As Iran Faces Internal Protests, US Justification for War Unravels

Sonali Kolhatkar speaks with Reese Erlich, a veteran foreign correspondent and author of a number of books about the Middle East and war on terror, including Inside Syria: The Backstory of Their Civil War and What the World Can Expect.

His latest book is called The Iran Agenda Today. His twice-monthly column called Foreign Correspondent appears in The Progressive.

Iranians are protesting their government after it admitted to mistakenly downing a passenger plane last week carrying 176 people. More than a hundred of the fatalities were of Iranian nationals.

The downing of the plane came just after the US targeted a top Iranian military general in Iraq, Qassem Soleimani in a provocative show of force that pushed both countries to the brink of war.

The Trump administration’s justification for the airstrike was a claim of an Iranian plan to target of US Embassies but now that assertion is unraveling. A majority of Americans disapprove of Trump’s handling of the crisis.

Rising Up with Sonali is an all-women run radio and a television show that brings progressive news coverage rooted in gender and racial justice to a wide audience.

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