Today, on the day following Iran’s unprecedented strikes on Israel, I spoke with American-born, Iranian professor Mohammad Marandi about the significance of the Iranian strikes.
Professor Marandi is the son of Alireza Marandi, a physician who served as Iran’s Minister of Health and a member of Iran’s Parliament. After being born and raised in the United States, he returned to Iran and volunteered to fight in the Iran-Iraq war. During the war, he survived two chemical weapons attacks and was wounded on two other occasions.
Professor Marandi later became the head of the North American Studies program at the University of Tehran and is currently a Professor of Orientalism and English Literature at the university. He has appeared as a political and social commentator on Sky News, CNN, BBC and Al Jazeera, among other international news organizations. He was also a media adviser to the Iranian nuclear negotiations team in Vienna.
According to Professor Marandi, the era of Iranian “strategic patience” is over. “Iranians have changed the equation”, he argues. Iran will respond to future Israeli aggressions with “disproportionate” force.
Professor Marandi and I also had a wide-ranging discussion about the post-WWII history of Iran’s relations with the West and the relentless efforts of the U.S. and British governments to suppress the popular will of the Iranian people.
You can watch and listen to our discussion here:
Thank you for your mails. It’s good to read news out of our normal media-I am fed up with their unilateral US_Propaganda!