It was an honor for me to be interviewed by Andrija Klarić for the Croation podcast Slobodni to discuss the US-Israeli war on Iran and the US role in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict—two highly interreleated topics.
Mr. Klarić was a gracious host, asking me pointed questions and allowing me ample time to answer. I appreciated this since his questions deserved in-depth answers, not short sound bites.
Watch our full conversation:
Our conversation was recorded on March 6. Here is the summary description provided for the YouTube video:
In this episode of Slobodni, I speak with independent journalist Jeremy R. Hammond about the historical and geopolitical roots of the Israel–Palestine conflict, the role of the United States, and the wider regional escalation involving Iran.
We begin with the history behind the conflict with Iran, from the 1953 coup and the legacy of U.S. intervention in the region to sanctions, the nuclear issue, and the strategic alliance between Washington and Israel. We discuss why the current war cannot be understood without understanding the decades of history that led to it.
From there, we turn to the foundations of the Israel–Palestine conflict itself: the British Mandate, the Balfour Declaration, U.N. Resolution 181, the creation of Israel in 1948, the Palestinian exodus, and the competing narratives that continue to shape public opinion today. Jeremy Hammond explains his reading of these events and why he believes historical context is essential if we want to move beyond slogans and propaganda.
We also discuss Hamas, Hezbollah, Gaza, the blockade, the events of October 7, the Israeli response, and the broader legal and moral questions surrounding war crimes, ethnic cleansing, genocide, and international law. Finally, we examine the role of the United States in sustaining the conflict and ask what kind of future, if any, remains possible.
My goal in this conversation is not to tell you what to think, but to help you better understand a subject that is too often reduced to tribal loyalty, media narratives, and emotional reactions. If we want to form serious opinions, we must first understand the history.
If you value long-form conversations based on history, evidence, and difficult questions, support the channel, subscribe, and share this episode.
In an article accompanying the podcast, Mr. Klarić explained that his goal was to break through preconceptions and provide his audience with an objective analysis. (The article is in Croation, but you can use the Google Translate tool to read it in English.)
Mr. Klarić first asked me about my background, so I explained how I started researching US foreign policy after the events of 9/11, which led me to focus intently on the Israel-Palestine conflict.
He then asked me to provide background context for the war on Iran, so I summarized key events in the history of US-Iranian relations from the 1953 CIA-MI6 orchestrated coup that overthrew Iranian Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadegh, who’d successfully led an effort to nationalize the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company.
That resulted in Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the Shah or king of Iran, enforcing decades of harsh authoritarian rule until his overthrow in the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
I discussed Iran’s nuclear program and the lack of evidence that the country has been developing a nuclear weapons capability, as well as other false pretexts for the US-Israeli war launched on February 28, 2026.
The conversation then segued into the Israel-Palestine conflict, with Iran being seen by Israel as an obstacle to its continued takeover of Palestinian land and expulsion or extermination of the land’s indigenous inhabitants.
I reviewed the history of how Great Britain enforced a belligerent occupation during the Mandate era to deny the Palestinians their right to self-determination in order to facilitate the Zionist project of reconstituting Arab Palestine into a demographically Jewish state.
I explained how Israel came into existence through the ethnic cleansing of Palestine, exposed the myth the Israel was created by the UN, and revealed how US policy has always been to support Israel’s crimes against the Palestinians, including via the so-called “peace process”, which was always aimed at blocking implementation of the two-state solution.
We also discussed the Hamas-led attacks in Israel on October 7, 2023, and Israel’s genocidal response, and I explained how Israel had effectively utilized Hamas as a strategic ally to divide the Palestinian leadership and prevent any movement toward peace negotiations.
