talk iran

Mar 29 2023 26 ep. 45 mins 1.4k

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This is an independent, non-partisan podcast for discussing Iran-related topics, hosted by Saman Askari, an Iranian-American professional from the San Francisco Bay Area.

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A Conversation with John Ghazvinian

Mar 29 2023 46 mins

In this episode, I speak with John Ghazvinian, an author, historian and a former journalist. He's considered a foremost expert on US-Iran relations and has written a comprehensive book about the subject. John and I start off by talking about his book and the relationship between the US and Iran, going all the way back to the 1720’s up until the current times.In the first half of

Another Conversation with Amir Afkhami - COVID-19 Edition

Apr 18 2020 73 mins

In this episode, I speak again with a previous guest, Dr. Amir Afkhami, a health policy expert, historian and trained physician. This episode is all about COVID-19! Early in the episode, we discuss the nature of this coronavirus and how it affects the body. Then, we get into the subject of Iran and how the country became one of the epicenters of the disease, its government’s resp

A Conversation with Afshon Ostovar

Jan 26 2020 62 mins

In this episode, I speak with Afshon Ostovar, a historian, author and a foremost expert on the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). Afshon and I cover a lot of ground. We start by talking about the historical context around the IRGC, when and how it was started, its role in the Iran-Iraq war, how the organization evolved through the years, how it is different than Iran’s reg

A Conversation with Naz Deravian

Nov 23 2019 50 mins

In this episode, I speak with Naz Deravian, a cookbook author and Persian food expert. Naz and I discuss her background, her transition into the culinary world, the magic of tahdig and Iranian rice, regional varieties and diversity of Iranian cuisine, spiciness of Persian food or rather the lack thereof and of course kabab! As a warning, you’re going to get really really hungry i

A Coversation with Amir Afkhami

Aug 18 2019 58 mins

In this episode, I speak with Amir Akhami, a psychiatrist and a historian of medicine, about the history of cholera in Iran. We talk about his multi-disciplinary career and how his various areas of knowledge converge in his work. We discuss what Cholera is, its history starting in the 19th century and its role in the history of Iran in particular, from a medical, social and politic

A Conversation with Narges Bajoghli

Jul 04 2019 43 mins

In this episode, I speak with Narges Bajoghli, an award-winning anthropologist, filmmaker, writer and an Assistant Professor of Middle East Studies at Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies. We mostly talk about the topics in her upcoming book titled 'Iran Reframed,' which is about the state-controlled media in the Islamic Republic of Iran. We discuss wha

A Conversation with Reza Zia-Ebrahimi

Apr 20 2019 48 mins

In this episode, I speak with Reza Zia-Ebrahimi, a historian and a Senior Lecturer at King's College London. We talk about what he calls 'dislocative nationalism', a sort of Iranian nationalism that was deliberately devised and disseminated, starting in the 19th century. He outlines the founding of dislocative nationalism and how it aimed to cast Iran’s pre-Islamic period as the

End of Season 1 Update

Mar 09 2019 1 mins

I'm ending Season 1 of talk iran with this short update episode. Stay tuned for Season 2 starting in April!

A Conversation with Lior Sternfeld

Jan 06 2019 30 mins

In this episode, I speak with Lior Sternfeld, a social historian of the modern Middle East with a particular interest in the histories of the Jewish populations of the region. Lior and I talk about the 2,700-year history of the Iranian Jewish population focusing mostly on the 20th century and the misperceptions of the lives of Jews in Iran. We further talk about how Iranian Jews be

A Conversation with Bahman Kalbasi

Dec 06 2018 51 mins

In this episode, I speak with Bahman Kalbasi, the New York and United Nations Correspondent for BBC Persian. He and I talk about the recent US sanctions against Iran and the reports of related shortages in food and medicine coming out of that country, how the tension between the US and Iran may unfold, the various Iranian opposition movements in exile and whether they have mobilizi