Feb 6, 2026
This is a free preview of the episode "Iran Ep. 2: The Impacts of Economic Strangulation w/ Elina Xenophontos." You can listen to the full episode by subscribing to our Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/upstreampodcast
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Elina Xenophontos joins us to discuss the history and impacts of sanctions on Iran—including the impacts on the current crisis in the country. Elina Xenophontos is an international law and economic globalization specialist. She produces much of her own material on her Substack and is also featured regularly on the Colonial Outcasts podcast.
Our conversation begins with a very deep dive
into the history of the sanctions imposed on Iran from the 1979
Islamic Revolution to the present, providing a detailed
understanding of exactly how the sanctions have impacted the
Islamic Republic's economic and political spheres for the past half
decade. We then situate the unrest in Iran in the context of the
sanctions, urging those in the West to understand what's happening
in Iran from a dialectical and historical materialist analysis that
understands Iranian agency and grievances as a direct result of
imperialist strangulation.
Elina then gives us a 101 on the Islamic Republic's internal
political forces and factions, outlining their tensions, dynamics,
and ideological orientations. We then discuss Iran's political
economy, discussing how the sanctions have shaped Iran's class
dynamics and its society more broadly and how the sanctions are a
barrier to working class organization and revolution in Iran
because they engender a rentier economy not rooted in production
but in survival and perpetual crisis.
Although the episodes in our series build on each other in certain ways, all of our series are designed so that each episode can be listened to as a standalone.
Further resources:
- Elina Xenophontos on Substack
- Iran’s Indigenous Labor Movement and Working Class Sovereignty
-
The harsh effects of sanctions on Iranian health," by Payman
Salamatia
& Claudia Chaufanb (The Lancet)
Related episodes:
- Listen to our ongoing series on Iran
- Listen to our ongoing series on Venezuela
- Listen to our ongoing series on China
- Listen to our ongoing series on Mexico
- US Labor & Imperialism Pt. 1: the War Against Communism w/ Jeff Schuhrke
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