Iran's Nuclear Program

Journalist Lila Azam Zanganeh weighs in on the growing tension between the U.S. and Iran.

Tavis: Earlier in the week, the news that we all saw or heard and read everywhere about the fact that Iran's nuclear program is moving a little bit more speedily, given their advancement with uranium. What did you make of that story?

Lila Azam Zanganeh: Well, yes, we all knew that it was, you know, getting very, very close. They're probably still a few years away from actually acquiring weapons, although their claims, as you know, are that, for now, they want it for scientific purposes and for civil purposes. It was a surprise, of course, to the world that it came so early, but we knew it was in the works.

Tavis: How frightened should we be - I guess the "we" could be the United States or the world, to your point - how frightened should we be of Iran, as we speak?

Zanganeh: Well, of course, you know, there's a certain measure of caution that's necessary, especially because of the government's rhetoric of the nature of the regime. At the same time, I think one has to take into consideration the civil society in Iran which is vastly different from the regime, which is thriving; which is very, very young; which is far more moderate than the regime is.

You know, Iran is a very vast country. Seventy percent of the country is under thirty years old. So I think, in many ways, the situation is, you know, not as catastrophic as sometimes the news media wants us to believe. Because we have that civil society and, so far, the forces that play on the chessboard of Iranian politics, there's a poise because of the enormous force and power of the civil society just by its sheer number.

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