WEBVTT - Interview Only w/ Suzanne Kianpour - The View Of The War From Inside Iran 0:00:00.040 --> 0:00:02.240 This episode of the Chuck Podcast is brought to you 0:00:02.279 --> 0:00:04.800 by Incognate. You know, one of the things we talk 0:00:05.040 --> 0:00:07.880 a lot about on this podcast is trust, who deserves 0:00:07.880 --> 0:00:09.920 it and who doesn't. And lately I've been thinking about 0:00:09.920 --> 0:00:14.200 how much of our personal information is just floating around online. 0:00:14.520 --> 0:00:17.920 I'm talking about phone numbers, home addresses, emails, even information 0:00:17.960 --> 0:00:20.400 about your family, all sitting on websites you've probably never 0:00:20.440 --> 0:00:22.720 heard of. In the scary part, that information can be 0:00:22.840 --> 0:00:26.600 used by scammers and identity thieves to piece together enough 0:00:26.640 --> 0:00:30.800 details to impersonate you, target you, or worse. 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Use the code you get a discal again, 0:01:28.040 --> 0:01:32.280 that's in cogni dot com slash chucktodcast and use the 0:01:32.400 --> 0:01:35.520 code Chuck podcast to get sixty percent off and start 0:01:35.560 --> 0:01:40.520 taking control of your personal data today. Trust me, I'm 0:01:40.560 --> 0:01:44.440 constantly working on this for years myself, and here's an 0:01:44.480 --> 0:01:46.919 opportunity for you to take matters into your own hands 0:01:46.959 --> 0:01:54.240 as well. Joining me now is Suzan Conpour. She is 0:01:54.280 --> 0:01:59.440 a veteran journalist co host of a podcast on global affairs. 0:01:59.520 --> 0:02:04.400 She's worked at NBC. Although we are paths only briefly, 0:02:04.440 --> 0:02:07.800 I think crossed back in her early days in NBC. 0:02:08.120 --> 0:02:11.359 She's been around the world. I just recently spent a 0:02:11.360 --> 0:02:14.080 lot of time with her, and I think this context matters. 0:02:14.520 --> 0:02:16.640 In December at a media conference, and I think I 0:02:16.680 --> 0:02:19.600 had told told you guys, some of you that may 0:02:19.639 --> 0:02:22.880 remember it was an Abu Dhabi for a large media 0:02:22.880 --> 0:02:28.360 conference really very industry focused, as much of tactical parts 0:02:28.400 --> 0:02:31.520 of the of the media world as much as content 0:02:31.560 --> 0:02:33.760 parts of the media world. For instance, there was a 0:02:33.800 --> 0:02:40.280 big gamer section to this to this conference. But I 0:02:40.280 --> 0:02:42.760 had the pleasure of being of having dinner with Susan 0:02:42.840 --> 0:02:45.160 and her husband and a bunch of other journalists and 0:02:45.440 --> 0:02:49.160 we had a fascinating conversation about Iran and about And 0:02:49.200 --> 0:02:52.239 this was in December. Abu Dhabi's got a big diaspora 0:02:52.760 --> 0:02:58.240 of Averaranians and it was in you know, I had 0:02:58.240 --> 0:03:00.679 basically was peppering Susan with all these questions. So I 0:03:00.720 --> 0:03:02.840 hear this, and I hear this, and it was like, boy, 0:03:02.919 --> 0:03:04.960 is this regime gonna fall? I mean, how bad is 0:03:05.000 --> 0:03:07.880 things in Tehran? And there was this feeling it could 0:03:07.880 --> 0:03:10.000 be five months, but it may still be five years. 0:03:10.120 --> 0:03:13.080 All of this before any thought that we were going 0:03:13.160 --> 0:03:17.160 to see what we're seeing in the moment now, and 0:03:17.200 --> 0:03:19.040 so I couldn't think of a better time to try 0:03:19.040 --> 0:03:21.720 to catch up with Suzan than right now. Suzan, welcome to. 0:03:21.720 --> 0:03:24.600 The tod tast Thank you, thanks for having me. Todd. 0:03:24.720 --> 0:03:26.600 I mean, it kind of feels like yesterday. 