00:00I want to also get an Iranian perspective. Joining me now from Tehran is Zohreh Karazmi.
00:07She's associate professor at the University of Tehran. Zohreh, thank you very much for joining
00:12us. In the last 24 hours, Donald Trump has been issuing all kinds of threats to Iran,
00:16saying you have to open the Strait of Hormuz by Wednesday morning, otherwise all hell will break
00:22loose. We will send Iran back to the stone ages. What is the general mood of the people of Iran?
00:27Do the people now want the Iranian government to go in for a ceasefire, end this war once
00:32and for all? You've been someone who's been a supporter of the regime?
00:37You know, Trump is very well indicating how disparate he is when with rioting, this sort
00:44of actually messing the social truth. All the time he's just having some bombastic ultimatums
00:54and insane words he used. Actually, he tries to show his anger because in the battlefield,
01:02he had a very bad strategic defeat by Iranian armed forces, and he has no leverage on the
01:10Strait of Hormuz. And he well understands, and I think that even the Europeans had absorbed
01:15this message that the authority of Iran over a Strait of Hormuz is one of the facts that should
01:23change on the ground, that it's not irreversible. So I think that when he's just doing this sort of
01:32threats for Iranians, that you know that lots of jokes also are constructed based on this sort
01:39of wording he uses. Now, you're telling me that Iranians on the street are mocking Donald Trump,
01:45that they're laughing at him? Is that what you're saying? That you, when he ranks at you,
01:49you're laughing at what Donald Trump is saying in Tehran?
01:53Very much, yes. Yes. And they are getting this, the sort of messages he is writing on social truths
02:00for Iranians is the perception and indication of the failure in the battleground, even the sort of
02:07savagery and barbarism that the United States and Israel is indicating in rocket bombing the civilians
02:16in Iran. You know that more than 800 schools have been destroyed, more than 300 hospitals and clinics
02:24have been destroyed and bombed. So these are the indications, and even the universities, you know,
02:30the Sharif University, Khajan Asir University, Shaikh Beshti University, that they are highly ranked in the
02:38world universities, not only national scale, but in global scale. So all these are indications that Trump is
02:45trapped and he can't find an end game to this war. And the sort of confusion and disparate sense he
02:55has
02:56is also transferred in such words. But for Iranians, all has one meaning that we should resist. And
03:07uh, onto the time that, uh, uh, the Iran demands that are very legitimate, uh, are not responded,
03:16this war can continue and keep on.
03:19But ma'am, you're saying that Donald Trump is trapped. There will be those who will say it's
03:23actually Iran that is paying a very heavy price. Only today your airports have been bombed, your
03:29petrochemical complex and the SARS complex has been bombed. Lots of people have already lost their lives.
03:35There is economic dislocation. How long does Iran want to bear these costs? Can Iran really afford to
03:42bear these costs of war much longer? Aren't there Iranians now also saying enough is enough?
03:49These are, you know, Iranians are preferring to, uh, pay this high price. That is a high price.
03:56Of course, I, I agree with you, uh, once and for all, because it was the second time that the
04:02negotiations is used as the cloak for acts of aggression. And for many years, for decades,
04:08Iranians has been the victims of the American economic terrorism and sanctions. There's,
04:15there was a lot of effort by, uh, Americans, Europeans, and their GCC entities analyzed, uh,
04:22to, uh, make Iran isolated. They have actually imposed lots of, uh, unfair, uh, sanctions of different
04:31size and the civil society of Iran has been damaged by these things. So I think that once and for
04:36all
04:36of Iranians is a better option, not to be Libya, not to be Palestine, not to be Lebanon, not to
04:42be Iraq,
04:44that once in a while, uh, Americans are thinking that for any excuse, they can attack, they can bring
04:50disaster, they can bring Congress. So this time, Iranians are determined every night. If you go to
04:56cities, to towns, to villages, you see that thousands of people that overall considering it's
05:02millions of people coming to the streets every night, you know, it's, it's becoming actually
05:08this, uh, the, the, actually, uh, five, six weeks of the, uh, war. So, uh, they're coming to the streets
05:15and very well, they are indicating through chanting maxims, through reading statements, uh, they are asking
05:23the armed forces to stand very firm against the United States. Okay. You know, you're saying though,
05:29that, uh, uh, you know, you're, you're saying that the people are firmly standing behind the Iranian
05:36regime, but the fact is, uh, there are those who will say that the regime itself is part of the
05:42problem. It's tortured its own people. There was an execution that even took place today of someone
05:47allegedly who the government claimed was working for America and Israel. There have been charges over
05:51the years, of course, of women being oppressed. Uh, and in this war itself, a number of regime leaders,
05:57including your Supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, have been assassinated. Is there still really that
06:02support or ask people simply afraid of the IRA IRGC and the regime and therefore have no option?
