Eye For Iran

Tehran is celebrating Donald Trump's crushing midterm defeat. But what if the Islamic Republic has just made a dangerous miscalculation? Democrats have swept to victory, JD Vance is blaming Israel and the Iran war for Republican losses, and oil prices are plunging as markets bet on peace. Yet there is no ceasefire, the Strait of Hormuz remains disrupted, and one leading energy analyst now puts the...

Is the Islamic Republic running out of time? Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has emerged from a closely contested election promising to eliminate the Iranian threat once and for all. Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan have dispatched senior officials to Tehran amid fears of another war. And in an exclusive interview with Iran International, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent predicts Ira...

Israel is days away from its first election since the October 7 attacks. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he would bring down the Islamic Republic if he wins. Is that a policy pledge or election rhetoric? And if he loses, would his rivals pursue a different strategy toward Iran? On this episode of Eye for Iran, host Negar Mojtahedi brings together four experts speaking from Israel: Yaakov Ka...

It began with an invitation to a conference in Lebanon. Young Yemeni activists believed they were going to discuss democracy and the Arab Spring. But behind the scenes, according to one of those involved in Yemen’s uprising, Hezbollah operatives were recruiting sympathizers for Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). Some would eventually travel to Tehran. Others would help build the Hout...

Iran has survived revolution, war and decades of sanctions without losing its oil revenue entirely. That could change in December. For the first time in Iran's history, revenue from crude oil and condensate exports could fall to ZERO by mid-December if the US blockade continues, according to new analysis from Kpler. The Islamic Republic stands to lose as much as $6 billion a month. But will unprec...

Are we witnessing the “North Koreanization” of the Islamic Republic of Iran? From the growing presence of Basij paramilitary forces in elementary schools to the sentencing of musicians and the accelerating use of executions against those detained in connection with January’s uprising, repression inside Iran appears to be intensifying. Just this week, two protesters detained following the January u...

President Donald Trump has subjected Iran to extraordinary military and economic pressure. Its leadership has been battered, its economy squeezed, its oil trade disrupted and its regional network weakened. Yet the Islamic Republic remains in power — and Washington has yet to translate that pressure into a clear political outcome. So what is Trump waiting for? This week on Eye for Iran, former US d...

They were 19 when they took to the streets. They turned 20 behind bars. Now one twin has been sentenced to death — and the other to decades in prison. Taraneh and Romina Rahimi joined Iran’s January uprising in Isfahan. Their cousin, Masoud Nourmohammadi, says the sisters were tortured and forced to confess. Taraneh now faces execution, while Romina has been sentenced to decades behind bars. As th...

Can the Islamic Republic survive a deepening economic crisis, growing resistance at home and a war with the United States? On this week’s episode of Eye for Iran, British-Iranian comedian Omid Djalili and Iran International’s Arash Sohrabi examine the dark humor spreading across Iran as people struggling to afford basic necessities publicly mock the regime and turn its own language of fear against...

Iran is still striking back — but is Tehran choosing smaller attacks, or are its military options narrowing? Former CENTCOM commander Gen. Joseph Votel, now a Distinguished Senior Fellow at the Middle East Institute, and Farzin Nadimi, Senior Fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, examine why Iran is turning to sea mines in the Strait of Hormuz, what it reveals about its remainin...

Iran’s oil revenues could effectively fall to zero within months if the US blockade holds, according to Kpler senior oil analyst Homayoun Falakshahi. On this episode of Eye for Iran, Falakshahi and former US Treasury OFAC official Max Meizlish examine Washington’s expanding economic pressure campaign, China’s crucial role in buying Iranian oil, the financial networks running through Hong Kong and...

Could Iran’s crackdown leave behind a generation with permanent disabilities and dependent on opioids for chronic pain? Dr. Sarah Raza, a trauma physician helping wounded protesters inside Iran, has documented hundreds of metal pellets embedded in victims’ bodies, including a six-year-old with pellets lodged in his face and skull. Her warning: “This is making someone’s body a prison.” Iran feels t...

The war with Iran was supposed to change the equation. But before bombs fall, before presidents decide on war and peace, and before negotiators ever sit across from one another, there is intelligence. So what does someone who spent decades trying to understand Iran from inside the CIA see happening next? Eye for Iran’s Negar Mojtahedi spoke with Mark Fowler, a decorated former CIA case officer and...

