“Every so often over the past quarter-century, analysts have predicted that Iran was on the cusp of major change. They always turned out to be wrong. Now, unrest is engulfing the country yet again.” So writes Jason Rezeian in a recent piece for the Washington Post about the threats the Iranian government is facing, what people are saying - and why this time could be different. 

For the past three months, Iran has been rocked by protests prompted by the death of a young woman - Mahsa Amini - while in the custody of Iran’s “morality police” for the alleged crime of wearing an improper hijab. 

Images of Amini - bruised and on life support - spread on social media, and her name has become the latest rallying cry in what have been largely women-powered protests against the government’s repression and misogyny.

It has been estimated by human rights organisations that - over the course of the protests - hundreds have died, thousands have been injured, and yet thousands more detained - upwards of 18,000 people.

Rezaian, the global opinions writer for the Washington Post, served as the Post’s bureau chief in Tehran from 2012 to mid 2015, before he was arrested and convicted on bogus espionage charges and held in an Iranian prison for a year and half before being released in early 2016 as a part of a prisoner exchange with the United States. 

Rezaian joins us to discuss the protests, Iran’s worsening relations with the West, and what he thinks the future holds for the Islamic republic

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