0:03:26.600 --> 0:03:30.000 But well it does. We just sort of connect and 0:03:30.040 --> 0:03:34.720 somebody's connected and we've been staying in touch since. And yet, 0:03:34.920 --> 0:03:37.080 my god, that was like a whole lifetime ago too, 0:03:37.200 --> 0:03:41.920 and it's only been literally, I think, four months, so 0:03:41.960 --> 0:03:43.160 that's we met Bobby. 0:03:43.840 --> 0:03:47.680 That was December eighth, that day. So so my wedding, 0:03:47.760 --> 0:03:51.120 my first wedding anniversaries are dragged. My husband too, Yes, 0:03:51.200 --> 0:03:51.520 she did. 0:03:51.680 --> 0:03:53.040 Well, he was at your conference. 0:03:53.760 --> 0:03:56.840 You know, when my company values IPO is at a 0:03:56.840 --> 0:03:59.240 billion dollars somewhere down the line, it'll be a good 0:03:59.280 --> 0:04:00.120 story to tell. 0:04:00.200 --> 0:04:02.200 That's right. You know, on our first anniversary we were 0:04:02.200 --> 0:04:03.840 able to you know, yadayada YadA. 0:04:03.720 --> 0:04:06.920 Right, yeah, exactly. But a couple of weeks after that 0:04:07.480 --> 0:04:11.400 was when everything really kicked off over the holidays, and 0:04:11.760 --> 0:04:15.040 there wasn't a whole lot of media coverage on the 0:04:15.080 --> 0:04:21.800 protests that happened in Iran because of the currency tanked. 0:04:22.000 --> 0:04:24.039 So the currency tanked and people just it was like 0:04:24.080 --> 0:04:26.080 that was what made them snap, that was what made 0:04:26.080 --> 0:04:28.080 people snap. They poured into the streets. It'said, you know 0:04:28.120 --> 0:04:32.080 what this government's got to go down with. You can't 0:04:32.120 --> 0:04:34.279 even govern correct, you can't even keep the lights on 0:04:34.320 --> 0:04:36.000 and can't keep the water going. And this is a 0:04:36.080 --> 0:04:38.520 oil rich country. And so that's why when we see 0:04:38.560 --> 0:04:40.480 things and I'm sure we'll get into all this, that's 0:04:40.520 --> 0:04:44.599 why we see reports about these leaders their real estate 0:04:44.640 --> 0:04:49.200 portfolios in Europe and London on billionaire's row being exposed. 0:04:49.240 --> 0:04:51.680 That's why it just hurts that much more. 0:04:52.200 --> 0:04:54.680 Right, because this is so personal and visceral and just 0:04:54.720 --> 0:04:57.600 sort of basics and survival for folks that actually live 0:04:57.600 --> 0:05:01.360 in Iran at the moment. Before we get into all 0:05:01.360 --> 0:05:04.240 the current events, you tell me your story of how 0:05:04.279 --> 0:05:09.960 you ended up in journalism, your family history in Persia. 0:05:10.080 --> 0:05:14.719 So I am literally a child of this conflict. My 0:05:15.160 --> 0:05:19.800 mother and father met in Alabama during the Aurun hostage 0:05:19.839 --> 0:05:24.080 crisis as students, and at the time, you know, on 0:05:24.160 --> 0:05:29.880 the evening newscast, there were images of American diplomats blindfolded 0:05:30.120 --> 0:05:34.640 and these insurgents holding Americans hostage. And so that was 0:05:34.680 --> 0:05:38.760 the image of Iranians at the time. And so when 0:05:38.839 --> 0:05:41.360 my father went to go and propose to my mother, 0:05:41.960 --> 0:05:46.040 my grandfather Sicilian American came to the US on Ellis 0:05:46.080 --> 0:05:49.960 Island chased them off the lawn with a firearm because 0:05:52.120 --> 0:05:55.400 Granians were kind of seen as terrorists in many parts 0:05:55.440 --> 0:05:59.240 of the