Society & Culture
On January 3, 2020, Iranian General Ghasem Soleimani, considered to be the second most powerful man in Iran and a key figure in the middle east was killed in an attack ordered by U.S. President Donald Trump. The immediate response from the Islamic Republic of Iran was to launch missiles, targeting a U.S. military base in Iraq. The turmoil that ensued filled the airways with talks of an all-out war between the U.S. and Iran. These event were preceeded by a period of significant domestic uprisings by Iranians in Iran that led to thousands killed and imprisoned by the Iranian regime as they protested the recent gas price increase and other economic and social hardships. In light of these events, Nomadland extended an invitation to returning guest, Pouya Alimagham. Mr. Alimagham is a historian of the modern Middle East. He specializes on Iran, Iraq, and the Levant, focusing on such themes as revolutionary and guerrilla movements, imperialism, representation and Orientalism, “Political Islam” and post-Islamism, and the intersections therein. This extended Nomadland podcast episode features a time-sensitive conversation around U.S.' killing of Soleimani, the retaliation by Iran and subsequent events and consequences for Iran, the United States and key regional states in the Middle East.