Radhika Desai – Geopolitical Economist and Jedaal English

Six months into the war, is Iran’s military triumph being quietly undone by its own negotiators?

Ali Alizadeh, prominent commentator on West Asian affairs and host of the popular YouTube channel Jadal, joins me to unpack how Iran’s 12-day and 40-day wars exposed the limits of US power, from the 8-hour command recovery after Israel’s decapitation strike to Iran’s refusal to fold under blockade. But Alizadeh argues the real battle isn’t being fought on the battlefield anymore. He traces how Washington used a $300 billion MOU to buy internal leverage that bombs couldn’t, empowering Iran’s pro-Western liberal faction just as the resistance gained the upper hand, and explains why Mojtaba Khamenei’s new hardline appointments now signal a decisive break from that strategy. We discuss the January uprising, the fragile power-sharing between Iran’s factions, and why Alizadeh believes Iran’s future depends on finally divorcing itself from the West and deepening its alignment with China.