Hormuz: Spin in the Strait | The Listening Post

Summary

Podcast Summary: "Hormuz: Spin in the Strait"

Podcast: The Listening Post (Al Jazeera)
Episode Date: April 18, 2026
Host: The Listening Post team

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Episode Overview

This episode examines the complex interplay of media narratives, propaganda, and information warfare around the recent reopening of the Strait of Hormuz amid a tenuous ceasefire following an extended US-Israeli war on Iran. It dissects the messaging wars over Iran’s nuclear program, the war's impact in Lebanon, the shifting narratives within and about the Iranian diaspora, and the deteriorating relationships between Israel and its European allies. A central theme is the role of media—both traditional and digital—in shaping public understanding of rapidly unfolding geopolitical events and in facilitating the information war that runs parallel to real-world conflict.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Strait of Hormuz: Conflict, Ceasefire, and Messaging War

• The Strait of Hormuz—a global oil lifeline—was closed amid the US-Israeli war on Iran, causing international panic and skyrocketing gas prices.
• A new ceasefire led to Iran reopening the strait conditionally, but both US and Iranian officials emphasize its fragility.

  "So with that in mind, at the time of this recording, there is a new ceasefire in place. A 10 day one between Israel and Lebanon. The other ceasefire between Iran and its American and Israeli adversaries is still holding. However fragile it may be..." — Analyst/Commentator [02:33]

• President Trump’s “erratic” response and Europe's reluctance to militarily police the strait highlight shifting power dynamics and a breakdown of traditional alliances.

  "Trump is an erratic political animal. And Iran's closure of the strait has driven him to distraction. His lashing out, threatening to wipe away Iranian civilization. And it's led him to lash out against the Pope, which has led to widespread condemnation." — Political Commentator [03:11]

2. Asymmetrical Conflict: Military Actions and Media Strategies

• The US and its allies’ military superiority was countered by Iran’s use of drones and targeted missiles, as well as digital tactics such as meme campaigns.
• Iran's information offensive included using childish, meme-driven content to effectively communicate and shape global perceptions, especially around gas prices and US leadership.

  "Some of their material, like the AI memes built around Lego figures, has been purposefully childish. And because of a variety of factors, it has proven to be highly effective." — Analyst/Commentator [04:41] "What I find striking is how on point Iran's messaging has been about the gas prices here in the US hurting Americans. Even if some of the videos or messaging seems juvenile…" — Media Analyst [05:04]

3. The Israeli-Lebanese Ceasefire and the Axis of Resistance

• Israel violated a truce with Iran almost immediately, bombing over 100 targets in Lebanon and causing over 350 deaths, underlining the fragility and volatility of local ceasefires.

  "On April 8, the day after the truce with Iran was announced, the Israelis violated it, bombing more than 100 targets in Lebanon. The death toll, according to Lebanese officials, more than 350 people." — Analyst/Commentator [06:15]

• Israel aims to break the so-called “axis of resistance” (Iran, Hezbollah, Gaza, Damascus), with comparisons to its occupation of South Lebanon from 1978–2000.

4. Iran’s Nuclear Program: Narratives, Politics, and Media Shortfalls

• The war’s supposed justification—preventing an Iranian nuclear bomb—is compared to the faulty WMD rationale for the Iraq War. Mainstream Western media is critiqued for merely echoing official US narratives without robust scrutiny.

  "The mainstream media in the United States and Europe, they typically act as stenographers of empire. They just repeat what U.S. officials say." — Political Analyst/Strategist [08:14]

• Attempts at nuclear negotiations were undermined by the US side’s lack of expertise and political will, while Iran found strategic value in threatening the Strait itself.

  "Iran brought teams who could discuss the future of Iran's nuclear plans. And there was not a single nuclear expert on Trump's team. ... The strait of Hormuz can be a much more powerful deterrent than nuclear weapons." — Media Analyst [08:45]

5. The War’s Costs: Human, Economic, and Reputational

• Iran suffered enormous losses: >3,000 killed, tens of thousands wounded, 3 million+ displaced, infrastructure ruined, and economic damages potentially exceeding $1 trillion.