Can financial pressure succeed where military strikes cannot? For months, the debate over Iran has focused on bombs, missiles and airstrikes. But what if the Islamic Republic's greatest vulnerability isn't military at all? In this episode of Eye for Iran, I sit down with Roger Macmillan, Counterterrorism and Security Specialist, and Miad Maleki, Senior US Sanctions Strategist, FDD Fellow and forme...

Industrial cranes are meant to build cities. In Iran, they are increasingly being used as gallows. The public hanging of Amirhossein Safari and Abolfazl Sepahi in Isfahan has become a symbol of Iran's escalating execution campaign. As the world focuses on war, Iran is accelerating executions—prompting growing concern among human rights advocates and legal experts. In this episode of Eye for Iran,...

What is the United States really trying to achieve with its expanding military campaign inside Iran? As US strikes move deeper into Iran, targeting military sites, logistics networks and critical infrastructure, many are asking: What is Washington's endgame? At the same time, executions inside Iran are accelerating as the world's attention remains fixed on the war, while Gulf states brace for what...

Why are US strikes moving deeper into southern Iran—and what is Washington really trying to achieve? As attacks hit bridges, transport links and facilities around Bandar Abbas and Chabahar, the conflict appears to be entering a more dangerous phase. At the same time, a leaked Iranian presidency report reveals record public anger, while new economic data shows that barely 37 percent of working-age...

Just weeks after Washington and Tehran agreed to a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), commercial vessels are under attack, the Strait of Hormuz is back in the headlines and President Trump says the agreement is over. But what if everyone is asking the wrong question? Was the Iran-US MoU ever meant to deliver peace—or was it designed to manage conflict while both sides pursued their own strategic g...

Something has shifted inside Tehran. Not because the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) is about to disappear—but because members of Iran's establishment are openly debating ideas that would have been politically unthinkable just months ago. The war may be over—for now. But inside Tehran, the battle over the Islamic Republic's future is only beginning. Who is gaining ground? Is the Islamic R...

The new US-Iran Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) could unlock tens of billions of dollars for Tehran and fundamentally reshape Iran's economic and political future. Host Negar Mojtahedi speaks with former US Treasury sanctions official Max Meizlish, economist Mohamad Machine-Chian, former US military intelligence officer Michael Pregent, and Iran analyst Omid Memarian to explain what the agreemen...

Did the new US-Iran Memorandum of Understanding hand Tehran a major victory? In this episode of Eye for Iran, host Negar Mojtahedi breaks down the controversial MOU with former US Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs David Schenker, who argues the agreement delivers significant benefits to the Islamic Republic while leaving major questions unanswered on Iran's nuclear program, bal...

As Lebanon becomes central to Iran’s conditions for a broader US-Iran deal, this episode of Eye for Iran asks what the war has really changed — and what comes next. Aaron David Miller, senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and a veteran US Middle East negotiator, says Iran is using Lebanon to pressure both Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu, trying to establish a new equ...

For decades, Iran has frustrated presidents, diplomats, and negotiators. Has it finally met its match? In Episode 106 of Eye for Iran, we examine the strategy, pressure and power dynamics shaping the latest standoff between Washington and Tehran—and whether Donald Trump is succeeding where previous administrations fell short. Former US diplomat Alberto Fernandez, United Against Nuclear Iran Policy...

For decades, Iran has frustrated presidents, diplomats, and negotiators. Has it finally met its match? In Episode 106 of Eye for Iran, we examine the strategy, pressure and power dynamics shaping the latest standoff between Washington and Tehran—and whether Donald Trump is succeeding where previous administrations fell short. Former US diplomat Alberto Fernandez, United Against Nuclear Iran Policy...

Is a new US-Iran deal on the horizon—or is Tehran being thrown a lifeline at one of the most vulnerable moments in its history? As reports of renewed negotiations intensify, major questions remain. Is the Islamic Republic negotiating from a position of weakness or strength? Has Iran emerged damaged by war and economic pressure, or can its leadership still claim victory? Host Negar Mojtahedi is joi...