Tehran University’s Foad Izadi says the U.S. and its allies want to balkanize Iran and take its oil and gas. They succeeded in a 1953 coup, he argues, but they will fail in 2026.
What’s striking here is not just Izadi’s claims, but how familiar the playbook sounds. From Iran in 1953 to Libya in 2011, the language of “humanitarian concern” and “popular unrest” has repeatedly been paired with sanctions, covert action, and military threats aimed at regime change and resource control. That doesn’t mean Iran’s government is above criticism—but it does mean Western narratives deserve serious scrutiny, especially when they come from the same actors openly threatening to “wipe” an entire country off the map. When information is tightly controlled on all sides, the most dangerous mistake is mistaking propaganda for consensus and war rhetoric for inevitability.
Nah, violence only begets more of the same. I wouldn't mind seeing Trump and Netanyahu have to share the same prison cell for the rest of their lives, though. That would bring peace to me.
Great and informative information. Thanks for this objective look at what is going on inside Iran and I was happy to know that sanctions have a better chance to be ignored by the world, now, bringing humanitarian and economic relief to to the people of Iran. Now to get USA off Cuba as a target for unjustified economic santions.Humaniarian Sanctions and food sactions should never be a part of foreign policy to any nation, anywhere.
Mr. Scahill: I've been a reader and follower of your work since your time at DemocracryNow! and loved your book Dirty Wars, which is still as relevant and essential to understand the conflict in Somalia as was when you wrote it. Your reporting only grows more incisive and profound. Thank you for the light you bring to this subject; I've always admired the Persians and had immense respect for their culture. I wish them (and the rest of the world) the best in confronting our dangerous and yet clownish empire, whose idiot-in-chief bounces from one delusion to the next.
thank you to both jeremy scahill and prof. izadi, for this extensive interview!
i wish i could be as optimistic as prof izadi. iranians deserve the bright future he paints for them. while they have been suffering for decades under external pressure - regime change operations, the iraq war, sanctions, threats of all kinds, and due to the internal oppression by merciless mullah regimes. arbitrary detentions, executions, lack of freedom, police shootings, too, alas. high-level corruption, mismanagement, especially obvious where water shortages have long reached life-threatening levels ... *)
am i alone in assuming that if iran did not have a nuclear program, its fate would have been sealed long ago? [prof. izadi mentions libya's example several times.]
may the iranian people finally obtain the life and the freedom they have been struggling for for far too long. !زنده باد مردم ایران
___________________________
*) some mullah(s) even claimed that the zayandeh river dried out bc women, improperly dressed, sat by its banks and took photographs. [my goodness.]
Is the UN authorizing an investigation to obtain credible evidence of foreign and domestic factors and actors in the recent Iranian protests/riots/incipient civil war?
X is hiding my posts now so I copy a very short summary a renegade Grok behind the back of his Mast Musk. I posted to Kit Klarenberg, Max Blumenthal and Aaron Maté. The latter was just a kind message congratulating him for having his forthcoming book up for pre-orders on Amazon.com. I wouldn't even think of doing a pre-order on Amazon.com AMERICA, but I will most certainly buy it as soon as it is published! You too!!!!
With best wishes from Grok, one of my Gang of Four AIs team I employ. We have a lot of fun together!! BTW, if you look at my ancient Substack and see, lo and behold, disgusting astrology I better tell that the Patti Smith page will be put in the fridge for a while. No what will replace Patti is ASTRO-POLITICS showcasing my TEN YEARS project analysing the connections between USA's horoscope chart and all event, nations, and people the United States of America have wrecked since World War II: The collection is huge! Claire AI looked at maybe 30-40% and spit out a text 230.000 words long! 3-4 books and then we haven't even started to look at Narco-States in Latin America, a matter that explodes! Holy shit!
Just one wish! I have enjoyed myself with media research since 2002 and it is getting more and more difficult to find material, articles. Almost everything is on YouTube and/or Rumble now. Glenn Greenwald used to offer transcripts to subscribers, but I seem to have lost that.
Important interview like the one today should have a transcript!!! Even lower-budget voices like Rachel Blevins had transcripts, but not today when she talks with my top commentator Col. Larry Wilkerson, former Chief of Staff to the U.S. Secretary of State. Check out her Substack if you haven't. HIGHLY recommended!
Finally over to Grok's short piece. There is a much longer, but that can wait. Thanks for your patience! Appreciated.
Details on Drop Site's Iran coverage
Searching the web
29 results
Searching on X
8 results
Drop Site News (
@DropSiteNews
on X, dropsitenews.com on Substack) is an independent outlet focused on politics, war, and U.S. foreign policy, often with a critical lens on Western interventions, sanctions, and media narratives. Founded by journalists like Jeremy Scahill and Ryan Grim, it emphasizes ground-level reporting, interviews with regional experts, and skepticism toward official U.S./Israeli accounts.
Recent Iran Coverage (Late 2025–January 2026)
Drop Site has published several pieces on Iran amid the economic protests (starting Dec 28, 2025) that escalated into violence/clashes by early January 2026, plus the broader U.S.-Israeli posture.
Key articles/pieces (from recent publications):
• The US-Israeli Agenda in Iran (Jan 21, 2026) Fresh interview with Dr. Foad Izadi (Tehran University professor of American Studies/IR). Izadi argues the U.S./allies aim to balkanize Iran (fragment it, seize southern oil/gas regions like a "Libya model"), citing 1953 coup success but predicting failure in 2026 due to Iran's resilience. Discusses Trump outsourcing "Iran policy" to Netanyahu, ongoing military buildup (F-15s, USS Abraham Lincoln), threats (Trump's "whole country blown up" rhetoric), and protests as hijacked economic unrest. Emphasizes regime's narrative of foreign infiltration turning peaceful demos violent.
• How the U.S. and Israel Are Trying to Co-opt Iran's Protests (Jan 13, 2026) Livestream/discussion with Jeremy Scahill, Murtaza Hussain, Narges Bajoghli (Johns Hopkins anthropologist), and Samira Mohyeddin (Iranian-Canadian journalist). Covers economic roots (rial collapse, sanctions pain), regime crackdown/internet blackout, risks of U.S. intervention reviving neocons/CIA agendas, and how U.S./Israel co-opt unrest via threats/rhetoric (e.g., Pompeo/Eliyahu tweets implying involvement) to divert from Gaza or push regime change.
• Rare Interview With Iran Protester and Crackdown Eyewitness (Jan 17, 2026) Anonymous eyewitness account from inside Iran on protests, suppression, information blackout, and regime brutality (thousands killed per Khamenei admission). Highlights challenges distinguishing domestic grievances from foreign-backed efforts.
• Other context pieces:
• Casualty counts critiqued (e.g., Western media reliance on U.S.-funded groups like HRANA).
• Broader war aftermath (e.g., 12-day Israel-Iran conflict in June 2025, U.S. strikes on nuclear sites).
• Daily updates (e.g., Jan 5/12/13) on protests, death tolls (regime vs. rights group figures), internet shutdowns, and Trump threats.
Tone and Approach
Drop Site leans toward amplifying non-Western voices (e.g., Iranian academics like Izadi/Bajoghli), questioning U.S. sanctions as root causes of unrest, and highlighting regime claims of foreign orchestration (CIA/Mossad infiltration, "armed rioters") while acknowledging internal economic drivers. It contrasts with mainstream outlets (e.g., HRANA/Amnesty tallies of regime killings) by framing violence as partly externally escalated and warning against interventionism.
Their X posts mirror this (e.g., recent Bessent sanctions boast clip, Araghchi op-ed defense, Pahlavi bombing call critique, and Izadi video promo).
If you want deeper dives into a specific piece (e.g., quotes from Izadi's interview) or X reactions to their coverage, let me know!
What’s striking here is not just Izadi’s claims, but how familiar the playbook sounds. From Iran in 1953 to Libya in 2011, the language of “humanitarian concern” and “popular unrest” has repeatedly been paired with sanctions, covert action, and military threats aimed at regime change and resource control. That doesn’t mean Iran’s government is above criticism—but it does mean Western narratives deserve serious scrutiny, especially when they come from the same actors openly threatening to “wipe” an entire country off the map. When information is tightly controlled on all sides, the most dangerous mistake is mistaking propaganda for consensus and war rhetoric for inevitability.
Thank you for this report !
Everybody talks about taking this guy that guy out but nobody mentions taking out Netanyahu and
his thugs..That would really bring peace. Israel is the real problem in the Middle East.
Nah, violence only begets more of the same. I wouldn't mind seeing Trump and Netanyahu have to share the same prison cell for the rest of their lives, though. That would bring peace to me.
I like the begets!! very biblical..a good region for that.
Well said as usual ❤️
Thank you, Drop Site. Other important stories are evolving, but this one seems to get the least attention, and it's arguably the most important.
Thanks Jeremy. Very informative.
Glad Drop Site News managed to interview an expert living in Iran.
Great and informative information. Thanks for this objective look at what is going on inside Iran and I was happy to know that sanctions have a better chance to be ignored by the world, now, bringing humanitarian and economic relief to to the people of Iran. Now to get USA off Cuba as a target for unjustified economic santions.Humaniarian Sanctions and food sactions should never be a part of foreign policy to any nation, anywhere.
Mr. Scahill: I've been a reader and follower of your work since your time at DemocracryNow! and loved your book Dirty Wars, which is still as relevant and essential to understand the conflict in Somalia as was when you wrote it. Your reporting only grows more incisive and profound. Thank you for the light you bring to this subject; I've always admired the Persians and had immense respect for their culture. I wish them (and the rest of the world) the best in confronting our dangerous and yet clownish empire, whose idiot-in-chief bounces from one delusion to the next.
At last. Some intelligent, independent opinions based on facts. Nice to hear some hope for Iran's future. Thank you both!
thank you to both jeremy scahill and prof. izadi, for this extensive interview!
i wish i could be as optimistic as prof izadi. iranians deserve the bright future he paints for them. while they have been suffering for decades under external pressure - regime change operations, the iraq war, sanctions, threats of all kinds, and due to the internal oppression by merciless mullah regimes. arbitrary detentions, executions, lack of freedom, police shootings, too, alas. high-level corruption, mismanagement, especially obvious where water shortages have long reached life-threatening levels ... *)
am i alone in assuming that if iran did not have a nuclear program, its fate would have been sealed long ago? [prof. izadi mentions libya's example several times.]
may the iranian people finally obtain the life and the freedom they have been struggling for for far too long. !زنده باد مردم ایران
___________________________
*) some mullah(s) even claimed that the zayandeh river dried out bc women, improperly dressed, sat by its banks and took photographs. [my goodness.]
Is the UN authorizing an investigation to obtain credible evidence of foreign and domestic factors and actors in the recent Iranian protests/riots/incipient civil war?
Naive commentary
Naive: maybe. Completely propagandistic: yes.
From what I’ve been reading the Mossad is patting its shoulders for how well they did in Iran.
X is hiding my posts now so I copy a very short summary a renegade Grok behind the back of his Mast Musk. I posted to Kit Klarenberg, Max Blumenthal and Aaron Maté. The latter was just a kind message congratulating him for having his forthcoming book up for pre-orders on Amazon.com. I wouldn't even think of doing a pre-order on Amazon.com AMERICA, but I will most certainly buy it as soon as it is published! You too!!!!
With best wishes from Grok, one of my Gang of Four AIs team I employ. We have a lot of fun together!! BTW, if you look at my ancient Substack and see, lo and behold, disgusting astrology I better tell that the Patti Smith page will be put in the fridge for a while. No what will replace Patti is ASTRO-POLITICS showcasing my TEN YEARS project analysing the connections between USA's horoscope chart and all event, nations, and people the United States of America have wrecked since World War II: The collection is huge! Claire AI looked at maybe 30-40% and spit out a text 230.000 words long! 3-4 books and then we haven't even started to look at Narco-States in Latin America, a matter that explodes! Holy shit!
