Iran Is Recalibrating Its National Identity

“Recently, there was a marathon in the Kish Island in the Persian Gulf — 5,000 Iranians participating in this marathon. About 2,000 of them were women, 3,000 men. The images that were coming out of this marathon could have been anywhere — except Iran. Very different from the usual pictures that we get out of Iran.

“A lot of women were unveiled. … Of course, the two organizers of the event were arrested. However, the fact that such an event happened — and the fact that similar events are constantly happening in Iran, across the country, not just in major cities, [but also in] smaller cities — that all over the country, women are capturing the public space, it shows that something much more fundamental has happened.”

— Mohammad Ayatollahi Tabaar, Ph.D., Middle East Fellow, Baker Institute

About the Episode

Iran is facing a cascade of domestic challenges, including a deepening currency crisis and drought so severe that President Masoud Pezeshkian has suggested residents of Tehran may need to evacuate. Meanwhile, strain is building over nuclear talks in the aftermath of the 12-day conflict with Israel and the U.S. in June 2025.

Middle East fellow Mohammad Ayatollahi Tabaar joined the “Baker Briefing” podcast to discuss how the regime is managing these pressures — and redefining Iran’s national identity in the process.

This conversation was recorded on Dec. 8, 2025. 

Listen and subscribe to the “Baker Briefing“ podcast on your favorite platform.

About ‘Baker Briefing’

Hosted by David M. Satterfield,  the “Baker Briefing” podcast delivers timely analysis on breaking policy developments and other critical policy issues of the day in conversations with experts at the Baker Institute. New episodes are released weekly.

Select episodes of “Baker Briefing” are recorded in front of a live audience at Rice University in Houston, Texas. These recordings are free and open to the public. To learn about upcoming recordings and other public programming from the Baker Institute, subscribe to our “Events Digest” newsletter, delivered weekly.

This material may be quoted or reproduced without prior permission, provided appropriate credit is given to the author(s) and Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy. The views expressed herein are those of the individual author(s) and do not necessarily represent the views of Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy.