No Iranian threat ‘other than having US regional interests challenged’

Al Jazeera June 22, 2025 [source], 3-minute video,
also World News, Virtual Jerusalem, Israel Insider, Ticker:
Zunes says the suggestion that Iran posed any kind of threat to the US is “totally nonsense”… “Iran has no capabilities of reaching the United States with its missiles or other kinds of weaponry… And if the concern was about their nuclear programme eventually being militarised to make nuclear weapons, Trump would not have destroyed” the 2015 nuclear deal… “I have a feeling he’s been wanting to launch war on Iran for some time…” contrary to what Trump had campaigned on… [Iran has] “a number of options… They can attack US forces directly. There are up to 40,000 Americans within the range, not just of Iranian missiles but of drones and other weaponry… You have the fleet in the Persian Gulf, just off the Iranian coast. They can be vulnerable as well if they attack… it could impact global shipping, impacting oil prices and indeed the entire global economy… You also have proxy militias in Iraq who could target American bases there… So there are a number of ways American forces could be vulnerable, and I would be surprised if the Iranians don’t target at least some of these.”

Interview: Trump Bombs Three Nuclear Sites in Iran

Civic Media Breaking News Jnne 21, 2025
[24 mins., also on Facebook and YouTube]
Civic Media carried a special report Saturday evening, anchored by Todd Allbaugh and joined by Stephen Zunes, a professor of politics and international studies at the University of San Francisco. He serves as founding director of the school’s Middle Eastern Studies Program, and is widely-regarded as one of the country’s leading scholars on U.S. Middle East policy.

“Since Trump pulled out of the Iran nuclear deal, they’ve not been limited in terms of reprocessing, so they have developed isotopes to a point where they could go in that direction within a couple years,” said Zunes. “But the idea that this was some kind of imminent threat that required military action at this time is nonsense. Not just because they could simply go back to the Iran Nuclear Deal, but even without that, they’re some time away from that…”

Interviews: The Israel-Iran War, June 2025

*Al Jazeera English, June 19, 2025 [source no longer available]
*For a Bay Area TV network affiliate, KTVU, June 13, 2025
*A 50-minute interview for a British podcast
*A ten-minute interview for a radio show/podcast in upstate New York
*For a national Indian news show, June 13
(along with a pro-war Wall Street Journal reporter):
*A 50-minute interview with a New Zealand radio show and podcast, June 17, hosted by an American expat (in which I also talk about Gaza and about Trump and the resistance)

RTVI interview

RTVI is a global Russian-speaking multi-platform media, which includes a news website and other digital platforms: 6 YouTube channels, 2 Telegram channels and accounts in all major social networks. It broadcasts in 160 countries with more than 350 broadcasting operators around the world and over 20 million viewers.
Wikipedia
[Not to be confused with RT or RTV.]

Interview: Can Egypt’s plan for Gaza backed by Arab League become reality?

Al-Jazeera English March 5, 2025 (28 mins.): On the Arab League’s summit and quite reasonable reconstruction and administrative plan for Gaza, which both Israel and the United States have rejected. This follows US President Donald Trump’s proposal to forcibly expel Palestinians and turn Gaza into a US-controlled beach resort. Presenter Sami Zeidan interviews Zunes along with Ori Goldberg – Political commentator, and Mansour Shouman – Middle East political analyst.