country, particularly at Alabama. And so, you know, 0:05:59.400 --> 0:06:02.599 years later, when I was born, the Iran I Rock 0:06:02.720 --> 0:06:07.159 conflict was a war was raging, and I ultimately ended 0:06:07.240 --> 0:06:10.320 up raised by my Persian aunt, my dad's sister, and 0:06:10.360 --> 0:06:12.760 she taught me Farsi. But she was a war refugee, 0:06:12.839 --> 0:06:14.680 so she has a you know, she managed to make 0:06:14.720 --> 0:06:18.680 it to America through a pretty harrowing experience as a 0:06:18.720 --> 0:06:21.360 refugee through Europe to be able to make it here, 0:06:22.320 --> 0:06:25.719 you know. And then my first my first kind of 0:06:25.839 --> 0:06:29.560 memories of watching TV news was Desert Store. I grew 0:06:29.640 --> 0:06:33.400 up in Atlanta, and I grew up around lots of 0:06:33.440 --> 0:06:37.200 newspapers in the house, the Atlanta Journal Constitution. I remember 0:06:37.240 --> 0:06:40.919 reading about Kosovo in Time magazine for kids, and so 0:06:40.960 --> 0:06:44.800 I was always, for some reason, probably sort of epigetically 0:06:44.880 --> 0:06:49.880 drawn to conflict resolution, because I had literally made up 0:06:49.920 --> 0:06:52.279 of a conflict and it took years for read to 0:06:52.320 --> 0:06:55.080 really even kind of recognize that thread. 0:06:56.080 --> 0:06:58.360 And so then do you find yourself being a big 0:06:58.400 --> 0:07:00.120 media do you feel like you're always a mediate her? 0:07:00.760 --> 0:07:05.520 I mean, I you know, you know, I am. I'm 0:07:05.560 --> 0:07:08.360 a child of a mixed religious marriage, and for many 0:07:08.400 --> 0:07:10.680 of my father's side of the family, my mother was 0:07:10.680 --> 0:07:13.760 the first Jew many of them had ever met. Yeah, 0:07:13.840 --> 0:07:15.800 they weren't thrilled about it, you know, they didn't. She 0:07:15.880 --> 0:07:18.080 wasn't being chased off with a shotgun. So I'm not 0:07:18.120 --> 0:07:22.320 gunning too that. But she was always reminded that she 0:07:22.360 --> 0:07:24.240 was Jewish every time she went to that side of 0:07:24.240 --> 0:07:26.480 the family. They was sort of like that's all they 0:07:26.520 --> 0:07:30.560 saw in her head, you know, type of thing. And 0:07:30.680 --> 0:07:32.640 so I know what it made me do. I'm always like, 0:07:32.680 --> 0:07:35.400 I just want everybody get along. Yeah, I'm just curious. 0:07:35.480 --> 0:07:37.400 Is that does that? Does that feel like that be 0:07:37.400 --> 0:07:40.040 a description? You're always just trying to like, hey, no, no, no, 0:07:40.240 --> 0:07:41.600 let's have some peace, you know. 0:07:42.280 --> 0:07:44.000 And I think in a lot of ways, sort of 0:07:44.080 --> 0:07:50.240 being of a mixed background, you you can relate to 0:07:50.400 --> 0:07:54.360 different people, and so you end up automatically being that 0:07:54.400 --> 0:07:56.800 person and kind of being the convener and being the 0:07:56.840 --> 0:07:58.320 diplomatic kind of you. 0:07:58.280 --> 0:08:00.840 Can be a chameleon to people or a test whatever 0:08:00.880 --> 0:08:01.600 you want to call it. 0:08:01.720 --> 0:08:02.720 Yeah, exactly. 