NIACast Episode #14 – Professor John Ghazvinian’s New Book, “America and Iran: A History 1720 to the Present”
Assal, Sina, and Mana sat down with Professor John Ghazvinian, director of the University of Pennsylvania’s Middle East Center, to discuss his new book: America and Iran: A History 1720 to the Present. Ghazvinian’s study presents a history that is often overlooked, which goes beyond the historical grievances of the U.S. and Iran.
NIACast Episode #12 – Ambassador John Limbert’s New Novel, “Believers: Love and Death in Tehran”
Assal and Mana sat down with NIAC Advisory Board Member Ambassador John Limbert to discuss his new novel with co-author Ambassador Marc Grossman, Believers: Love and Death in Tehran. Though a tale of fiction, Limbert brings his knowledge of Iran’s history, language, and culture, as well as his own experience as one of 52 American hostages held by Iranian students in 1979, to this engrossing spy novel set in Iran at the outset of the U.S. embassy seizure.
NIACast Episode #11 – Sabotage in Iran and the CIA’s New Powers
Jamal and Sina sit down with veteran CIA analyst Paul Pillar to discuss the mysterious explosions that continue to rock Iran and new revelations of authorizations granted to the Agency to wage offensive cyber operations and conduct what some say is a campaign aimed at destabilizing the country.
NIACast Episode #10 – Councilwoman Mitra Jalali on Black Lives Matter & anti-Blackness in the Iranian-American Community
Mana and Assal sat down with Saint Paul Councilwoman, organizer, and former teacher Mitra Jalali one month after the brutal killing of George Floyd at the hands of police. Mitra spoke of her own experience as a Councilwoman close to the site of Floyd’s murder and protests and the responsibility of non-Black Iranian Americans to support Black Lives Matter and confront the anti-Blackness within our own community.
NIACast Episode #8 – Book Talk: “In Praise of Big Noses” with Persis Karim
Continuing our series of conversations with authors featured in “My Shadow is My Skin: Voices from the Iranian Diaspora,” Assal and Mana chat with Dr. Persis Karim, who contributed an essay and the forward for the anthology, and helped bring the entire project together with her work at San Francisco State University’s Center for Iranian Diaspora Studies. Both thoughtful and witty, her essay, “In Praise of Big Noses,” reflects on the influence of the western aesthetic on the Iranian body.
NIACast Episode #9 – Book Talk: “My Mom Killed Michael Jackson” with Shokoofeh Rajabzadeh
In our final chat with authors featured in “My Shadow is My Skin: Voices from the Iranian Diaspora,” Mana and Assal sit down with Shokoofeh Rajabzadeh. Her essay, “My Mom Killed Michael Jackson,” explores her travels to Iran and a personal story of longing for a place that is at once familiar, yet out of reach.
NIACast Episode #7 – Group Chat: Bad narratives and dangerous proposals for Trump and Biden on Iran
Jamal, Ryan and Sina discuss The New Yorker piece “Twilight of the Revolution” and a proposal from the rightwing organization JINSA urging Trump to officially pursue “regime collapse” in Iran. Then they look at Sina’s recent series in Responsible Statecraft on dangerous proposals from the Democratic side for Iran and how a Biden administration actually should approach the region.
NIACast Episode #6 – Book Talk with Darius Atefat-Peckham
For the second part in our series of conversations with the authors featured in “My Shadow Is My Skin: Voices from the Iranian Diaspora,” Assal sat down with Darius Atefat-Peckham, an up and coming poet whose contribution to the anthology, “Learning Farsi,” is a reflection on his mother’s passing when he was just 3 and the Iranian identity she handed down to him.
NIACast Episode #5 – Group Chat: Two Years of Maximum Pressure
On the two-year anniversary of the Trump administration’s decision to exit the Iran nuclear deal in favor of “maximum pressure” sanctions — and coinciding with the president’s veto of anti-war legislation — Mana, Ryan, Assal, and Jamal reflect on how we got here and where things may be headed.
NIACast Episode #4 – Book Talk: “My Shadow Is My Skin: Voices from the Iranian Diaspora”
A new anthology, “My Shadow Is My Skin: Voices from the Iranian Diaspora,” presents 30 essays on the Iranian-American experience from a range of authors. Mana and Assal speak with the editors, Katherine Whitney and Leila Emery. Order your copy today through your local bookstore! Also available on Amazon.
NIACast – Episode 3: Pompeo wants back in the Iran deal… sort of
Welcome to NIACast! Join the staff of the National Iranian American Council (NIAC) as we break down the current political issues, celebrate arts and culture, and discuss the most pressing issues of the day with experts and members of the Iranian-American community. Want to submit a question to be answered on air? Send it over […]
NIACast – Episode 2: The curious case of Dr. Sirous Asgari
Welcome to NIACast! Join the staff of the National Iranian American Council (NIAC) as we break down the current political issues, celebrate arts and culture, and discuss the most pressing issues of the day with experts and members of the Iranian-American community. Want to submit a question to be answered on air? Send it over […]