Iran’s Annus Horribilis

2020 was an awful year for Iran. A year that started with the assassination of the country's widely popular, leading general ended with the assassination of its most important nuclear scientist. The three year old recession deepened while inflation soared. Widespread shortages, including medicines, made the fight against the pandemic all the more difficult. American “maximum pressure” combined with Iranian mismanagement took a huge toll on the country and on ordinary people. Yet, if anything, the regime seems more firmly in power today than a year or two ago.

How can that be? Will it change? Is there any chance that the Green Movement of a decade ago will reappear during this election year?

Answers are difficult to find, but this week’s New Thinking for a New World podcast guests are in the business of looking for them. Sima Shine leads the Iran program at Israel's prestigious Institute for National Security Studies and spent most of her career in the Israeli Intelligence Community. Dr. Sanam Vakil is deputy director of Chatham House's Middle East Africa Program, where she leads the Iran Forum among other projects.

Listen as they discuss Iran, today and tomorrow.