  "More than 3,000 Iranians have been killed, tens of thousands wounded... the economic cost, according to various assessments, may eventually exceed $1 trillion." — Analyst/Commentator [09:12]

• Yet, the US faces lasting reputational harm for its backing of Israel, especially amid the Gaza genocide, which has “collapsed” faith in the liberal international order.

  "The whole ideals of liberal democracies have failed miserably during the Gaza genocide… the foundational ethical collapse of the whole international world order that we have been witnessing…" — Expert on International Relations [10:07]

• The war has accelerated perceptions of American imperial decline and emboldened resistance to US dominance worldwide.

  “The war on Iran is a symptom of American imperial decline… if Iran…can withstand American and Israeli all out war for this long, then what does that suggest for other countries in resisting domination by the United States?” — Political Analyst/Strategist [10:43]

6. Israel’s Fraying Relationships with European Allies

• European leaders, notably from Spain, Germany, and Italy, are now openly critical of Israel.

  "In Germany, where support for Israel is known as Staatsräson…Chancellor Friedrich Merz offended Israelis when he warned that annexing parts of the west bank would be a big mistake." — Host/Anchor [12:51]

• Israeli responses to European media coverage, including satirical and critical magazine covers, signal deteriorating diplomatic ties, with Israeli officials seeing themselves as besieged or 'betrayed.'

  "Israel's ambassador to Italy suggested the picture was manipulated. But other images and videos… proved its veracity." — Host/Anchor [13:32]

7. Iranian Diaspora: Media Representation and Mobilization

• The Iranian diaspora contains diverse views, but is often depicted by mainstream Western media as uniformly pro-war/regime change, which is misleading.

  "The majority of Iranian Americans do not back this war. Yet those in the diaspora who do consistently get more visibility." — Analyst/Commentator [13:43]

• Exile politics is mobilized to justify military action and regime change, with figures like Masih Alinejad and Reza Pahlavi disproportionately platformed despite representing narrower constituencies.

  "Masiari Najad gets a lot of airtime... she says what a lot of mainstream media right now desires, which is a framing of this as a war of liberation." — Nargis Fajr [20:00] "Reza Pahlavi... is not a charismatic leader... he seems to be the favored person from the Israeli end." — Nargis Fajr [21:23]

• When war expanded to civilian infrastructure, diaspora support for military intervention waned, and disillusionment grew.

  "Iranians and diaspora began to see this not as a war against the Islamic Republic, but as a war against the Iranian nation as a whole." — Nargis Fajr [22:24]

8. Closing Media Notes: Hungary’s Shift

• Briefly, the end of the episode touches on Hungary’s new prime minister Peter Magyar’s stance against state media bias and his moves to restore objective journalism.

  "Peter Magyar is placing the country's media on notice, promising to fix what went so wrong for so long." — Analyst/Commentator [24:08]

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On US Power & Asymmetry:

  "What we're watching here with President Trump and the Strait of Hormuz is a performance of power running headlong into material reality and losing every single time..." — Expert on International Relations [03:36]

• On the Propaganda War:

  "This is not a foreign policy. This is improvisation theater with unclear stakes." — Expert on International Relations [03:58]

• On the War's Human Cost vs. Narrative Wins:

  "Iran has the upper hand in the messaging. In any war, however, moral victories ring hollow." — Analyst/Commentator [09:12]

• On Diaspora Media Framing:

  "What strikes me is that they have either been asleep or are not paying attention to these various regime change wars in the Middle East..." — Nargis Fajr [17:25]

• On The Cyclical Nature of War and Propaganda:

  "Wars do not bring liberation. What wars do is they create broken societies and enraged populations." — Nargis Fajr [23:49]

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Strait of Hormuz and International Significance: [00:28] – [04:12]
• Asymmetrical Warfare & Messaging: [04:12] – [06:15]
• Israeli-Lebanese Conflict and Ceasefire Fragility: [06:15] – [07:31]
• Iran Nuclear Narrative & Media Analysis: [07:31] – [09:12]
• War Costs and Global Impact: [09:12] – [11:19]
• Israel's Fraying Relationships with Europe: [11:19] – [13:43]
• Iranian Diaspora, Media, and Regime Change Narratives: [13:43] – [23:49]
• Hungary’s Media Reforms: [24:08] – End

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Tone and Language

The episode is analytical, skeptical of official narratives, and pointedly critical of both Western media’s complicity and the use of diaspora voices for propaganda. Iranian and Middle Eastern expert guests bring personal context and skepticism about the efficacy and morality of war and regime change rhetoric. The language is direct and often wry, with a reflective tone regarding the failures and dangers of simplistic media coverage.

