Iran

Iranian American scholar Pardis Mahdavi, who was once dragged out of a Tehran classroom by morality police while lecturing about her latest book, "On Iran's Sexual Revolution" joins Tonya Mosely to help shed light on the protests in Iran.

Neda Toloui-Semnani shares the story of her parents, two Iranian students who met at Berkeley in 1969 and later, in Iran, worked to build a more democratic nation. Her father was executed in 1983.

New Yorker writer Adam Entous says the U.S. could face further retaliation from Iran for the death of Qassem Soleimani: "If you look at their history, they take a long time before they strike back."

Kim Ghattas grew up in Lebanon during the civil war and covered the Mideast for the BBC for 20 years. She says events in the region in 1979 set off waves of extremism and violence that continue today.

Intercept journalist James Risen says new documents show how Iran has embedded itself in the politics of its neighbor — and that the late Gen. Soleimani oversaw Iran's proxy wars in Iraq and Syria.

New York Times correspondent David Kirkpatrick says the UAE ruler has convinced President Trump to take an aggressive position against his enemies, including Iran and the Muslim Brotherhood.

New Yorker writer Dexter Filkins says President Trump's current national security adviser is a hawk who sees America as "a colossus operating anywhere it wants."

Desiree Akhavan's new film, based on Emily Danforth's 2012 young adult novel, centers on a high school girl who's sent to a Christian conversion center after she's caught kissing her girlfriend.

Masih Alinejad discusses her campaign against a law requiring that Iranian women and girls to cover their heads and necks with a hijab. Her new memoir is The Wind in My Hair.

Sara Saedi was two when her parents fled Iran to California. Her new memoir describes her 18-year-long path to citizenship, and the lingering anxiety of being undocumented.

New Yorker writer Dexter Filkins says Sec. of State Rex Tillerson is a diplomat in an administration that doesn't value diplomacy: "Rex is a sober, steady guy, and the president is anything but that."

The Iranian-born photographer told Fresh Air in 2015 that he was less interested in personal belief than in "what people do in the name of God." Abbas died in Paris on April 25.

Recently released in the U.S., Asghar Farhadi's 2009 film follows a teacher invited on a beach trip by the mother of one of her students. David Edelstein calls the film "Hitchockian" in its suspense.

Rosewater is based on Maziar Bahari's experience of being tortured in an Iranian prison. "His humor sustained him," the Daily Show host says. "And I found that incredibly empowering.

Qassem Suleimani is the chief of a powerful branch of Iran's Revolutionary Guard. He is considered to be responsible for the deaths of hundreds of American during the Iraq War, and now he is helping to prop up Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime.

In The Twilight War, historian David Crist outlines the secret history of America's 30-year conflict with Iran. based on interview with hundreds of officials as well as classified military archives, the book details how the covert war has repeatedly threatened tot bring the two nations into open warfare.

New York Times chief Washington correspondent David Sanger details how President Obama accelerated the use of innovative weapons to fight the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and sped up a wave of cyberattacks against Iran to destroy its nuclear centrifuges.

The Israeli government wants America's support and help for any possible attack on Iran. U.S. officials have said this isn't the right time for airstrikes. New York Times Washington correspondent David Sanger explains what's at stake for both sides.

Yoga can be extremely beneficial, but it also can be quite dangerous. Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist William Broad examines the pleasures and pitfalls of the practice in his latest book, The Science of Yoga.

The Iranian film A Separation won the Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film on Sunday. Critic John Powers says the remarkable film takes viewers inside a country that is far more complicated and fascinating than news headlines indicate.