A Conversation about Iran in a Time of War: A Battlefield of Narratives

Abstract

In November 2025, Shahriar Khonsari was one of the scholars who responded to the call for abstracts for this journal’s special issue. His abstract was accepted, but because he lives in Tehran, Iran, following through was more complicated for him than for most contributors. On February 28, 2026, the United States and Israel launched massive strikes against his city and country. The Iranian government’s internet shutdowns temporarily cut off our communication with him. He nevertheless managed to submit a manuscript in March. Given the extraordinary circumstances, the editors decided that the standard review and revision process would be unreasonable. Furthermore, we knew that he would have valuable perspectives to offer that could not be captured in a standard academic article. Therefore, what follows is an edited interview with him by guest editor Cherian George. It is based on an email interview followed by a Zoom conversation conducted in mid-May 2026. It incorporates ideas from his submitted paper but also goes beyond, to discuss the challenges of critical scholarship in the midst of war.