06:12Rajdik, when you was introducing me, you said that professors, associate professor that is supporting
06:18the Iranian government. When you are talking about Islamic Republic, you're all the time repeating the
06:24concept of regime. That is a very manipulated concept itself. Islamic Republic is a stable,
06:33constitutional government and state that is very legitimate, much more popular comparing the United
06:40States or at many, many other Western, uh, States and regimes, of course. And, uh, what you see here,
06:49it's, it's, it's a good hint. After the assassination of the Supreme leader, I told I say that the
06:54Khamenei, that you saw that how much, how much popular he was not only inside the, inside Iran,
07:01but in Iraq, in Pakistan, in Lebanon, in Yemen, in many countries, he was very popular.
07:07Then after assassinating tens of, uh, commanders, why the, why this Islamic Republic is not changing?
07:17Why the promises of two, three-day war has been prolonged for weeks and still the United States
07:25is looking for a resolution and can't find it? Why other countries like Pakistan, like Turkey,
07:32like Egypt, like Oman, try to step in and bring a ceasefire, but they cannot really convince the
07:39United States and Israel to halt their attacks and accept the Iranian legitimate demands. They are,
07:46it's, it's, it's like a quagmire for Americans. And Iran, with, uh, thousands of under, uh,
07:53actually ground, uh, missile and drone bases can keep on this war for years with minimum fire
08:01every day, struck to Israel, to, uh, other U.S. assets in the region. So if you don't like to
08:08accept it,
08:08it's up to you. But I think that your viewers have lots of evidences on the ground
08:12that Iran is the victor of this, uh, war. You're saying Iran is the victor of the war,
08:19but I want to ask you in conclusion, are you still, the people of Iran, hopeful that we will
08:23have a negotiated settlement in the next 48 hours, that the Strait of Hormuz will be open?
08:28Is that your hope? Or do you fear, like many, uh, of us outside Iran, that this war could go
08:35on for a very long time?
08:40A Strait of Hormuz is open to the friends and not the enemies. You see that Iraqi, for example,
08:47Indian ships, Iraqi ships, many, many ships are, and vessels are passing, uh, but not for the hostiles,
08:55not for the enemies. And I think that Iran would not keep on, and keep up, would keep on this,
09:03uh,
09:03uh, retaliation and self and legitimate self defense up to the point that, uh, the facts are
09:11changing on the ground. The authority of Iran under the Hormuz should be established and had been
09:17established actually. And I think that if the demands of Iran, particularly paying the compensation
09:23and accepting the, uh, authority over Hormuz and also a regional peace, uh, actually ceasefire,
09:29because we have in Iraq, Lebanon and Yemen allies that are in danger. So I think that if at least
09:36these three terms would be responded and accommodated by the West and by the GCC, by the GCC allies,
09:42it can't finish. Let me leave it there. Uh, Zorab, uh, Karazmi, I appreciate you joining me here
09:50on the show tonight. Thank you very much for giving us a view from Tehran. Uh, remember there is,
09:57it's not easy to get that view from Tehran.
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