On September 13th, 22 year-old Mahsa Amini was arrested and subsequently murdered in custody by Iran’s so-called morality police. Her abuse at the hands of the Islamic Republic regime sparked the nation’s biggest uprising since the 2009 Green Revolutions. Over a month later, the chants of “Women, life liberty” have continued, but so has the brutal crackdown by the regime, resulting in hundreds of deaths. Iranian society is making clear that it wants an end to the system and the people that have governed Iran since 1979, but is that possible? And would the fall of the regime mean a power vacuum filled by Iranian military leaders? Back home, will Biden’s support for democracy prove more “ornamental than instrumental”?
These questions and more with our guest Behnam Ben Taleblu. Taleblu is a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense for Democracies where he focuses on Iranian security and political issues. Prior to FDD, he worked on non-proliferation issues at the Wisconsin Project and has tracked a wide range of Iran-related topics including: nuclear non-proliferation, ballistic missiles, sanctions, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, and Iranian security and internal politics.