Iran Uncovered NUFDI (National Union for Democracy in Iran)

Season 2 | Episode 3  

This episode hosting "The State Department's Secret Weapon" discusses the story of a Russian Jewish immigrant to the United States and how it led him to a fondness for and closeness with the Iranian people and support for their struggle.   

Iran Uncovered is a podcast by NUFDI bringing you experts, activists, and newsmakers to talk #Iran. It is hosted by Saeed Ghasseminejad and Cameron Khansarinia.  

Subscribe to our channel here: https://www.youtube.com/c/NUFDIran  

Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/UncoveredIran 

About this week's guest.  

Len Khodorkovsky is the CTO of the Technology Trust Network and the former Chief Marketing Officer and Senior Advisor in the Office of the Under Secretary for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment. He has previously served at U.S. Department of State as a Senior Advisor for Public Affairs in the Iran Action Group, and the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Digital Strategy in the Bureau of Global Public Affairs.  Prior to joining the U.S. government, Len Khodorkovsky worked in the advertising industry for over two decades. As a senior executive, he helped Fortune 100 companies launch integrated campaigns and grow their brands.  Len Khodorkovsky was the Creative Director at Jamestown Associates, the lead ad agency of the Donald J. Trump for President campaign. After the 2016 election, he served on the President’s transition team.  Over the years, Len’s work has been recognized with dozens of advertising awards for creativity and effectiveness. He is a graduate of Rutgers University and has earned an MFA in Design from the School of Visual Arts.


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This week's episode is covers the controversy over ethnic separatism and secessionism in Iran, the role of Iranian nationalism in contemporary politics, and the lessons policymakers should take from both.  

Iran Uncovered is a podcast by NUFDI bringing you experts, activists, and newsmakers to talk #Iran. It is hosted by Saeed Ghasseminejad and Cameron Khansarinia.  

Subscribe to our channel here: https://www.youtube.com/c/NUFDIran  

Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/UncoveredIran 

About this week's guest.  

Behnam Ben Taleblu is a senior fellow at FDD where he focuses on Iranian security and political issues. Behnam previously served as a research fellow and senior Iran analyst at FDD. Prior to his time at FDD, Behnam worked on non-proliferation issues at an arms control think-tank in Washington. Leveraging his subject-matter expertise and native Farsi skills, Behnam has closely tracked a wide range of Iran-related topics including: nuclear non-proliferation, ballistic missiles, sanctions, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the foreign and security policy of the Islamic Republic, and internal Iranian politics. Frequently called upon to brief journalists, congressional staff, and other Washington-audiences, Behnam has also testified before the U.S. Congress and Canadian Parliament.  

His analysis has been quoted in The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, Reuters, Fox News, The Associated Press, and Agence France-Presse, among others. Additionally, he has contributed to or co-authored articles for Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, Fox News, The Hill, War on the Rocks, The National Interest, and U.S. News & World Report. Behnam has appeared on a variety of broadcast programs, including BBC News, Fox News, CBS Interactive, C-SPAN, and Defense News. Behnam earned his MA in International Relations from The University of Chicago, and his BA in International Affairs and Middle East Studies from The George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs.


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This week's episode is covers Western media coverage of Iran, bias in the American academy, China, and much more with Xiyue Wang. Saeed Ghasseminejad and Cameron Khansarinia explore the human angle of US policy towards the Islamic Republic and what one learns after 40 months in the Islamic Republic in Iran's most notorious prison.  

Iran Uncovered is a podcast by NUFDI bringing you experts, activists, and newsmakers to talk #Iran. It is hosted by Saeed Ghasseminejad and Cameron Khansarinia.  

Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/UncoveredIran 

About this week's guest.  

Wang Xiyue is a Jeane Kirkpatrick Visiting Research Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), where his research focuses on the history and regional affairs of the Middle East (with an emphasis on Iran), China, Russia, and Eurasia. He is concurrently a PhD candidate in history at Princeton University, where he specializes in Imperial Russia and the Soviet Union, the late Ottoman Empire, the modern Middle East, and modern China. He is especially interested in great-power rivalries in the Middle East and in how the Soviets and Chinese interacted with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary regime, and how such interactions shaped the geopolitics in the region since the late 1970s  

Mr. Wang came to national prominence through his analyses on Iran that combine scholarly insights with in-country experience: in August 2016, on an academic visit to Iran as a Princeton graduate student, he was detained by Iranian authorities, falsely charged with espionage, and imprisoned in Evin Prison in Tehran. In July 2017, he was formally sentenced to 10 years in prison. Mr. Wang was released in a prisoner swap between the US and Iran in December 2019.  

Since his release, Mr. Wang has written about his experience in Iran in Foreign Affairs. His writings on US-Iranian relations and Sino-Iranian relations have been widely published in Bloomberg Opinion, Foreign Policy, and RealClearWorld, among others. Mr. Wang is fluent in Chinese and Farsi, proficient in French, German, Pashto, Russian, Turkish, and Urdu.


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Iran has an ancient and celebrated culture, one that has sustained it through millennia. In the nation's toughest times, including multiple occupations, it has been its culture that has sustained it. Is that the case today with the Islamic Republic's occupation? Where does Iranian culture go from here?

We're joined by celebrated Iranian artist, Arash Sobhani, to discuss. He's the founding member and lead singer and guitarist of the underground band Kiosk and a long-time advocate for human rights since he was forced into exile. He is an accomplished producer, musician, writer, and architect who got his Masters in the field from the Isfahan University of Art. 


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**Warning: This episode covers the brutal crimes of the Islamic Republic in Iran and thus may be disturbing and not appropriate for all listeners.**

The Islamic Republic in Iran has among the world's worst human rights records. From women to LGBTQ to minorities, the regime has a 41-year history of committing crimes against humanity against the Iranian people.

To discuss, we'll be joined by Shahin Milani the Executive Director of the Iran Human Rights Documentation Center.


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The Islamic Republic has systemic components that are presented to the world as democratic, but it behind the scenes is a murky cabal which makes most of the key decisions. What is the actual structure of this regime and how do the Iranian people view it? To find out, we'll be joined by veteran Iranian journalist Nazenin Ansari.


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