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June 13, 2025 49 mins

This episode was recorded just hours before Israel attacked Iran.

Click here for the full interview with Johns Hopkins Professor Vali Nasr: https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/extended-episode-is-iran-israel-about?r=je5va&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false

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Hours after we spoke to Johns Hopkins Professor of Advanced International Studies Vali Nasr, Israel killed multiple Iranian military officials in a strike against “Iranian nuclear sites.” Both Israel and the United States threatened “even more brutal” attacks to come.

Professor Nasr, whose latest book is Iran’s Grand Strategy: A Political History, explains why Israel benefits from attacking Iran, and why they can’t do it without US assistance and consent.

Useful Idiots: Are you expecting some sort of military strike from Israel against Iran?

Professor Vali Nasr: I don't think Israel is actually able to take out Iran's nuclear facilities on its own without US assistance. It could perhaps hit Iran and then hope the Iranians would retaliate and then bring the United States into a war with Iran. But even in order to get to Iran, Israel cannot surprise the US. It has to go through US radar lines. This idea that Israel would attack Iran on its own without telling the United States, without US cooperation or US support, is just not credible.

Useful Idiots: From Iran's perspective, can you explain why enrichment is a red line? Why they insist on what they see as their right to enrich and how they would respond to an argument from the outside saying, ‘Why can't you meet your energy needs through some other means that doesn't include enrichment, which could put you one day on the path to a nuclear weapon?’

Professor Nasr: They view it as an inherent right. To say that Iran does not have a right to enrich is basically singling out I

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