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Conclusion

The Listening Post’s "Hormuz: Spin in the Strait" dissects how the conflict over the Strait of Hormuz is not only a military and economic crisis, but above all a staging ground for global information warfare—one where digital media, diaspora politics, and shifting alliances shape the story as much as the bombs and blockades themselves. The episode urges listeners to question the framing and sources of the narratives presented by mainstream Western media, and to recognize how much of the battle for “hearts and minds” is taking place off the battlefield—online, on air, and in the hearts of exiles.

Transcript

[Host/Anchor]

This week on the take, we're marking

[Nargis Fajr (Iranian American Anthropologist)]

one year since a pair of devastating earthquakes hit Turkey and Syria with a new digital interactive Listen and watch stories of survival, recovery and coping with the

[Host/Anchor]

grief@al jazeera.com earthquakes Again, that's al jazeera.com

[Nargis Fajr (Iranian American Anthropologist)]

earthquakes

[Analyst/Commentator]

the Strait of Hormuz is back open for business. But what remains is the state of confusion. We boil down the messaging on the strait, the Nuclear issue, Lebanon, Mr. President. And which side is out front in the battle for hearts and minds. Israel's relationship with its European allies is being put to the test and we're seeing some monumental moments on the airwaves. Plus, Iranian voices in exile weaponized the diaspora, where it stands on the war and who the Western media likes to hear from. When journalists report on a ceasefire, one of the adjectives they frequently use to describe it is fragile. Things can change and quickly. So with that in mind, at the time of this recording, there is a new ceasefire in place. A 10 day one between Israel and Lebanon. The other ceasefire between Iran and its American and Israeli adversaries is still holding. However fragile it may be, a central issue in this conflict has been the Strait of Hormuz, which the Iranians say is now open again contingent on the ceasefire remaining in effect. That came after the US had tried to draw its NATO allies into policing the strait, something that they wanted no part of. But it's not just about the strait. It's also about Iran's nuclear program, the supposed context for this war. Under any truce, even when the bombs stop falling, the information war goes on. And this one has been intensifying. It is a complex story and moments like this can test journalism because the job is is to not just report on the messaging coming from all sides, but to decode it and if necessary, debunk it. The Strait of Hormuz has become more than a shipping lane. 50 days of a U. S. Israeli war on Iran has landed it at the heart of a propaganda war. When Iran first blockaded the strait, choking off global oil supplies, the Trump administration called that an act of extortion. Then the Americans announced their own blockade. Donald Trump did not take it well when his NATO allies refused to take part. So on Friday, when the Iranians announced they would reopen the strait for as long as the ceasefire holds, Trump responded with a message of gratitude for Tehran in all caps, which was the polar opposite of the language he had been using all week, aimed at the Iranians and his critics, up to and including the head of the Catholic Church.

[Political Commentator]

Trump is an erratic political animal. And Iran's closure of the strait has driven him to distraction. His lashing out, threatening to wipe away Iranian civilization. And it's led him to lash out against the Pope, which has led to widespread condemnation. So feeling an unexpected kind of impotence against Iran, which he expected to be a target similar to Venezuela, where he could achieve his aims and declare victory. And it hasn't quite turned out that way.

[Expert on International Relations]

What we're watching here with President Trump and the Strait of Hormuz is a performance of power running headlong into material reality and losing every single time. And for someone who sees himself as a winner, like President Trump, that's a very rough ride. The man who was discovered he cannot be bomb the waterway into submission. This is not a foreign policy. This is improvisation theater with unclear stakes.