0:08:02.760 --> 0:08:03.000 I mean. 0:08:03.800 --> 0:08:07.240 So years later, after I left NBCi, I was at 0:08:07.240 --> 0:08:09.760 the BBC for most of my career, for almost twelve years, 0:08:10.160 --> 0:08:13.000 and I was covering the State Department, so I would 0:08:13.000 --> 0:08:15.880 travel with the Secretary of State and the around nuclear 0:08:15.920 --> 0:08:20.160 negotiations sort was sort of my breakthrough story. And I 0:08:20.240 --> 0:08:24.280 remember when the nuclear deal was reached, which obviously it 0:08:24.400 --> 0:08:27.880 ended up being a controversial deal. Many people weren't happy 0:08:27.920 --> 0:08:29.840 about it. A lot of the elements of what people 0:08:29.840 --> 0:08:34.200 weren't happy about now is clear why. But I did 0:08:34.840 --> 0:08:38.640 a story on the women of the Iroun deal, which 0:08:38.840 --> 0:08:41.240 sort of ended up. I didn't realize it was at 0:08:41.240 --> 0:08:45.160 the time becoming now the company that I'm building and running. 0:08:45.679 --> 0:08:47.040 But at the time I did a story about the 0:08:47.040 --> 0:08:49.760 women of the around deal, and I interviewed Frederica Mugerini, 0:08:50.080 --> 0:08:55.840 who was the Italian representative, and we were before we 0:08:55.840 --> 0:08:57.560 were before we did the interview. We were chatting about 0:08:57.559 --> 0:09:00.280 my background and she said, wow, you know, like you've 0:09:00.280 --> 0:09:03.079 got the Italian, you've got the Iranian, you've got the American. 0:09:03.240 --> 0:09:06.079 You work for the Brits, Like you should have been 0:09:06.080 --> 0:09:07.800 in there negotiating. 0:09:07.120 --> 0:09:08.600 With right, you should have been part of the group. 0:09:08.679 --> 0:09:08.880 Right. 0:09:09.000 --> 0:09:12.720 Yeah, And it's true, you know, you kind of there's 0:09:12.760 --> 0:09:17.640 a lot of cultural nuances in global affairs and diploasi 0:09:17.920 --> 0:09:21.559 and current events, which is why sometimes I worry what 0:09:21.679 --> 0:09:24.160 I'm looking at who is advising the Trump. 0:09:23.880 --> 0:09:27.320 Administration right now, because I think how the Iranians think 0:09:27.360 --> 0:09:31.760 and operate is they play the long game. It's an 0:09:31.760 --> 0:09:33.600 ancient civilization and it show. 0:09:33.840 --> 0:09:37.160 I mean, and you know the famous line from the Taliban, 0:09:37.200 --> 0:09:39.520 you've got the watches, We've got the time. I think 0:09:39.520 --> 0:09:43.040 there's a similar mindset perhaps with this regime, right. 0:09:43.640 --> 0:09:48.880 Yes, and you know, they there's been so much criticism 0:09:49.120 --> 0:09:54.080 of the media from the diaspora, the Iranian diaspora. People 0:09:54.080 --> 0:09:57.480 are particularly upset at Fred for the CNN reporter who 0:09:57.559 --> 0:10:00.880 red plate and reporter who went in. Of course, it's 0:10:01.080 --> 0:10:05.040 I believe it's very important to be on the ground. Well, 0:10:05.120 --> 0:10:07.280 at some point you do kind of have to make 0:10:07.320 --> 0:10:09.760 a call of whether you're going to keep doing it, 0:10:09.800 --> 0:10:11.800 because whether you're going to keep sort of signing up 0:10:11.840 --> 0:10:12.480 to the rules. 0:10:12.640 --> 0:10:16.360 But look, it's a tough decision. Look as you know 0:10:16.480 --> 0:10:20.320 Alia Rusi, you know, who's a dual citizen, our former 0:10:20.320 --> 0:10:22.960 colleague at NBC, the Tayran Bureauchi from you know, there 0:10:22.960 --> 0:10:24.800 were all sorts of you know, I mean, his mother 0:10:24.880 --> 0:10:27.240 lives in Tehran. You know, his mother you know, and 0:10:27.320 --> 0:10:29.880 there was always concern that the regime could threaten her 0:10:30.040 --> 0:10:33.120 and whether we were always we had to be mindful, 0:10:33.320 --> 0:10:35.800 you know, when we put them on air, because everybody's 0:10:35.800 --> 0:10:36.280 got a family. 