UNAPOLOGETIC with Ashfaaq Carim

In this episode of Unapologetic, Hassan Ahmadian, political scientist at the University of Tehran, argues that US-Israeli aggression may inadvertently bring Iran, Turkey and the Arab world closer together.
Ahmadian explains why Iran views every negotiation with Washington through the lens of betrayal, and why Tehran sees caving to Trump and Netanyahu as a worse outcome than war itself. He also explains how control of the Strait of Hormuz has handed Iran a card that no amount of US military hardware can easily beat.
The conversation covers how Iran actually makes its biggest decisions, especially now after its former leadership has been decapitated, the long and complicated relationship between Iran and the Arab world, and what Israel's drift towards extremism ultimately means for its own survival and how their persistent violence is showing all the actors in the region why they need to look to each other for stability.

UNAPOLOGETIC is hosted by Ashfaaq Carim.

"If you go to China, you'll never ever see the world in the same way again. Never."

In this episode of UNAPOLOGETIC, Martin Jacques, author of the million-copy bestseller When China Rules the World, makes the case that China has already eclipsed the United States as the world's leading power, and that the West still fundamentally doesn't understand why.

This episode explores China's identity as a civilisation-state, the century of humiliation, the Belt and Road Initiative, the Xinjiang question, the decline of American hegemony, Trump's failing strategy against China, and why Jacques believes the future global order will be built around China and the Global South

UNAPOLOGETIC is hosted by Ashfaaq Carim.

In this episode of UNAPOLOGETIC, we speak to Mohsen Kadivar - Iranian scholar, Shia mujtahid, dissident cleric, and former political prisoner - about the Islamic Republic, its origins, and its contradictions.
Kadivar offers a rare insider critique of Iran: opposing US imperialism and Israeli aggression, while also challenging the authoritarianism of the Islamic Republic from within Shia theology itself. He traces his own journey - arrested under both the Shah and the Islamic Republic - and explains how the revolutionary promise of freedom, democracy, and justice was only partially realised.
We explore the theory of velayat-e faqih (guardianship of the jurist), how it reshaped Iran’s political system, and why Kadivar argues it is only one interpretation among many within Islamic thought. He also reflects on elections, reform movements, repression, and the limits of political freedom in Iran today.
Throughout the conversation, Kadivar builds a compelling case for why Muslims - in both majority and minority contexts - should embrace democracy as the most just and viable form of governance for themselves and others.
This is conversation takes a deep look into how power, religion, personalities and competing visions of destiny have interacted to make Iran, Iran.

In this episode of UNAPOLOGETIC, Norman Finkelstein unpacks the aftermath of the US–Iran war, beginning with the ceasefire and what it actually reveals about both sides. He argues there was no clear victory, before tracing the deeper roots of US strategy toward Iran over decades.
The conversation explores Donald Trump’s highly personalised decision-making, the role Israel played in tipping the balance, and why expectations of regime collapse inside Iran failed.
Finkelstein also examines the broader consequences: the collapse of legal norms around war, the destruction unfolding in Lebanon, and Iran’s justification for its response under international law.
In the final stretch, the discussion turns to Trump’s political base, the rise of alternative media voices, and what this moment reveals about power, propaganda, and global order.
Norman’s forthcoming book is Gaza’s Gravediggers: An Inquiry into Corruption in High Places (OR Books, 2026) https://orbooks.com/catalog/gazas-gravediggers/

In this episode of UNAPOLOGETIC, historian Abdallah Marouf connects the dots between the closure of Al-Aqsa, Israel’s ultra-right, Pete Hegseth, the dangerously expanding war in Iran, and the belief in a coming Messiah.

He explains how a once-marginal religious Zionist movement now holds real political power in Israel, and how its vision of rebuilding the Temple and hastening the Messiah is shaping events on the ground.

We explore the closure of Al-Aqsa, the rise of extremist factions, divisions within Israeli society, and the role of US evangelicals in reinforcing these ideas.

Marouf breaks down competing Jewish interpretations of the Messiah, the red heifer, and the Temple Mount, and why some believe a world war may be necessary to trigger the end times.