[Analyst/Commentator]

This conflict has provided a lesson in the art of asymmetrical warfare. How a superpower like the US and its allies in Israel, despite the clear advantage they have in weaponry, can be countered by drones and missiles judiciously targeted. The coinciding information war also has an asymmetry to it.

[Nargis Fajr (Iranian American Anthropologist)]

As everyone expected, we've been enormously effective and successful in the strikes that have been conducted thus far in the conflict.

[Analyst/Commentator]

Conventional messaging tools like the news networks coming out of the US with their global reach can and have been offset by Iranian operatives working online. Some of their material, like the AI memes built around Lego figures, has been purposefully childish. And because of a variety of factors, it has proven to be highly effective.

[Media Analyst]

What I find striking how on point Iran's messaging has been about the gas prices here in the US hurting Americans. Even if some of the videos or messaging seems juvenile. For example, social media posts that shows different cartoonish faces of Trump intended to show his erratic behavior. And that resonates not just with Americans, but also people around the world, showing how it is single handedly standing up to the United States, which is acting like an international bully.

[Political Analyst/Strategist]

If we think of this in narrative terms, there's this virtue to the Iranian narrative about the Strait of Hormuz that it actually accords most with the facts. Right? Then you see them capitalizing on this through both their official channels and through memes. The fact that blockading the Strait is going to make things worse. These are narratives by Iran, but they're also true. It's not just the sophistication of the framing from the Iranian side. It's the juxtaposition with what is truly comical and irrational from the Americans.

[Analyst/Commentator]

The Israeli state is experienced at sabotaging ceasefires. On April 8, the day after the truce with Iran was announced, the Israelis violated it, bombing more than 100 targets in Lebanon. The death toll, according to Lebanese officials, more than 350 people. The new 10 day ceasefire announced this week between Israel and Lebanon also has a fragility to it, given that Israel says it will continue to occupy the southern part of the country. There's also Prime Minister Netanyahu's stated plan to dismantle the axis of resistance, the one led by Iran that includes Hezbollah. The Israelis seemed determined to take Lebanon and its people back to a time they would rather forget.

[Political Commentator]

Effectively, what Tel Aviv is thinking of is a sustained, protracted occupation of south Lebanon, returning to the status quo between 1978 and 2000, where Israel and its Lebanese proxies occupied large parts of south Lebanon. And that was the situation that that led to the emergence of Hezbollah in the first place. But the objective here is to try to destroy every element of the axis of resistance from Tehran to the Gaza Strip to Damascus to Beirut and south Lebanon.

[Analyst/Commentator]

When Donald Trump talks about the reason the US Went to war with Iran over its nuclear program, that gets ample coverage but an insufficient amount of examination. Iran will not have a nuclear weapon. We agreed to a lot of things, but they didn't agree to that. It's not unlike the bush administration in 2003 and the Iraqi weapons of mass destruction, which proved to be non existent. They cannot have a nuclear weapon still going to take out the Middle East. Anyone with a basic understanding of Iran's nuclear program, its history, and the negotiations around it knows better. But the media space given to that context has been sorely lacking.

[Political Analyst/Strategist]

The mainstream media in the United States and Europe, they typically act as stenographers of empire. They just repeat what U.S. officials say. If there was a true interrogation, they would highlight the fact that Iran and the Security Council, they had a nuclear deal.

[Host/Anchor]

It is a great honor for us to announce that we have reached an agreement on the Iranian nuclear issue, that

[Political Analyst/Strategist]

Iran would curtail its nuclear enrichment in return for the lifting of sanctions, which never really completely happened. And Trump decided to tear that up in 2017.

[Media Analyst]

The Trump administration came to the talks unprepared. Iran brought teams who could discuss the future of Iran's nuclear plans. And there was not a single nuclear expert on Trump's team. I think Iranians surprise themselves as well when they realize that the strait of hormones can be a much more powerful deterrent than nuclear weapons.

