Did Iran Just Launch A Shadow War On American Soil? (With Shane Harris)

Did Iran Just Launch A Shadow War On American Soil? (With Shane Harris)

From Lever Time by David Sirota

March 12, 2026 · 44 min · Season 7 · Episode 14

About this episode

David Sirota discusses the implications of a mysterious shortwave radio broadcast linked to Iran with Shane Harris.

When American bombs dropped on Iran, a mysterious shortwave radio station began broadcasting a list of numbers in Farsi across the globe. Reminiscent of Cold War spy communications, the broadcast raises serious questions: Where is the broadcast coming from, and who is listening to it? Is Iran sending messages to terrorist sleeper cells in the United States? And how is the Trump administration addressing these concerns, if at all? Today on Lever Time, David Sirota sits down with Shane Harris from The Atlantic to get some answers. For a transcript of this episode, click here. Read Shane's original story in The Atlantic.⁠ Get ad-free episodes, bonus content and extended interviews by becoming a member at levernews.com/join. To leave a tip for The Lever, click here. It helps us do this kind of independent journalism. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

People in this episode

Host: David Sirota

Guest: Shane Harris

Topics covered

  • Iran
  • shadow war
  • American soil
  • terrorist sleeper cells
  • Trump administration
  • broadcasting
  • national security

Keywords

  • Iran
  • shadow war
  • shortwave radio
  • terrorism
  • Trump administration
  • national security
  • broadcast

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: The Atlantic

Products: Lever

Places: Iran, United States

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