Mehdi Unfiltered 'The US Is ADDICTED to Forever Wars': Two Middle East Scholars Speak Out on Iran, Palestine, and Lebanon
Apr 14, 2026
Narges Bajoghli, Iranian-American scholar and filmmaker studying Iran and media. Noura Erakat, Palestinian-American legal scholar and activist focused on Palestinian rights. They dissect US-Iran tensions, Palestine’s long struggle and accountability, Israel’s regional aims, how social media reshaped narratives, and why the US keeps fighting protracted wars.
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Iran Uses Strait Of Hormuz As Strategic Leverage
- The Iran conflict tests whether Iran gained a strategic victory by leveraging control of the Strait of Hormuz to pressure the global economy.
- Narges Bajoghli explains Iran moved from nuclear deterrence to using maritime leverage and shipping restrictions as coercive tools.
Middle East Became A Workshop Of War
- The U.S. foreign policy apparatus sustains 'forever wars' by normalizing new warfare tools tested in the Middle East.
- Narges Bajoghli says since 1979 the region became a workshop where surveillance and warfare techniques are perfected then exported worldwide.
International Law Is Being Replaced By A Rules Based Order
- International law is being hollowed out as institutions refuse to call out aggression and instead promote a 'rules-based' Board of Peace.
- Noura Erakat highlights the February 28 strike on Iran lacked legal self-defense justification yet drew no timely UN condemnation.