[Analyst/Commentator]

Iran has the upper hand in the messaging. In any war, however, moral victories ring hollow. According to the numbers coming out of Tehran, more than 3,000 Iranians have been killed, tens of thousands wounded or injured, more than 3 million people displaced. The damage to Iran's infrastructure and its military has been enormous and the economic cost, according to various assessments, may eventually exceed $1 trillion. But at least some of those things can be rebuilt. Compare that to the reputational damage to the US and its empire, its standing in the world as a rules based superpower given the role it has played in this war, the calamitous state of the Strait of Hormuz, and America's continued backing of the genocide Israel has inflicted on Gaza

[Expert on International Relations]

because people have seen that the whole ideals of liberal democracies have failed miserably during the Gaza genocide. So there's not necessarily Irans, how smart they are. It is also the foundational ethical collapse of the whole international world order that we have been witnessing that makes them more prominent within the public opinion. And it's not only in the Arab region, it's not only in the global south, it's around the world also.

[Political Analyst/Strategist]

The war on Iran is a symptom of American imperial decline because the US empire relies on brute force force to sustain its domination and that's a symptom of decline. The effects of this war are going to be felt for a very long time because if Iran, which has undergone sanctions for decades, it can withstand American and Israeli all out war for this long, then what does that suggest for other countries in resisting domination by the United States? This will have the long term effect of really damaging the American ability to project its power globally.

[Analyst/Commentator]

Israelis are seeing a marked deterioration in the Zionist state's relationship with several countries in Europe, including some of its closest allies. And the Netanyahu government's belligerent response has been far from diplomatic. Meenakshi Ravi is here with more.

[Host/Anchor]

You only had to listen to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's speech on Holocaust Remembrance Day to get a sense of how deep the rupture has become between Israel and several European countries. That framing of Israel as a civilization in a sea of barbarians has long been echoed uncritically by European leaders. But in the past six weeks, Israel's largely unchecked military ventures across the region have triggered real alarm. Some of the strongest criticism has come from Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez. Netanyahu said Sanchez was waging a diplomatic war against Israel and removed Spain from an international coordination center that is overseeing the so called central ceasefire in Gaza. One response from Spanish media, a satirical show called El Internedio was this In Germany, where support for Israel is known as Staatsresen, a core pillar of national identity, Chancellor Friedrich Merz offended Israelis when he warned that annexing parts of the west bank would be a big mistake. Netanyahu's far right finance minister demanded an apology. In Italy, Prime Minister Giorgio Meloni announced the suspension of a long standing defence pact, another sign of strain. Tensions have played out beyond official channels. Italian magazine Lespresso recently ran a cover image showing an Israeli man, a settler, menacing a Palestinian woman in the West Bank. Israel's ambassador to Italy suggested the picture was manipulated. But other images and videos of the same incident quickly surfaced, proving its veracity. A reflection of the way Israeli settlers and soldiers in the west bank torment Palestinians. With Israel sitting on a hair trigger, lashing out at any challenge or critique, it was enough to spark the reaction that it did.

[Analyst/Commentator]

Thanks, Meena. In making the case for war with Iran, some of the loudest voices have come from the Iranian diaspora based in the United States and elsewhere in the West. That diaspora contains a wide range of views, often conflicting. But judging by its representation in mainstream Western media, one might well assume that the dominant position is support for the war, that the diaspora is even open to the idea of the son of the former Shah returning to Iran to take power. That is a misleading, simplistic picture. The majority of Iranian Americans do not back this war. Yet those in the diaspora who do consistently get more visibility. Nargaz Bajogli, an academic and writer, is part of the Iranian diaspora. She has spent years studying the weaponization of voices from her community for political ends. We spoke with her about whose voices came get hurt, whose interests they serve, and how exile politics can be mobilized to get behind a war.

[Nargis Fajr (Iranian American Anthropologist)]

I'm Nargis Fajr. I am an Iranian American, was born in Iran and moved to the United States when I was four. I'm an anthropologist and I focus a lot on media production. This threat of terrorism was birthed out of the coverage of what was happening in Iran from 1979 onward. The best way to describe Iran International is kind of like Fox News in the United States. I have been paying very close attention to the ways in which for many years now, the Middle east has been framed in a particular way to allow for and justify forever wars.

