journalist and analyst came  face-to-face with Iran’s Supreme Leader in 2017, an encounter that was years in the making as she was groomed into becoming a propagandist for the Islamic Republic. Speaking about her experiences, Catherine Perez-Shakdam revealed new details about the decade she visited Iran and managed to infiltrate Iran's ruling class, meeting the country's most powerful men. In Episode 12 of 'Eye for Iran' Shakdam tells us how she managed to form relationships and build trust, her personal encounter with two former presidents and why she believes the West is in danger of the Islamic Republic's influence.

While Iran and Israel remain on the knife edge of all-out war, the two adversaries appear to be playing ‘chicken’, according an international relations expert speaking on this week’s episode of Eye for Iran.The tension between the two countries comes in the backdrop of the highest threat to regional stability.Tehran, long suspected by Israel to have ambition of obtaining nuclear arms, is planning to test nuclear bomb detonators, according to exclusive reporting by Iran International.University of Waterloo Political Scientist Professor Bessma Momani tells Eye for Iran podcast that this is part of a psychological warfare by Iran to show Israel that there's a price to pay for the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran last month. But in this tit-for-tat, mistakes can happen, said Momani, that could edge us closer to regional war.

The Middle East is on the edge - bracing for a potential war as Iran decides how it retaliates to the assassination of a Hamas leader in Tehran. Speaking to Israeli lawmaker Amit Halevi, Negar Mojtahedi examines how Israel respond to a potential attack from Iran, and how are neighbouring Arab countries reacting, beyond the official statements?

A British-Australian academic who was falsely imprisoned in Iran under espionage charges said the systematic incompetence of Iran’s security apparatus and the Iranian public’s sympathies to their own government’s enemies were the possible reasons why the leader of Hamas was assassinated in northern Tehran on July 31. Kylie Moore-Gilbert, who came into contact with high-level IRGC and state officials while jailed in the notorious Evin prison, explains why she believes there was likely an insider behind the suspected Israeli hit, as Iran reels in the wake of Ismail Haniyeh's assassination. Speaking to host Negar Mojtahedi, Moore-Gilbert also shares what she learned about her captors and what that means about the state of mind of high-ranking government officials in this week's episode of 'Eye for Iran.'

During his address to Congress this week, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called for a military alliance in the Middle East to counter Iran. The Eye for Iran podcast talks to one of his former advisors, Alex Selsky about this plan and what Netanyahu’s speech meant for the US and Iran. Also on this week’s episode, we’ll be asking Iranian-American advocate Sarah Raviani about President Joe Biden’s legacy on Iran as he made the historic decision to drop out of the US presidential elections.

A former Donald Trump top advisor revealed in this week's episode of 'Eye for Iran' that a second Trump presidency may have a 'zeal for a deal,' leading to negotiations with the Iranian government and fewer confrontations. John Bolton, a former U.S. national security adviser and long-time proponent of regime change in Iran, told host Negar Mojtahedi that Trump would be likely to compromise with Tehran rather than seek the overthrow of the cleric-ruled system.

In this week's 'Eye for Iran' podcast, host Negar Mojtahedi asks a former U.S. special envoy if Iran's new president-elect, Masoud Pezeshkian, is part of Tehran's tool to 'charm' the US and the Western world. Ellie Cohanim, the Deputy Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism during the Donald Trump administration, discusses the Iranian influence network that is operating at the heart of the U.S. government, citing an Iran International investigation.

On Episode 5 of Iran International’s English podcast ‘Eye for Iran’ we discuss the Arab League’s decision to remove Hezbollah from its terror list and Iran’s low voter turnout in the first round of its presidential election. Why did the Arab League’s decision come on the heels of a potential war between Israel and Southern Lebanon? And does the low voter turnout signify a distrust in the ruling system? Host Negar Mojtahedi speaks with Roya Boroumand, the co-founder of the Abdorrahman Boroumand Center and Dr. Walid Phares, a foreign policy expert who has advised US presidential candidates.

On this week's episode of Iran International's English podcast 'Eye for Iran', host Negar Mojtahedi speaks with Minister Melissa Lantsman, Deputy Leader of Canada's opposition party, the Conservatives. What will be Canada’s next steps after enlisting Iran’s Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist entity and why did the government act now? And Negar also discusses Iran's elections and what Iran's Supreme Leader’s legacy will be, with Patrick Clawson from the Washington Institute.

In this week’s episode of ‘Eye for Iran,’ how is Iran’s hostage diplomacy working against the interest of West nations? As a convicted war criminal Hamid Nouri walks free following a prisoner swap deal between Iran and Sweden, host Negar Mojtahedi speaks with two people who have been personally impacted by Iran's violations of human rights and unjust detentions.  In this episode, we hear from Iranian-Canadian human rights lawyer Kaveh Shahrooz, talking about his uncle Mehrdad Ashtari who was killed during the 1988 political prisoner massacre that involved Nouri. Alongside Sharooz is Mariam Claren, a German-Iranian fighting for her mother, Nahid Taghavi who has been unlawfully detained in Iran’s notorious Evin prison since 2020.

From Iran International comes the 'Eye for Iran' podcast, a weekly show that will take listeners beyond the headlines, deep into the Iran stories that matter most. With compelling interviews, expert analysis and high-impact investigations, host Negar Mojtahedi examines the latest developments in and around Iran. In this episode of ‘Eye for Iran,' Negar speaks with author and journalist Arash Azizi and Former Iran Advisor at the US State Department Gabriel Noronha on Iran's upcoming snap election, which many consider to be a selection process highly engineered by the state. They look into the candidates selected by the Guardian Council and examine what they mean for the future of Iran.

From Iran International comes the 'Eye for Iran' podcast, a weekly show that will take listeners beyond the headlines, deep into the Iran stories that matter most. With compelling interviews, expert analysis and high-impact investigations, host Negar Mojtahedi examines the latest developments in and around Iran. In the first episode of ‘Eye for Iran,' Negar speaks with Jason Brodsky, the policy director of United Against Nuclear Iran and Behnam Ben Taleblu, a Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) about the significance of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi’s death and how the event is perceived by the power brokers of Iran. ‘Eye for Iran’ also looks into the political heavyweights throwing their names into the mix ahead of the election, their backgrounds and examines how the Guardian Council will make its final decision on who gets to run amid succession.