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Optimisten, Pessimisten & Realisten
EXTRA-EPISODE REGARDING IRAN-ATTACK - our prior conversation with SANAM ANDERLINI
Season 1, Ep. 53
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This is a republisihing of our conversation wiht Sanam Sanderlini from January 13. this year. On how to understand Iran at a decisive moment in history—from the streets of today’s protests to the long arc of opposition politics, regional consequences, and global power dynamics. Now we know Trump never came to support the protests and that he attacked Iran with Israel less than 24 hours ago.
As we said then: This is for listeners who want more than breaking news— for those who want understanding, restraint, courage, and a future-facing view of Iran’s place in the world. Sanam Anderlini—quite simply one of the most authoritative and clear-eyed voices on Iran, peacebuilding, and democratic transformation anywhere in the world today. And with her own podcast "If you were in charge". Born in Iran and forced to leave during the 1978–79 revolution, Sanam has spent nearly three decades working at the highest levels of international diplomacy, civil society, and the United Nations. She was a key architect of UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security, has advised governments and mediators across conflict zones from Syria to Sudan, and founded the International Civil Society Action Network (ICAN), supporting women-led peace movements in over 40 countries. Few people combine lived Iranian experience, scholarly depth, and real-world policy influence with such precision—and moral clarity. We invited Sanam on short notice, and she joins us to help answer the hardest questions now confronting Iran and the international community. And for our Norwwegian audience we also asked to turn the lens toward us and other European coutnries, and in the spirit of Sanam’s own podcast If You Were in Charge, we asked her directly: What should Norway, Europe, and the wider pro-democratic community actually do now? Not rhetorically—but practically, responsibly, and with long-term consequences in mind.
Kåre Aas is driving the conversation, a former ambassador to Washinngton DC under both Obama and Trump, also in Kabul and Tel Aviv the last 15 years. Gjermund Eriksen has his expertise in US. - and right wing-populist Europe politics, but has for 10 years + also tried to develop tv-series with Persian main characters
In this conversation, we explore:
- What it feels like to witness yet another wave of protests, repression, and calls for regime change—especially in the aftermath of Israeli attacks and rising regional tension.
- How accurately international media is portraying what is happening inside Iran right now—and where it misses crucial nuances.
- Why people are taking to the streets, whether this is a national uprising, and what truly distinguishes this moment from previous cycles of revolt and crackdown.
- The Iranian opposition: who they are, who they are not, and why leadership in exile is far more complex than it appears.
- The role of the Revolutionary Guard as the regime’s real power center—and how it might act under sustained pressure.
- How Iranians themselves perceive U.S. and Israeli involvement, and the risks of external actors misreading internal dynamics.
- What a regime change in Iran would mean for the region—and for the global balance of power.
And we end where Iran itself so often does: with hope, poetry, and perspective. The poem she introduces is "Conference of Birds" by a well known Sufi poet from 1177 and can be heard here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXNflEixRx4
Sanam shares what gives her hope—and recommends a Persian poem that captures the soul of Iranian culture beyond headlines and geopolitics, reminding us that transformation is as much moral and cultural as it is political.
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