{"podcast":{"title":"Useful Idiots with Katie Halper and Aaron Maté","slug":"useful-idiots-with-katie-halper-and-aaron-mat-1429483","podcast_index_feed_id":1429483,"rss_url":"https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/304318.rss","website_url":"https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/podcast","image_url":"https://substackcdn.com/feed/podcast/304318/bd4899cbc23ee1656dd8a30e3c5d8fd8.jpg","author":"Katie Halper and Aaron Maté","episode_count":497,"summary":"Useful Idiots with Matt Taibbi and Katie Halper","last_synced_at":null,"page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/useful-idiots-with-katie-halper-and-aaron-mat-1429483"},"episode":{"title":"Iran Sentenced Him to Death. He Still Opposes Regime Change. Meet Professor Behrooz Ghamari.","slug":"iran-sentenced-him-to-death-he-still-opposes-regime-change-meet-professor-behrooz-ghamari","published_at":"2026-03-13T16:23:36+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/useful-idiots-with-katie-halper-and-aaron-mat-1429483/iran-sentenced-him-to-death-he-still-opposes-regime-change-meet-professor-behrooz-ghamari","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/useful-idiots-with-katie-halper-and-aaron-mat-1429483","url":"https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/iran-sentenced-him-to-death-he-still","audio_url":"https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/190838852/521c3cc794607d82dcf28e8aea9ffb76.mp3","summary":"This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.usefulidiotspodcast.com Subscribe for the full episode at the bottom of the page. Watch a free preview here: This week we’re speaking with Iranian Professor Behrooz Ghamari, whose unique history gives him an important perspective that challenges Trump’s regime-change war-of-choice in ways few others can. In the 1980’s, Ghamari was sentenced to death by the Iranian government for being part of a Marxist group trying to overthrow the Islamic Republic. He was held in Evin Prison’s death row, where countless political prisoners have been tortured, and was denied cancer treatment for his worsening lymphoma. But, Ghamari explains in his excellent new book, The Long War On Iran , four decades after getting freed from a place he never thought he’d outlive, Israeli airstrikes hit the prison, along with over 17,000 other civilian sites . Ghamari “had this feeling as if my home was attacked.” Today, we’re asking him why, after the horrible treatment he endured, does he still reject US regime change of a government he fought to oppose. Useful Idiots: It’s fascinating that you were literally scheduled to be executed, you were on death row, you were deprived of cancer treatment, and yet your analysis is so clear-eyed. You are able to criticize regime change. You are even able to give credit to this government that wanted you to be killed. Behrooz Ghamari: A political project cannot be the extension of your own trauma. We need to transcend that trauma in order to advance a political project. Unfortunately, I see a lot of people who are celebrating these military attacks. They’re supporting Israel bombing Iran, supporting President Trump bombing Iran. There are actually people who use the trauma of others to justify the…","meta_description":"This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.usefulidiotspodcast.com Subscribe for the full episode at the bottom of the page. Watch…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":1905,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/useful-idiots-with-katie-halper-and-aaron-mat-1429483/episodes/iran-sentenced-him-to-death-he-still-opposes-regime-change-meet-professor-behrooz-ghamari/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/useful-idiots-with-katie-halper-and-aaron-mat-1429483/iran-sentenced-him-to-death-he-still-opposes-regime-change-meet-professor-behrooz-ghamari.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}