Iranians Are Ready To Be Free
It’s been three weeks since the United States and Israel attacked Iran, killing Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
And, for three weeks, rockets have flown across the Middle East in all directions. The UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Iraq have kept their guard up as different assets have been targeted.
As these oil-rich nations are thrown into turmoil, gas prices in the U.S. have gone up by nearly a dollar in the last month, with many Americans wondering when the prices will stabilize.
More crucially, two different water desalination plants have been hit. These facilities provide essential water for millions in the Middle East —and neither the U.S., Israel nor Iran has taken responsibility for these destabilizing attacks.
Over 20,000 people are suffering injuries from the war, and over 2,500 people have been killed, with the majority in Iran and Lebanon.
Babies, not even a year old, have been among the casualties, as have 168 other children at an Iranian elementary school.
Even after Khamenei’s death, government leaders have chosen his son to take over his role, and it is clear that Iran has pockets brimming with locals who support the continuance of his extremist regime. So, in a conflict where death is abundant, and instability is crashing in from all sides, it is worth asking: “What do the Iranian people stand to gain from all this chaos?”
To answer this question, I sat down with Erica Kasraie, an Iran-born American, Middle East expert, human rights activist and producer of a short documentary “Occupied Homeland,” which details the January massacre of Iranian protesters and the history of the Iranian people.
In this week’s podcast, Kasraie speaks on how the Islamic revolution came to be, the difference between Iranian culture and Islamic culture, the possibility of democracy in Iran and her hopes and fears for the future.
You can listen to the Religion Unplugged podcast on Apple and Spotify.
Matthew Peterson is Religion Unplugged’s podcast editor and audience development coordinator. He took part in this past summer’s European Journalism Institute held in Prague, an annual program co-sponsored by The Media Project.