# Misunderstanding Iran (Bonus)

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/history-as-it-happens-3075146/misunderstanding-iran-bonus
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/history-as-it-happens-3075146/misunderstanding-iran-bonus.md
Podcast: [History As It Happens](https://stenobird.com/podcast/history-as-it-happens-3075146)
Published: 2026-03-18T17:02:00+00:00
Episode link: https://historyasithappens.libsyn.com/bonus-ep-misunderstanding-iran
Audio file: https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/pscrb.fm/rss/p/traffic.libsyn.com/secure/historyasithappens/HH-FREE-260318.mp3?dest-id=2566565
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/history-as-it-happens-3075146/episodes/misunderstanding-iran-bonus
Duration seconds: 448

## Resource

Subscribe now to listen to the entire 28-minute episode (or preview 7 minutes). Nearly three weeks into launching an unprovoked attack on Iran, whose supreme leader was assassinated in an Israeli air strike, it has become clear that President Trump and his national security team badly misjudged their enemy. The regime is surviving. And, according to expert Vali Nasr, Iran is transitioning to an IRGC-led state with even more uncompromising leadership. Unintended consequences were, therefore, inevitable because key U.S. decision-makers misunderstood Iran and ignored intelligence warnings about the unlikelihood of regime collapse. Vali Nasr teaches Middle East studies at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. He is the author of " Iran's Grand Strategy: A Political History ."

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## Transcript

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