Can America And Iran Ever Become Friends? (Kim Iversen)

Seyed Mohammad Marandi is an Iranian American academic and political analyst who is currently a professor of English Literature and Orientalism at the University of Tehran. He volunteered as a fighter in the Iran-Iraq war. He was an adviser to the Iranian nuclear negotiations team in Vienna. Professor Marandi joins us to discuss recent developments in Iran-US negotiations.



One thing to consider about Iran is that it was formerly Persia. They're different in many ways from the Arab nations of the region. The present problem is the influence of the neocons in the US and the fact that Trump has acted like a psychopath in threatening to murder the Iranian negotiation team. Marandi points out that ISIS and Al Qaeda are tools of the West, not Iran. 

[Posted at the SpookyWeather2 blog, June 25, 2026.]