Just one wish! I have enjoyed myself with media research since 2002 and it is getting more and more difficult to find material, articles. Almost everything is on YouTube and/or Rumble now. Glenn Greenwald used to offer transcripts to subscribers, but I seem to have lost that.
Important interview like the one today should have a transcript!!! Even lower-budget voices like Rachel Blevins had transcripts, but not today when she talks with my top commentator Col. Larry Wilkerson, former Chief of Staff to the U.S. Secretary of State. Check out her Substack if you haven't. HIGHLY recommended!
Finally over to Grok's short piece. There is a much longer, but that can wait. Thanks for your patience! Appreciated.
Details on Drop Site's Iran coverage
Searching the web
29 results
Searching on X
8 results
Drop Site News (
@DropSiteNews
on X, dropsitenews.com on Substack) is an independent outlet focused on politics, war, and U.S. foreign policy, often with a critical lens on Western interventions, sanctions, and media narratives. Founded by journalists like Jeremy Scahill and Ryan Grim, it emphasizes ground-level reporting, interviews with regional experts, and skepticism toward official U.S./Israeli accounts.
Recent Iran Coverage (Late 2025–January 2026)
Drop Site has published several pieces on Iran amid the economic protests (starting Dec 28, 2025) that escalated into violence/clashes by early January 2026, plus the broader U.S.-Israeli posture.
Key articles/pieces (from recent publications):
• The US-Israeli Agenda in Iran (Jan 21, 2026) Fresh interview with Dr. Foad Izadi (Tehran University professor of American Studies/IR). Izadi argues the U.S./allies aim to balkanize Iran (fragment it, seize southern oil/gas regions like a "Libya model"), citing 1953 coup success but predicting failure in 2026 due to Iran's resilience. Discusses Trump outsourcing "Iran policy" to Netanyahu, ongoing military buildup (F-15s, USS Abraham Lincoln), threats (Trump's "whole country blown up" rhetoric), and protests as hijacked economic unrest. Emphasizes regime's narrative of foreign infiltration turning peaceful demos violent.
• How the U.S. and Israel Are Trying to Co-opt Iran's Protests (Jan 13, 2026) Livestream/discussion with Jeremy Scahill, Murtaza Hussain, Narges Bajoghli (Johns Hopkins anthropologist), and Samira Mohyeddin (Iranian-Canadian journalist). Covers economic roots (rial collapse, sanctions pain), regime crackdown/internet blackout, risks of U.S. intervention reviving neocons/CIA agendas, and how U.S./Israel co-opt unrest via threats/rhetoric (e.g., Pompeo/Eliyahu tweets implying involvement) to divert from Gaza or push regime change.
• Rare Interview With Iran Protester and Crackdown Eyewitness (Jan 17, 2026) Anonymous eyewitness account from inside Iran on protests, suppression, information blackout, and regime brutality (thousands killed per Khamenei admission). Highlights challenges distinguishing domestic grievances from foreign-backed efforts.
• Other context pieces:
• Casualty counts critiqued (e.g., Western media reliance on U.S.-funded groups like HRANA).
• Broader war aftermath (e.g., 12-day Israel-Iran conflict in June 2025, U.S. strikes on nuclear sites).
• Daily updates (e.g., Jan 5/12/13) on protests, death tolls (regime vs. rights group figures), internet shutdowns, and Trump threats.
Tone and Approach
Drop Site leans toward amplifying non-Western voices (e.g., Iranian academics like Izadi/Bajoghli), questioning U.S. sanctions as root causes of unrest, and highlighting regime claims of foreign orchestration (CIA/Mossad infiltration, "armed rioters") while acknowledging internal economic drivers. It contrasts with mainstream outlets (e.g., HRANA/Amnesty tallies of regime killings) by framing violence as partly externally escalated and warning against interventionism.
Their X posts mirror this (e.g., recent Bessent sanctions boast clip, Araghchi op-ed defense, Pahlavi bombing call critique, and Izadi video promo).
If you want deeper dives into a specific piece (e.g., quotes from Izadi's interview) or X reactions to their coverage, let me know!
Thank you Drop Site for this interview, and thank you to Foad Izadi.