Making the Case America Was Winning in Iran

About this episode

The episode discusses the argument that America's strategy in Iran is effective, featuring insights from Muhanad Seloom.

Recorded March 24, 2026. Subscribe at angryplanetpod.com to hear episodes first and commercial free. Last week an article published in Al Jazeera by an academic at the University of Doha in Qatar proposed something that felt crazy to some western war watchers: America and Israel’s strategy in Iran is working. On this episode of Angry Planet, author Muhanad Seloom is here to explain his position. Seloom is an assistant professor of international politics and security at the University of Doha. He’s also an Iraqi who lived through the Iran-Iraq war and both US invasions. From his perspective, the US has degraded Iran’s ability to hurt its neighbors in the long term and changed the regime. What comes next is a more complicated question. Why did this war even start? Setting aside morality and legality to look at ground truths “Iran is much weaker” Missile production, missile range The highly enriched uranium is in one place “The regime has changed. Whether we like it or not, the regime has changed.” The case against the new Khamenei What is it like to live nextdoor to Iran? There’s a reason no one is standing up for Iran Why isn’t the GCC doing more? What happens if we pick up and…

People in this episode

Guest: Muhanad Seloom

Topics covered

• Iran
• US foreign policy
• Middle East
• war strategy

Keywords

• Iran-Iraq war
• US invasions
• international politics
• security

Mentioned in this episode

Places: America, Iran, Qatar, Israel, US, Hormuz, Afghanistan, Iraq

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