Episodes

Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode! As World War II engulfs the globe, Iran finds itself caught between empires. Mohammed Reza Shah looks to the United States for a counterweight to British and Soviet influence. But when Hitler invades the Soviet Union in 1941, Iran's strategic importance becomes impossible for the Allies to ignore. Britain and the Soviet Union invade, occupy the country, and divide control between them. Iran'...

Can a nation modernize and reclaim its independence when powerful foreign empires are determined to keep it within their grasp? Between 1920 and 1941, Iran's attempt to forge its own future collides with the ambitions of Britain, the Soviet Union, and the upheaval of World War II. Reza Pahlavi rises to power as Reza Shah, founding the Pahlavi dynasty and launching an ambitious campaign to transform Iran, inspired in part by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk's modernization of Turkey. But strengthening hi...

Intelligence professional and Substack author Sharon Bibee joins us for this episode, which kicks off our new series "The U.S. and Iran: What Went Wrong." We begin with a discussion of the U.S. response to events in what was then Qajar Persia from 1800 to 1920, a time when Iran was a pawn in the struggle for dominance in the region between the British and Russia Empires. American missionaries play a positive role in our story, and we meet two Americans -- missionary and teacher Howard Baskervill...