Watch our full, unpaywalled interviews with Sina Toossi and Negar Razavi here:
As Israel ramps up its Trump-backed, unprovoked war on Iran, warmongering U.S. politicians, Western media, and the “experts” they turn to are revealing that they have no idea what they’re talking about.
So we at Useful Idiots decided to do something crazy and interview people who actually do know what they’re talking about: Iranian-American analyst and Senior Fellow at the Center for International Policy Sina Toossi and Iranian-American Associate Research Scholar at Princeton University's Iran and Persian Gulf Center Negar Razavi. We are releasing them unpaywalled so their messages can be heard.
Useful Idiots: What do you think is the most important thing for people to know right now about what is happening [with Iran, Israel, and the United States]?
Sina Toossi: This is a completely unnecessary, unjustified war. It is objectively a war of aggression on Israel's part. Iran had just done five rounds of negotiations with Trump, and Trump was adamant that he wanted a deal. And all of a sudden, they're surprise-attacking Iran. So this is a war of choice.
This could be potentially catastrophic for American interests and stability in the Middle East and the world. And it is entirely due to the recklessness and impunity by which the Israeli government has been acting.
Useful Idiots: I want to show you a headline from the New York Times. This is just shocking: “Israeli strikes kill civilians across Iran.” After a year and a half of Israel’s genocide in Gaza, a headline like this, just a straightforward, factual headline that applies agency to Israel as it kills civilians is a rarity. It's almost unheard of. What are your thoughts on this and the overall media climate in this Israeli assault on Iran?
Negar Razavi: The fact that we are all shocked by this headline is in itself shocking. We have come to expect the mainstream media to always center Israeli lives when they are lost and to always put the losses of Palestinian lives, Lebanese lives, Yemeni lives, and now Iranian lives in the passive tense. They have somehow died without the aggressor being named.
The fact that this was just given straightforward, and then they took one step further and interviewed fifty people inside Iran to actually add some texture to those losses and tell the stories of the people who have been killed, this is unprecedented. And the fact that we are starting with this and remarking on how exceptional it is in itself, it tells us a lot about the Iran discussion and the Iran debate.
Useful Idiots: Here's a video of Netanyahu:
“The nation of Iran and the nation of Israel have been true friends since the days of Cyrus the Great. And the time has come for you to stand up for your freedom from an evil and oppressive regime. This is your opportunity to stand up and let your voices be heard. Woman, life, freedom. Zan, Zendegi, Azadi. Israel's fight is not with you, the brave people of Iran, whom we respect and admire. Our fight is with our common enemy, a murderous regime that both oppresses you and impoverishes you. Brave people of Iran, your light will defeat the darkness. I am with you.”
Okay, so I know it's laughable. I heard you laughing. It's like we're watching a standup routine. But what are your thoughts on this [standup] set?
Sina Toossi: It's ISIS with nukes with the backing of the entire West: They're religious fanatics, they engage in genocidal slaughter, they're trying to destabilize the region. I don't think there's that much moral difference between what they're doing.
And so Netanyahu right now is acting like he's liberating Iranian women. I saw a tweet that said that they're liberating Iranian women from their lives.
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Plus, catch this week’s Thursday Throwdown: Trump Outsources Iran WMD Lies to Israel
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