[Political Analyst/Strategist]

I think the fight for the future of Western civilization is happening right here and I think Israel is leading that fight. What are you doing about it? To help the Americans, to help the

[Analyst/Commentator]

civilized world defeat this brutal sort of neo Nazi regime.

[Nargis Fajr (Iranian American Anthropologist)]

What has been so striking for me is the way in which I. I've been watching the Iranian diaspora being utilized for a justification for this war that is currently taking place in Iran.

[Analyst/Commentator]

The United States has pulled the most successful military operation in history of mankind. The whole top echelon of the Islamic Republic has been dismantled in a few hours.

[Nargis Fajr (Iranian American Anthropologist)]

In Iran, you have a population of over 90 million. We don't have exact numbers on the diaspora, but it's also multiple millions throughout the world. The Iranian diaspora has had different ideas about what kind of political future should exist in Iran. People who supported a secular republic as the future of Iran, those who were more from the left end of the spectrum, those who wanted the monarchy back, those who believed in reform in the country, and these different elements all really disagreed with one another, had debates with, with one another, and there was a very real diversity.

[Political Analyst/Strategist]

The Iranian people have been living under not just pressure from the above from

[Analyst/Commentator]

their own regime, but also pressure from

[Political Analyst/Strategist]

the outside from the United States.

[Host/Anchor]

There are specific steps that the US

[Expert on International Relations]

Administration can take to really address the root cause, as I said, in dealing with the head of the snake in Iran.

[Nargis Fajr (Iranian American Anthropologist)]

In the past couple of months, that conversation has become really huge. And the people that are being platformed in mainstream spaces in the United States, mainstream media spaces, have often been folks from the Iranian diaspora who in one way or another talk about the desire for Iranians, for liberation and freedom. Iranians understand and know that President Trump and his administration are fighting to liberate the Iranian people.

[Analyst/Commentator]

We always saw this less of a war, more of a rescue mission to, I suppose, take out the machinery of repression.

[Nargis Fajr (Iranian American Anthropologist)]

I see, see many of these folks as really being desperate for change in Iran, which I can understand. But what strikes me is that they have either been asleep or are not paying attention to these various regime change wars in the Middle east that the United States has now waged for over 25 years. They are still calling for change from the exact powers that have destroyed these societies.

[Expert on International Relations]

This is the message that Iranians want me to send to President Trump. Do not leave us alone with this wounded, murderous regime. Finish the job.

[Nargis Fajr (Iranian American Anthropologist)]

When I look at clips like this, the issue with this kind of framing is that what is being sold to the public is very similar to what apparently President Trump got in his briefings right before he launched this war, which is, is that all the Iranian regime needs is another push and then it will collapse, or all the Revolutionary Guard needs in order to defect is to see that the United States or Europe really mean business, and then they will defect and the regime will collapse. The reality is that as We've seen through 40 days of war thus far, the Islamic Republic is an extremely resilient political establishment. This war could last another three, three and a half weeks or so. Has Iran asked for a ceasefire?

[Analyst/Commentator]

No, we never asked for a ceasefire. And we have never asked even for negotiation. We are ready to defend ourselves as long as it takes.

[Nargis Fajr (Iranian American Anthropologist)]

Get rid of the Supreme Leader. I am totally fine for him to blow him into wherever he wants to go. He does not deserve to be on this earth any longer. When I hear Iranians and diaspora say these kinds of things on mainstream media, what I hear is more a desire and illusion of what they want, rather than an analysis that is based in reality. A lot of Iranians want a very different system, but they also understand that, first of all, war really represses the internal environment. Dissent is stamped out, just like in any country that is under war. And that secondly, it actually entrenches the Islamic Republic.

[Analyst/Commentator]

The version of the Islamic Republic that will come out of this is likely going to be more hawkish, more radical, more repressive.

[Expert on International Relations]

This is the moment that Iranian people have been waiting for 47 years. The Islamic Republic understand only language of force.