0:10:37.360 --> 0:10:43.600 But they, the Iranians, use the democratic tools that we have, 0:10:43.800 --> 0:10:47.199 the freedoms that we have to their advantage. They're quite 0:10:47.200 --> 0:10:50.319 clever in that regards. And you know, even though I 0:10:50.360 --> 0:10:53.920 know better, you know, like I know better, when they're 0:10:54.000 --> 0:10:59.480 so good at their craft that it's almost like they 0:10:59.600 --> 0:11:02.560 put you under a spell and you have to count yourself. 0:11:04.280 --> 0:11:09.280 And an Iranian will recognize that, but an American will 0:11:09.520 --> 0:11:12.840 even no matter how experienced you might be with them, 0:11:13.640 --> 0:11:15.520 because it's psychological manipulation. 0:11:16.840 --> 0:11:21.720 Let's talk about sort of this. I'm look, we're using 0:11:21.720 --> 0:11:25.080 an artificial timeline here. When we first started, we were 0:11:25.080 --> 0:11:28.680 having this conversation, and in fact, I think I even said, 0:11:28.679 --> 0:11:29.679 I said, you know, I want to have you on 0:11:29.720 --> 0:11:32.160 because I think people I think the underrated story of 0:11:32.160 --> 0:11:36.079 twenty twenty six could be the downfall of this regime. 0:11:37.559 --> 0:11:40.160 I look, there's a lot of things in the Bingo card, 0:11:40.600 --> 0:11:45.640 the United States aggressively pursuing a preemptive strike against Iran. 0:11:46.120 --> 0:11:48.640 I just never foresaw. And I know that there's the 0:11:48.720 --> 0:11:53.880 unpredictability of Trump, but there's always been a reason why 0:11:54.080 --> 0:11:57.800 previous American presidents have stopped Israel from doing this and 0:11:57.840 --> 0:12:02.880 have not done this for because of how how unmanageable 0:12:02.920 --> 0:12:07.719 the potential fallout could be. But I think what we 0:12:07.720 --> 0:12:11.079 were discussing is, hey, you know, can this regime hold 0:12:11.120 --> 0:12:14.560 If you can't even get hotable water, you know, drinking 0:12:14.600 --> 0:12:17.640 water in Tehran? If you can't you don't have water, 0:12:18.400 --> 0:12:23.559 how are they going to govern? And so then let's 0:12:23.600 --> 0:12:26.320 go to the it's the revolution, the currency drafts, we 0:12:26.360 --> 0:12:31.679 have the protests, what happens, what's happening in country at 0:12:31.679 --> 0:12:34.720 the time, What are you hearing at the time, and 0:12:34.800 --> 0:12:36.920 what are you thinking at the time? Is this How 0:12:37.000 --> 0:12:40.280 vulnerable did the regime seem? And was there a lot 0:12:40.320 --> 0:12:43.080 of chatter, Hey, with a little bit of help, maybe 0:12:43.160 --> 0:12:46.320 from the United States or others, maybe this can happen. 0:12:48.160 --> 0:12:55.160 So the June twelve Day war was a pivotal moment. 0:12:56.559 --> 0:13:00.920 And even people who had worked for their regime who 0:13:00.960 --> 0:13:03.280 had left and are now in the private sector and 0:13:03.640 --> 0:13:06.800 that kind of had started to make them think differently 0:13:06.800 --> 0:13:11.000 about the regime were messaging me and saying why didn't 0:13:11.000 --> 0:13:17.640 Trump finish the job? And so, which I frankly was surprised. Naturally, 0:13:17.679 --> 0:13:19.760 when you're being bombed, you're going through a whole range 0:13:19.760 --> 0:13:22.520 of emotions, and most of those emotions are I hate 0:13:22.520 --> 0:13:26.840 these people who are bombing me because obviously, and so 0:13:27.000 --> 0:13:30.120 when when the bomb stopped, the kind of why didn't 0:13:30.120 --> 0:13:32.520 he finish the job? Why isn't he finishing the job 0:13:32.640 --> 0:13:39.679 was really stuck with me. And that being said, now 0:13:40.280 --> 0:13:44.680 that the scale of kind of destruction we're seeing has 0:13:44.800 --> 0:13:49.800 really settled in, we keep hearing that, oh, you know, 0:13:50.000 --> 0:13:53.760 if they just let it be, the regime would have 0:13:53.840 --> 0:13:55.000 fallen on its own. 0:13:55.440 --> 0:13:56.600 Do you believe that the problem? 