TENTANG EPISODE INI
On February 28, 2026, the United States and Israel coordinated an unprovoked military attack on the sovereign state of Iran without any credible evidence of an imminent threat posed by Iran or a United Nations Security Council Resolution. On that first day of the war, the Israelis killed Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and other senior Iranian officials, immediately transforming their attacks into a regional war. Iran invoked its right to self-defense under international law by launching missiles, drones and proxy attacks against U.S. and Israeli targets in the Persian Gulf and in Israel.
On March 2, 2026, Hezbollah entered the war by attacking Israel in response Ali Khameini’s killing, which has led to a major Israeli air and ground escalation in Lebanon. Also on March 2, 2026, the Iranian government effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz, which cuts off the 20% of the world’s supply of oil and natural gas from the global economy.
In this episode, Professor Juan Cole and Professor Mojtaba Mahdavi critically examine the historical, political and economic origins and consequences of Israel and the United States’ war on Iran.
Guest Biographies
Juan R. I. Cole is Richard P. Mitchell Distinguished University Professor of History at the University of Michigan. Professor Cole has written, edited or translated 21 books and authored over 100 articles and chapters. Among his recent publications are Muhammad: Prophet of Peace amid the Clash of Empires (Bold Type Books, 2018) and The New Arabs: How the Millennial Generation is Changing the Middle East (Simon & Schuster, 2014). Professor Cole edited the volume ' Peace Movements in Islam, and is the author of The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam: A New Translation from the Persian. He is proprietor of the Informed Comment news and analysis site.
Mojtaba Mahdavi is a Professor of Political Science and the ECMC Chair in Islamic Studies at the University of Alberta, Canada. He is the author and editor of numerous works on pos-trevolutionary Iran, contemporary social movements and democratization in the Middle East and North Africa, post-Islamism and modern Islamic political thought.
#Iran #Israel #Democracy #MiddleEast
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