Iran's survival strategy against US ‘’control’ | Global News Podcast

Hello, I'm Ankur Desai. Welcome to the. Global News podcast on YouTube. Today, as the US and Israel continue to strike. Iran, we take a look at the Iranian. response and what exactly is Tehran's. strategy? And is the war crucially going. beyond Washington's control? To talk. more about this, I've got Bahman Kalbasi. from the BBC's Persian Service alongside. me. Bahman, as always, thank you so much. for your time. Now, first of all, let's. kick off then with the Iranian response. so far in response to the US and Israeli.

strikes. What have you made of the. strategy they're using thus far? A lot. of observers thought that if this war. started, that Iran at some point later. on will start targeting. Arab countries, and some people were. surprised how quickly they got there. So, I think that shows that they thought. of this immediately as a war of. survival. Um obviously, targeting of the. supreme leader and the entire. operational line of the military uh.

gave them the impression that this is a. war of a regime change. Therefore, they. have to throw everything at it from the. very get-go. The strategy is obviously. for them increasing pressure on global. energy supply. and making everybody else pay. The definition of victory for them is. survival. It's not military victory because that's. obviously impossible uh versus United.

States and Israel jointly. Uh so, how do you survive? Is that you. increase the cost and. stay in power until the calculus changes. in Washington. uh that this is going too long, that. this is too costly, and obviously. the United States is going to or Trump. administration is going to. have to worry about the domestic. implications of it as well as.

what the allies in the region are. saying. Well, as strikes ramp up, so does the rhetoric. in all of this. We've been hearing again. from Secretary of Defense for the United. States, Pete Hegseth, using strong. language. I quote he's saying that the. US will control Iran and control it. soon. Can Iran ever really be. under control? Under the control of the. United States? It's hard to get into the minds of this.

administration's. officials, especially when they speak in such. bravado. So, we heard similar language used about. Venezuela. We will control the oil. We. will take, you know, take the oil even. But, the reality is. this. is a country of 90 million people. It's. very diverse. And. short of entering with ground forces,

it's unclear what the bombardment alone. will accomplish. Um. it will obviously. deprive the regime of many of its. military tools, but it does not mean that they will fall. anytime soon because of it. No aerial. bombardment in the history has alone. resulted in a regime collapse like this. Everybody in this administration almost.

gives a different definition of what the. point of this is and what is the end. goal and when is it that they can. declare victory and go home? Is it. regime change? Is it controlling Iran? Is it. the nuclear program, which they. themselves said was obliterated 8 months. ago? Is it the missiles? You know, it's all. of it is very unclear and moving by the. day, sometimes by the hour. How are Iranian people feeling at this.

moment? 90 million people like you say, a huge country and then they're hearing. words like, well, Iran will be toast and. they know it. What can we make of the the the mindset. of Iranians who are having to experience. and live through this? I mean, but the fact of 90 million means. it is not a monolith and anybody who. comes and says Iranians feel this way or. the other isn't telling the entire. story. Um. and socioeconomics plays a role,

their proximity to bombs plays a role, uh. how much they want this regime gone. plays a role on how they feel. So, we have people who were celebrating. in the first day, um. and were hopeful that this will result. in regime collapse. As time goes by. and that doesn't happen and the cost of. civilians increases and daily life is. completely interrupted,

the very those very same people might. shift their views. Um we've had people on the other hand. who always opposed foreign intervention. who. didn't like the fact the United States. came and took out the leadership, even. though some of them. despised the leadership because it. basically in their view, it wasn't. anybody else's job to come in and do so. We have just heard CNN reporting the CIA.

has been. training or working with Kurdish forces. in Iraq. to send them through Iran and create a. buffer zone. Um. that sends shockwaves across Iranian. political and social spectrum. There is nothing that unites Iranians. more from all sides than Iran's. territorial integrity. So, the idea that somehow, United States. is arming ethnic groups that might. uh result in civil war or parts of Iran.

being separated is. an very uneasy feeling for a lot of. people. So, it may maybe among those very people. who want the regime change suddenly look. at that and start worrying about where. this is all going. And therefore, are there fears that this. could have parallels with what has. happened in Gaza in terms of the length. of time it has gone on for and also the. number of civilian casualties and deaths. that we've seen.

You know, people. uh in. sort of maybe self-defense mechanism. don't want to think that and don't want. to go that far. But, there are absolutely voices who. would say. okay, this is this is starting to look. very similar or to number of, you know, other conflicts in the region. Uh Gaza included. So, I don't think a lot of people in Iran, I. just spoke to family about. 30 minutes ago, begging them to like move for the time.

being and their response is like, "No, you know, we hear the bombs. They're. mainly hitting, you know, military. sites, so we're going to stay." And then. I get messages from other people saying, "My friend died.". And he was just passing by. a street corner. You know, two very two same people in. the same city with the proximity of. maybe like 4-5 miles. One wouldn't even leave because even.

though they can, they have a place, they. can go. They just don't want to endure. the traffic. They'd rather stay. And one already lost a friend. So, it just gives you a sense of how. within the same city people could have. very very different feelings about where. this is going. Let's finish off then with the question. of control again. And we we've talked. about the situation going beyond what. the the US has planned for and what. they've outlined in terms of those. um let's say speculative numbers of four.

to five weeks and then and it all being. resolved by then. What resolve means we. we we don't even know really. Is there a. worry that Washington loses control of. this? President Trump himself said that he was. surprised. that Iran was targeting. Arab countries in the Persian Gulf. Anybody who's paid any attention to. Iran's strategy for years. that they have telegraphed this very. openly. It wasn't a secret that they. will do that. So the fact that they didn't anticipate.

that and they're surprised by it. it just gives you a sense that they're. they weren't entirely in control even to. begin with. And the way the Americans. are American citizens are stuck in the. region and there was no plan to evacuate. them gives you another sense that they. don't they weren't necessarily prepared. for the day after. And so the longer this goes, obviously. the more complicated it becomes. Population movement. shortages of food. uh the the IRGC moving its ground forces.

into the into action. there are still a lot of cards that they. have that they could play. uh from the Iranian side that could. complicate things a lot further. Bahman, thank you so much for your time. That's. Bahman Kalbasi from the BBC's Persian. service. Uh please do subscribe to our. YouTube channel and do leave us a like. and do leave a comment below, too, if. there any other stories that you'd like. us to cover. And if you are interested. in these world affairs, then do check.

out our global news podcast. You can. download that from wherever you get your. podcast from. For now, thank you so much. for your time.