The Soleimani Assassination: Are We Heading to a New War in the Middle East?

Published: Jan. 3, 2020, 11 p.m.

On today's special episode of Loud & Clear: The Trump administration has started a war with Iran. The Defense Department announced last night that it had killed General Qassem Soleimani, Iran’s most important military leader and arguably the second most powerful man in the country. Iran is vowing revenge, and, with the exception of Israel, no other country is expressing full support for the US move. The entire Middle East is on the verge of being engulfed in a devastating conflict. Today’s show is devoted entirely to understanding this crisis.


These guests join us today:


Mohammad Marandi, an expert on American studies and postcolonial literature who teaches at the University of Tehran


Massoud Shadjareh, the founder of the Islamic Human Rights Commission


Dr. Gerald Horne, a professor of history at the University of Houston and the author of many books, including “Blows Against the Empire: U.S. Imperialism in Crisis”


Rania Khalek, a journalist and political activist whose work has appeared in The Nation, The Intercept, Aljazeera, Salon, VICE, and elsewhere


Ted Rall, an award winning journalist and editorial cartoonist whose work is at www.rall.com


Ann Wright, a retired United States Army colonel and former U.S. State Department official in Afghanistan, who resigned in protest of the invasion of Iraq and became an anti-war activist


Ben Norton, a journalist with The Grayzone and co-host of the Moderate Rebels podcast


Jana Nakhal, an independent researcher and a member of the central committee of the Lebanese Communist Party