[Nargis Fajr (Iranian American Anthropologist)]

Masiari Najad gets a lot of airtime because she. She says what a lot of mainstream media right now desires, which is a framing of this as a war of liberation. Masi Ali Nejad has been supported by the United States government, by different elements within the pro Israel world, because she is willing and able to sort of put this framing consistently out there. And she has been doing so for years now.

[Expert on International Relations]

If the Western countries and democratic countries do not get united to end Islamic terror, believe me, they will get united to end democracy and to end every single of us.

[Nargis Fajr (Iranian American Anthropologist)]

So she does not represent anyone beyond herself. And she has to, in many ways, say these kinds of things in media in order to continue to be called upon. And this is a huge business and an industry.

[Analyst/Commentator]

With me now is Reza Pahlavi, the exiled Crown Prince of Iran. Good to be with you, Mr. Pallavi. Thank you so much for taking the time.

[Nargis Fajr (Iranian American Anthropologist)]

So Reza Pahlavi is the son of the former Shah of Iran. He was a teenager when the revolution happened and they had to leave the country.

[Analyst/Commentator]

I think the President was absolutely correct when he says there has to be a change of direction. And that's exactly what the Iranian people are asking.

[Political Analyst/Strategist]

But if the Iranian people now had

[Analyst/Commentator]

the support of the President, will that encourage them to take to the streets in even greater numbers and put more pressure on the regime? From within. Yes.

[Nargis Fajr (Iranian American Anthropologist)]

And I think that Reza Pahlavi, in and of himself is not a charismatic leader. He was never able to have a huge following behind him in all of these years up until fairly recently. One of the reasons that he's been pushed to the forefront again is that he seems to be the favored person from the Israeli end.

[Host/Anchor]

Your leadership is a leadership of peace and tolerance.

[Expert on International Relations]

Unlike the extremists who rule America.

[Nargis Fajr (Iranian American Anthropologist)]

Iran today, they have been really supportive of him in the political realm and in the diaspora. There's also a number of Iranian diaspora satellite television stations that are broadcast in Persian into Iran that have been pushing Reza Pahavi in the pre revolutionary time as this nostalgic ideal time that Iran must return to. I began to see a big shift in the diaspora and those who supported the war once the United States and Israel started to attack civilian infrastructure in Iran, especially all of the infrastructure that the country would need to rebuild, from factories to bridges to oil depots. And once Trump started to tweet about destroying a whole civilization, then Iranians and diaspora began to see this not as a war against the Islamic Republic, but as a war against the Iranian nation as a whole. And I think a lot of people are beginning to have buyer's remorse. Reza Pahavi now says that he didn't call for any kind of military intervention in Iran, even though he very forcefully did.

[Analyst/Commentator]

Only a military intervention at this point could level the playing field. It could be American strike, it could be Israeli strike, it could be whatever.

[Nargis Fajr (Iranian American Anthropologist)]

One of the reasons for this change is that he is receiving a lot of blowback within the Iranian diaspora and from within Iran itself. That first of all, he's one of the only political leaders who has called for military intervention into his country in Iran's history. And so they're seeing him as a traitor for this. And the second is that you he actually was not able to deliver. He said that if there is a military intervention, Iranians in Iran would come out, folks within the Revolutionary Guard would defect, and this would be a very quick war and that he could then help run the country. That has obviously not turned out to be the case. Wars do not bring liberation. What wars do is they create broken societies and enraged populations. And that is something that is disheartening for me to watch when I see the Iranian diaspora calling for these kinds of strikes and wars on Iran.

[Analyst/Commentator]

And finally, during his recent election campaign, Hungary's new prime minister, Peter Magyar, did not do a single interview with a state broadcaster. He says he was never invited. Following his landslide victory over the former prime minister Viktor Orban this past week, Magiar went straight to some of those new studios, not to make nice, but to call them out. In appearances on state television and radio, Maggiar denounced what he called their factory of lies. He vowed to suspend news broadcasts until impartial, objective journalism is restored. Peter Magyar is placing the country's media on notice, promising to fix what went so wrong for so long. Under Viktor Orban, Hungarians will be tuning into those channels, watching closely to see if he delivers.