0:13:57.920 --> 0:14:03.960 I don't, mainly because they are masters at holding on 0:14:04.760 --> 0:14:09.120 and will stop it nothing to hold on, and we 0:14:09.240 --> 0:14:13.080 are seeing that mh in the fact that they are 0:14:13.160 --> 0:14:17.960 literally shooting themselves in the foot by bombarding Dubai. That's 0:14:17.960 --> 0:14:20.720 where all their money is. And so we were living 0:14:20.760 --> 0:14:24.480 in Dubai. We never thought not that, we never thought 0:14:24.520 --> 0:14:27.600 it was always a risk. I mean, you know, frankly, ultimately, 0:14:28.840 --> 0:14:31.760 you know in the Middle East, like eventually it was 0:14:31.800 --> 0:14:42.400 going to blow up. And wait, sorry, today, Lucy, no 0:14:42.560 --> 0:14:43.160 we're here. 0:14:44.240 --> 0:14:49.680 Yeah, my photo rank right and interrupture. I know all 0:14:49.680 --> 0:14:51.600 of our devices have to be connected. You know that 0:14:51.720 --> 0:14:53.800 don't have to be connected Apple, Thank you. 0:14:54.400 --> 0:15:01.520 I know, so we let me just go back. No, 0:15:02.080 --> 0:15:05.000 I did not believe that they would be able to 0:15:05.000 --> 0:15:07.880 fall on their own, because they've they'll do anything to 0:15:07.920 --> 0:15:11.600 hang on to power. And we saw that in January, 0:15:12.280 --> 0:15:15.320 and we've seen that in other points in history before. 0:15:15.640 --> 0:15:18.160 You know, the massacre in January is not the first time. 0:15:18.440 --> 0:15:22.640 It's just we now live in an age where dictators 0:15:22.640 --> 0:15:28.320 can't hide. They can't hide. We watch everything very intimately 0:15:28.560 --> 0:15:30.640 on our phones on Instagram. 0:15:31.160 --> 0:15:40.920 Right, So, what's life right now? Like, what are you 0:15:40.960 --> 0:15:44.400 hearing right now? Are people just living, you know, just 0:15:44.480 --> 0:15:47.520 staying in shelter, staying in place. Are they trying to 0:15:47.760 --> 0:15:50.760 leave if you have means to do that, and if so, 0:15:50.880 --> 0:15:53.440 how are they leaving? Take me through some of the 0:15:53.640 --> 0:15:54.840 some of the stories you're hearing. 0:15:55.880 --> 0:16:00.160 I mean, to me, Frank, it's quite nerve wracking to 0:16:00.240 --> 0:16:03.280 have people trying to leave right now. I mean, I 0:16:03.600 --> 0:16:07.520 literally have a friend who I'm just checking up to 0:16:07.560 --> 0:16:10.880 see if they've crossed over. The people are crossing over 0:16:11.080 --> 0:16:15.200 the land borders when they can. But it's dangerous because 0:16:16.560 --> 0:16:18.920 not only is dangerous because of the bombs, but it's 0:16:19.000 --> 0:16:23.960 dangerous because there's checkpoints everywhere and the regime is extremely paranoid, 0:16:24.080 --> 0:16:30.000 and so they're just arresting people and they're not they 0:16:30.120 --> 0:16:31.560 kind of you know, it's a bit of a it's 0:16:31.560 --> 0:16:34.360 a tricky one because if you're if you're trying to leave, 0:16:35.520 --> 0:16:39.800 you know, you're well, why are you leaving now? And 0:16:40.920 --> 0:16:43.640 at the same time people are trying to find moles 0:16:43.800 --> 0:16:46.960 and spies. The regime is trying to find moles and spies, 0:16:47.000 --> 0:16:49.440 and so it's just it's just dangerous. 