Episode 11: Iran is imploding - A conversation with Dr. Sharona Mazalian Levi

Episode 11: Iran is imploding - A conversation with Dr. Sharona Mazalian Levi

As the Trump administration tries to strike a deal curtailing Iran's nuclear program, I turned to Dr. Sharona Mazalian Levi, an Iran expert and proud Persian Jew, to try to take us past the headlines and political elites to the conditions and hopes of ordinary Iranians.


Dr. Mazalian paints a dire picture. Desperate shortages of clean water, electricity and gas, a collapsed currency, a third of the population under the poverty line, an oppressive religious police, the highest rate of executions in the world, severe air pollution and environmental degradation -- and a regime more interested in exporting its "revolution" than tackling any of these problems.


Iran, one of the most energy-rich places on Earth, is "a poor nation in a rich country."


Today’s episode is sponsored by the Sapir, the quarterly journal edited by Pulitzer-prize-winning commentator Bret Stephens. If you’re in the US, you can get this excellent journal sent to you absolutely free by going to http://sapirjournal.org/AskHaviv. Please use the link. It helps the podcast if they know we sent you.


Sapir are initiating the Sapir Debates, a series of live debates on issues facing the Jewish people. The first debate will take place at 92NY on May 15 at 7 pm.


Former Obama chief of staff and Chicago mayor Rahm Emmanuel and former Trump special envoy to the Middle East Jason Greenblatt will debate the topic: “Is Donald Trump good for the Jews?”


To purchase tickets to the inaugural SAPIR debate, go to http://sapirjournal.org/sapirdebate.


Please join me on Patreon to support this project: ⁠ www.patreon.com/AskHavivAnything⁠


If you would like to sponsor an episode, please email us at ⁠haviv@askhavivanything.com⁠.


A podcast by Haviv Rettig Gur

Episoder(94)

Episode 65: The unseen editors rigging the information war, with Ashley Rindsberg

Episode 65: The unseen editors rigging the information war, with Ashley Rindsberg

The internet has democratized information. Or so we are told. The world's knowledge is now at everyone's fingertips. No government and no power structure can gatekeep what everyone sees and hears.But ...

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Episode 64: The Soviet roots of today's antizionism, with Izabella Tabarovsky

Episode 64: The Soviet roots of today's antizionism, with Izabella Tabarovsky

Izabella Tabarovsky is a scholar of Soviet antizionism and contemporary antisemitism, a contributor to many books and a senior fellow at the Z3 Institute. Her latest book is “Be a Refusenik: A Jewish ...

28 Nov 20251h 19min

Episode 63: New York in the age of Tucker and Mamdani, with Noam Dworman

Episode 63: New York in the age of Tucker and Mamdani, with Noam Dworman

Noam Dworman is the owner of the legendary Comedy Cellar comedy club in New York. He a lifelong New Yorker, a podcaster and an astute observer of his city and his country.What does he make of the inco...

25 Nov 202555min

Episode 62: Hard times make strong Jews. Live in London with Daniel Schwammenthal.

Episode 62: Hard times make strong Jews. Live in London with Daniel Schwammenthal.

Today's episode is a very special show which was recorded live on November 10, 2025 at the Finchley United Synagogue - Kinloss in London. Haviv had the pleasure of sharing the stage with Jewish Chroni...

20 Nov 20251h 48min

Episode 61: Is criticizing Israel antisemitic?

Episode 61: Is criticizing Israel antisemitic?

Welcome to our new short-form episodes interspersed with the regular interviews that dive into an often-asked question about Israel, Jews and the Middle East. Our current question: Is criticizing Isra...

19 Nov 202510min

Episode 60: Does it matter what the world thinks? A conversation with Dr. Tal Becker

Episode 60: Does it matter what the world thinks? A conversation with Dr. Tal Becker

These are strange times to be a Jew. Jews are in many ways safer and stronger than ever, but face a surge of antisemitism unlike anything seen in generations. This includes a hatred of Jewish collecti...

16 Nov 202548min

Episode 59: Are Jews indigenous to Israel?

Episode 59: Are Jews indigenous to Israel?

We’re trying something new at AHA: Short-from episodes interspersed with the regular interviews that dive into an often-asked question about Israel, Jews and the Middle East. Our first question sent i...

13 Nov 202513min

Episode 58: Rebuilding after disaster with ex-hostage Tal Shoham

Episode 58: Rebuilding after disaster with ex-hostage Tal Shoham

As Israelis wait with bated breath to discover if the body of Hadar Goldin, killed and taken into Gaza in 2014, will be returned for burial in Israel, we sit down with returned hostage Tal Shoham for ...

9 Nov 202557min

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