GoKawiilIt’s been three months since the United States and Israel attacked Iran, kicking off a seemingly open-ended war that’s been characterized by chaos, widespread confusion, and global economic damage that’s expected to persist for months—if not years.
Those suffering most from the war’s impact, the Iranian people, are arguably who we’ve heard from the least. A prolonged, nationwide internet blackout imposed by the Iranian regime is one key reason. So too is the absence of a flourishing and free Iranian press or a robust cohort of foreign correspondents operating within the country. Jason Rezaian would know: In 2014, when he was working as the Tehran bureau chief for The Washington Post, Rezaian imprisoned by the Iranian regime and convicted of espionage. He remained in Iranian prison for nearly two years before being released into US custody as part of a prisoner exchange.
I wanted to better understand where things stand between the US and Iran, and what a possible outcome to this war might look like. But I wanted to understand it from the point of view of someone who’s lived in the country and can speak firsthand to the brutal realities of the Iranian regime and the risks this war poses to Iran’s 93 million inhabitants. Rezaian, who is now the director of press freedom initiatives at The Washington Post, was generous enough to sit down and talk about all of it—from his personal experience navigating Iran’s oppressive government and state-sanctioned media to the distorting impacts of this conflict’s meme wars and internet blackouts.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
KATIE DRUMMOND: Jason, thank you so much for being here and welcome to The Big Interview.
JASON REZAIAN: Thanks for having me, Katie. I appreciate it.
Delighted that you're here. Let's start with the latest. We are talking on a Wednesday, about a week before this episode is going to come out. Right now, there is what I would describe as a fragile ceasefire in place. Questions remain over how long it will hold. The US has not ruled out additional strikes, and there are fears, especially with Iran's latest statements, that the war could spread not only beyond its borders, but beyond the borders of the Middle East. What is your interpretation of the situation right now?
I want to start by saying that we've been at some level of conflict with Iran since 1979. So we've never been at peace with the Islamic Republic. One of the first things they did was take American diplomats and held them hostage in our embassy in Tehran. So, this animosity is not new. I think where we are right now in this ceasefire, if I had to guess, I don't think that the Trump administration, President Trump in particular, wants to attack Iran again. It seems pretty obvious to me from his statements. “I was gonna do it last night, but, you know, I got talked out of it.”
“Changed my mind.”
Yeah. So, I think it's pretty clear that the economic pain that we're feeling at home has changed his attitude and desire for regime change—if that was his desire in the first place. I don't think that if you asked him, he'd have a clear answer of why he got into this in the first place.
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