The War on Iran and Convergences of Fascism

The war on Iran has triggered a humanitarian catastrophe inside the country, with inflation soaring, infrastructure destroyed, internet blackouts lasting months, and over 1,700 civilians killed—yet mainstream discourse remains fixated on strategic chokepoints like the Strait of Hormuz. Dr. Nagar Razavi, a political anthropologist at Princeton, argues that this war was made possible not by a single ideology, but by the convergence of multiple fascist strands: anti-Muslim and anti-Shia sentiment, white supremacist Aryanism tied to the Iranian diaspora, settler colonialism, nostalgic patriarchalism, and techno-fascism. These forces, she says, are not just coincidental—they are mutually reinforcing, with the U.S. and Israeli governments enabling a war that serves the interests of weapons manufacturers, oil companies, and private equity firms. The war has also weaponized narratives: Iran’s support for Palestine is used domestically to justify repression, while the U.S. and its allies exploit the 'woman, life, freedom' movement for geopolitical leverage. Crucially, Razavi warns that the very experts who helped construct Iran as an 'unknowable enemy' now claim to offer solutions—despite having long advocated for confrontation. She urges listeners to scrutinize who is shaping the narrative on Iran and to question the sources behind every expert quote.