Vali Nasr | Dean Emeritus of Johns Hopkins SAIS | Author of "Iran's Grand Strategy"

Vali Nasr joins Clearer Than Truth to explain why Americans often misunderstand the forces shaping the Middle East. Nasr argues that the region cannot be understood simply through religion, terrorism, or ancient sectarian divisions; instead, geopolitics, competition for power, contested borders, resources, and outside intervention are central to understanding its conflicts. He examines the evolution of terrorism, explaining why it has never been exclusively a product of poverty or religious extremism, before turning to Iran’s grand strategy and the legacy of Ayatollah Khamenei’s resistance to American influence. Nasr also assesses the failures and constraints of U.S. policy toward Iran, the consequences of a potential Iranian nuclear capability, and the possibility of a broader nuclear race across the Middle East. He closes with a warning that the current war may fundamentally reshape the regional order—and that the United States needs to prepare for a Middle East that may look very different when the fighting ends.

00:00 Vali Nasr on the Middle East
00:58 What America Gets Wrong About the Middle East
02:42 Why Sectarianism Doesn't Explain Everything
04:28 How Americans Misunderstand the Region
05:29 The Borders That Created Modern Conflict
07:12 Why Israel-Palestine Is More Recent Than You Think
08:23 What Americans Get Wrong About Terrorism
09:14 The End of the War on Terror
10:59 Terrorism Before Al-Qaeda
12:28 The Strategy Behind Terrorist Violence
13:46 Why Wealthy People Join Terrorist Groups
16:04 Why So Many Terrorists Studied Science
17:57 Iran's Grand Strategy
20:05 Where Iran's Strategy Has Failed
21:23 Why Iran Keeps Resisting the U.S.
22:19 Iran's Forever War With America
23:12 What Obama Got Right—and Wrong—About Iran
25:18 The Limits of American Influence
27:11 Why Obama Chose the Nuclear Deal
28:35 Obama Was More Realist Than Idealist
29:45 What If Iran Gets a Nuclear Bomb?
31:11 India, Pakistan and the Nuclear Lesson
33:14 Why Iran Might Want Nuclear Deterrence
34:21 Could Iran Trigger a Middle East Nuclear Race?
36:01 How Nuclear Iran Changes the Region
37:18 The Risk of a Wider Nuclear Order
37:46 The Middle East May Never Go Back
38:36 Could This War Get Much Worse?
39:26 How the Middle East Could Reshape the West
40:28 What Comes After the War?
41:40 What America Can Learn From History
42:34 Closing
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