The Ayatollahs' Assassins. Podcast #331 with Roya Hakakian.

The Ayatollahs' Assassins. Podcast #331 with Roya Hakakian.

My guest this week is Roya Hakakian. Roya is a Jewish Iranian American writer, investigative journalist, poet, and political commentator.
We are huge fans of Roya’s work, and her reminders of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s long history of perfidy and hypocrisy are more timely than ever. She has been a guest on the Quillette podcast several times before to talk to us about her girlhood growing up in revolutionary Tehran, about current and historical protests against the Ayatollahs, and about former government officials who have found immunity for their crimes in the West.
She has also written some important long reads for the magazine. Today, I’ll be talking to her about her book Assassins of the Turquoise Palace, which Christopher Hitchens described as “unmissable” on its first publication. It is a riveting political and courtroom thriller about the assassinations of Iranian dissidents in Berlin in 1992, masterminded by the Islamic Republic.

We’ll be discussing the relationship between Iran and Germany and how and why the Iranian regime was able to commit crimes on foreign soil with impunity for so long. I hope you enjoy my conversation with Roya Hakakian.

00:00 - Intro – Hitchens on the Book
01:45 - Berlin Assassinations Explained
04:00 - What Happened That Night
06:15 - The Trial That Changed Europe
08:00 - Iran’s Global Hit List
09:30 - First Killing on US Soil
11:00 - Why Iran Targets the Kurds
13:30 - Early Brutality Exposed
15:00 - Vienna Assassination Cover-Up
17:30 - Letting Killers Walk Free
19:30 - Germany’s Dealings with Iran
22:00 - Diplomacy vs Terror
24:30 - The West Looks Away
27:00 - Winning the Narrative War
30:30 - How the German Trial Works
33:30 - Inside the 4-Year Trial
36:30 - Iran Tries to Stop the Trial
42:00 - Trade Over Justice
47:00 - Why This Still Matters Today
51:00 - Powerful Final Statement
57:00 - Final Thoughts & Book
Quillette is an Australian-based online magazine that focuses on long-form analysis and cultural commentary. It is politically non-partisan, but relies on reason, science, and humanism as its guiding values.

Quillette was founded in 2015 by Australian writer Claire Lehmann. It is a platform for free thought and a space for open discussion and debate on a wide range of topics, including politics, culture, science, and technology.

Quillette has gained attention for publishing articles and essays that challenge modern orthodoxy on a variety of topics, including gender and sexuality, race and identity politics, and free speech and censorship.

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Видео The Ayatollahs' Assassins. Podcast #331 with Roya Hakakian. канала Quillette