Iran expert discusses whether the war has made the Iranian regime stronger

NPR | By Steve Inskeep,

Brittney Melton

Published April 9, 2026 at 3:46 AM CDT

Iranians hold portraits of slain Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei during a rally to commemorate his death in Tehran on April 9, 2026. Thousands of Iranians paid tribute to the late supreme leader Ali Khamenei, who ruled the country for nearly four decades until his killing in US-Israeli strikes at the start of the Middle East war.

The U.S. and Israel's war against Iran has lasted for more than five weeks. Once the war started, President Trump expressed shock that Iran retaliated against its neighbors. The U.S. also appeared surprised that Iran had taken control of the crucial waterway, the Strait of Hormuz. Trump's early expectations of a collapsing regime haven't worked out the way he planned. Now, as the conflict continues, a question arises: Is it possible that Iran has gained something from this war, despite all the damage the U.S. has done?

Israel and the U.S.'s killings of many of Iran's regime leaders at the beginning of the war have set the stage for how Iran is now responding. Vali Nasr, a scholar of Iranian politics at Johns Hopkins University, spoke with Morning Edition host Steve Inskeep about whether war has made the Iranian regime stronger. Nasr says that the new leadership in Iran is "much more extreme" with regards to how they've handled the people in their country and "the way in which they believe that Iran should wage war against the United States and its enemies in a much more unrestrained way."

Iran's new leadership has shown that it "won't back down in the face of overwhelming threats," Nasr said. He adds that it has also crossed lines that the previous supreme leader wouldn't, including attacking infrastructure and civilian sites in neighboring countries. "So Iran is already waging war in a way that it hadn't done before under the previous leadership," he said.

Nasr says that the fact that Trump has seemingly accepted that Iran can close the Strait of Hormuz and that Iran's 10-point proposal is the basis for ongoing negotiations is seen in Iran as a great victory for the country. He points out that Iran has managed to survive against the U.S and Israel's military forces for more than five weeks, and also escalated the war throughout the Gulf in a manner that surprised the U.S. and created leverage for Iran.

While speaking with Inskeep, Nasr explained why he believes Trump is interested in attending high-level talks between the U.S. and Iran this weekend and the changes he has seen on both sides since the beginning of the war.

Listen to the full interview by clicking on the blue play button above.

The web copy was written by Brittney Melton and edited by Suzanne Nuyen.