0:16:49.080 --> 0:16:52.880 To automatically a suspect as far as they're concerned. 0:16:53.760 --> 0:16:55.640 But even just being out in the streets of checking 0:16:55.680 --> 0:16:59.400 people's phones, like it's just a terrifying existence. And so 0:16:59.520 --> 0:17:02.600 you're just in your house and mind you remember it's 0:17:02.640 --> 0:17:06.280 Persian New Year, So Persian New Year starts on the 0:17:06.320 --> 0:17:09.840 first day of the years on Friday. Last night, there's 0:17:09.920 --> 0:17:13.200 a tradition called Charsha Ambassuri which you jump over fire 0:17:13.400 --> 0:17:15.200 and sort of leave the ailments of the year of 0:17:15.280 --> 0:17:18.160 the past and you kind of take the vibrance of the. 0:17:18.040 --> 0:17:21.639 Fire just to timestamp this because this is going to 0:17:21.640 --> 0:17:24.080 happen after the New Year. We're going to air this 0:17:24.119 --> 0:17:28.679 literally Monday after the New Year, so we're speaking before Friday, 0:17:28.720 --> 0:17:31.280 but people will be hearing this after the New Year ahead. 0:17:31.359 --> 0:17:34.320 Yeah, so New Year goes on for thirteen days of celebration. 0:17:35.080 --> 0:17:37.160 And not going to be a celebration this year. 0:17:37.880 --> 0:17:41.920 No, But interesting enough, we are seeing videos coming out 0:17:41.960 --> 0:17:45.160 of people who actually did go out and put little 0:17:45.200 --> 0:17:47.440 fires out and they were jumping out or jumping over 0:17:47.440 --> 0:17:50.360 the fires, which the security forces tried to shut down. 0:17:50.359 --> 0:17:52.359 But they do that every year because it's not an 0:17:52.440 --> 0:17:56.280 Islamic tradition. It's a pre Islamic tradition. It's from their 0:17:56.320 --> 0:18:00.919 Astrian era and it's just a Persian ronnie and tradition, 0:18:01.160 --> 0:18:05.080 and so they don't like that, so they try to 0:18:05.119 --> 0:18:06.919 killer their joy. 0:18:07.000 --> 0:18:08.640 And they would they do that anytime. 0:18:08.320 --> 0:18:11.640 A year, every year, every year, every year. 0:18:14.240 --> 0:18:16.560 This episode of the Chuck Podcast is brought to you 0:18:16.600 --> 0:18:20.480 by Wild Grain. Wild Grain is the first bake from 0:18:20.600 --> 0:18:25.480 Frozen subscription box for sour dough breads, arteiasonal pastries and 0:18:25.520 --> 0:18:28.959 fresh pastas, plus all the items conveniently baked in twenty 0:18:29.040 --> 0:18:33.040 five minutes or less, Unlike many store brought options. 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That's thirty dollars off your first box and 0:19:49.680 --> 0:19:52.920 free croissants for life when you visit wildgrain dot com 0:19:52.960 --> 0:19:57.280 slash podcast, or simply use the promo code podcast at checkout. 0:19:57.680 --> 0:20:00.959 This is a sponsor. I absolutely am brace, so use 0:20:01.040 --> 0:20:07.359 that code. You're pretty convinced this regime can hang on? 0:20:07.480 --> 0:20:12.080 Why? Oh no, I don't. I mean, like, I'm not 0:20:12.240 --> 0:20:15.560 convinced that they can, that they will hang on. So 0:20:15.640 --> 0:20:18.560 they can hang on, I'm not convinced that they will 0:20:18.600 --> 0:20:24.719 hang on because ultimately, I mean, here's the thing. There's 0:20:25.400 --> 0:20:28.239 the Trump administration says that people need to rise up 0:20:28.240 --> 0:20:32.240 and take back their country, and yes they can, but 0:20:32.960 --> 0:20:36.280 you can't bring a knife to a gunfight. And the 0:20:36.359 --> 0:20:40.199 opposition is inside it be in prison. So I'm the 0:20:40.280 --> 0:20:44.560 executive producer of an animated short