Iranians maintain portraits of slain Iran’s supreme chief Ayatollah Ali Khamenei throughout a rally to commemorate his loss of life in Tehran on April 9, 2026. 1000’s of Iranians paid tribute to the late supreme chief Ali Khamenei, who dominated the nation for practically 4 many years till his killing in US-Israeli strikes at the beginning of the Center East warfare.
AFP through Getty Photos/AFP
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AFP through Getty Photos/AFP
The U.S. and Israel’s warfare towards Iran has lasted for greater than 5 weeks. As soon as the warfare began, President Trump expressed shock that Iran retaliated towards its neighbors. The U.S. additionally appeared stunned that Iran had taken management of the essential waterway, the Strait of Hormuz. Trump’s early expectations of a collapsing regime have not labored out the best way he deliberate. Now, because the battle continues, a query arises: Is it doable that Iran has gained one thing from this warfare, regardless of all of the injury the U.S. has achieved?
Israel and the U.S.’s killings of lots of Iran’s regime leaders firstly of the warfare have set the stage for a way Iran is now responding. Vali Nasr, a scholar of Iranian politics at Johns Hopkins College, spoke with Morning Version host Steve Inskeep about whether or not warfare has made the Iranian regime stronger. Nasr says that the brand new management in Iran is “much more extreme” with reference to how they’ve dealt with the folks of their nation and “the way in which they believe that Iran should wage war against the United States and its enemies in a much more unrestrained way.”
Iran’s new management has proven that it “won’t back down in the face of overwhelming threats,” Nasr mentioned. He provides that it has additionally crossed strains that the earlier supreme chief would not, together with attacking infrastructure and civilian websites in neighboring international locations. “So Iran is already waging war in a way that it hadn’t done before under the previous leadership,” he mentioned.
Nasr says that the truth that Trump has seemingly accepted that Iran can shut the Strait of Hormuz and that Iran’s 10-point proposal is the idea for ongoing negotiations is seen in Iran as a terrific victory for the nation. He factors out that Iran has managed to outlive towards the usand Israel’s navy forces for greater than 5 weeks, and in addition escalated the warfare all through the Gulf in a fashion that stunned the U.S. and created leverage for Iran.
Whereas talking with Inskeep, Nasr defined why he believes Trump is focused on attending high-level talks between the U.S. and Iran this weekend and the adjustments he has seen on either side because the starting of the warfare.
Hearken to the complete interview by clicking on the blue play button above.
The online copy was written by Brittney Melton and edited by Suzanne Nuyen.
