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Oil, revolution and ayatollahs: how Iran went from great power to rogue state

Oil, revolution and ayatollahs: how Iran went from great power to rogue state

Iran: The Latest vor 4 Monaten

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Podcast

Iran: The Latest

395 Episoden

The Telegraph’s defence, security and foreign affairs podcast covering the conflict in Iran

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Within living memory, Tehran ruled an oil-rich great power
brimming with intellectuals inspired by British democracy.
So how did it become an impoverished rogue state at war with
the West?

In this special Bank Holiday edition, Ali Ansari, professor of
Iranian history at the University of St Andrews, takes Roland
Oliphant through Iran's tumultuous modern era: from the 1906
Constitutional Revolution and the 1953 coup, to the 1979 ousting
of the shah and the 2026 US assassination of Ali Khamenei.

From the blunders of the unlikely "midwife" of the modern Iranian
state - Great Britain - to the catastrophic decisions of
successive Supreme Leaders after the founding of the Islamic
Republic, he charts the course that shaped the country Donald
Trump is fighting today.

How do the myths overshadow the facts of the CIA's 1953 coup and
the Iran-Iraq war? Why is the regime so obsessed with enriching
uranium and fighting Israel and America? And is the UK guilty of
betraying Iranian dreams of democracy?

Plus, how the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company brought association
football to Tehran.

Highlights

Oil, revolution and ayatollahs: how Iran went from great
power to rogue state

Professor Ali Ansari explains 20th-century Iranian history

CONTRIBUTORS:

Roland Oliphant, co-host and chief foreign affairs analyst
@RolandOliphant

Ali Ansari, professor University of St Andrews @aa51_ansari

CONTENT REFERENCED:

Part 1: ‘Iran thinks it’s still a great power’: Why the regime
won’t surrender

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2026/04/03/why-the-iranian-regime-wont-surrender-ali-ansari/

Producer: Max Bower

Executive Producers: Venetia Rainey & Louisa Wells

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EMAIL US: Contact the team on battlelines@telegraph.co.uk

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