documentary, a film directed 0:20:44.600 --> 0:20:48.359 by a Hodda Soapani, an Iranian filmmaker, and this is 0:20:48.400 --> 0:20:52.120 the story of her friend Nedda, who was a woman 0:20:52.240 --> 0:20:56.800 life freedom activist and she was thrown in prison and 0:20:57.800 --> 0:21:00.760 the story is of a night where in prison was 0:21:00.800 --> 0:21:08.399 on fire and it was a strange evening because they 0:21:08.400 --> 0:21:11.000 could hear gunshots, they didn't really know what was going on, 0:21:11.880 --> 0:21:15.600 and it was a really harrowing evening. And then suddenly 0:21:15.640 --> 0:21:18.080 two days later they were all released and they were 0:21:18.119 --> 0:21:22.120 threatened to never talk about that night. So something happened, 0:21:22.600 --> 0:21:26.439 very likely a sort of attempted uprising from inside the prison. 0:21:28.160 --> 0:21:32.280 And so the way for the regime to not survive 0:21:32.920 --> 0:21:35.879 is quite frankly, for those people to be empowered. And 0:21:35.920 --> 0:21:37.919 in order for them to be empowered, they need to 0:21:37.920 --> 0:21:40.520 be busted out of prison and some sort of special operations, 0:21:41.240 --> 0:21:44.440 and they need to be armed. I mean, remember, this 0:21:44.520 --> 0:21:47.360 regime didn't come out of nowhere. There was a revolution 0:21:47.440 --> 0:21:51.359 in nineteen seventy nine, and so a counter revolution is 0:21:52.480 --> 0:21:53.760 very much a possibility. 0:21:54.320 --> 0:21:56.800 So I spoke with John Bolton a couple weeks ago, 0:21:57.200 --> 0:22:01.320 and his big criticism of what Trump's done is the 0:22:01.440 --> 0:22:06.480 lack of attempt even attempting to work with an opposition 0:22:06.720 --> 0:22:09.800 to organize, to help organize it. Frankly, you know a 0:22:09.800 --> 0:22:11.560 lot of this. You you have to plant these seeds 0:22:11.560 --> 0:22:16.719 before the military campaign begins and look for a variety 0:22:16.720 --> 0:22:19.119 of reasons, whether it's killing U. S. A, I D 0:22:20.000 --> 0:22:22.840 neutering the US Information Agency, right, all of our soft 0:22:22.840 --> 0:22:27.680 power tools got gutted. So so that was a missing piece. 0:22:29.400 --> 0:22:32.159 But this issue with the opposition, because it's this is 0:22:32.240 --> 0:22:34.359 you know, the other version of events you here, you 0:22:34.400 --> 0:22:37.840 know they're they're in prison or they're in hiding, right 0:22:37.880 --> 0:22:41.880 because they've been dispersed or they've been killed by by 0:22:41.920 --> 0:22:46.879 this regime. So it sounds like you think that, you know, 0:22:47.119 --> 0:22:49.320 if there was if there had been some pre war 0:22:49.400 --> 0:22:53.560 planning of okay, you know who are who are some 0:22:53.600 --> 0:22:57.200 of the key opposition leaders. Now it's look to give 0:22:57.200 --> 0:22:59.320 you my read from this, it's clear that after the 0:22:59.359 --> 0:23:03.160 experienced I'm had with Venezuela, he decided the easy way 0:23:03.200 --> 0:23:05.800 out is Hey, the big criticism of Iraq was the 0:23:05.800 --> 0:23:10.240 debathification process. So why don't we just keep the regime 0:23:10.280 --> 0:23:14.639 in place and just find a more client leader. We 0:23:14.680 --> 0:23:16.720 did it in Venezuela. Why can't we do it here? 0:23:18.119 --> 0:23:21.680 So they you know, that appears to be how they 0:23:22.240 --> 0:23:26.080 sort of set aside the idea of working with an opposition, 0:23:26.119 --> 0:23:30.200 of developing an opposition, of essentially freeing the opposition from 0:23:30.320 --> 0:23:34.840