Unholy: Two Jews on the News War with Iran Week II: can the regime actually fall? With Ali Ansari
25 snips
Mar 10, 2026 
Ali Ansari, historian and director of the Institute for Iranian Studies, offers a brisk primer on modern Iran. He questions assumptions about the regime's durability and explains why hereditary succession may signal weakness. The conversation touches on leadership change, signs of internal incoherence, and how localized unrest could spread into broader challenges.
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Living With Hourly Missile Alerts
- Yonit Levi describes life under frequent missile alerts with constant shelter runs and pervasive sleeplessness.
- She likens it to having a newborn: unpredictable wakeups every hour or so, public shelters, children home and collective exhaustion across Israel.
Watch Markets And Oil For Conflict Timelines
- Ansari advises caution about public statements and timing during conflict and highlights economic indicators as key constraints on policy.
- He says leaders use ambiguity strategically and warns markets and oil prices will shape how long the campaign runs.
Regime Change Is Contingent Not Formulaic
- Ali Ansari warns against rigid academic checklists that assume regime change is impossible under certain conditions.
- He argues political ruptures are contingent and unpredictable, urging humility and historical perspective rather than fixed templates.