PBS’s Christiane Amanpour sat down with Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Majid Takht-Ravanchi on Tuesday to get his perspective on the ongoing war between Israel and Iran, but Amanpour’s usual mantra of being “truthful, not neutral” mostly took a back seat as she never challenged him on the regime’s anti-Semitic, eliminationist rhetoric or his rewriting of Iran-Iraq War history.
Amanpour put the ball on the tee when she asked Takht-Ravanchi to “Tell me what is going on, what has been damaged? How close to your headquarters? What can you tell me exactly about what's happening right now?”
Takht-Ravanchi spewed that, “We have been witnessing an act of aggression, a clear case of naked aggression against Iran and the Iranian people since five, six days ago. We were about to start new rounds—a new round of talks with Americans on Sunday, that was 15th of June, and two days before we were attacked by the Israelis in the middle of the night. They attacked residential areas. They attacked paramedics. They attacked, you know, citizens who are just sleeping in their homes. They attacked our university professors. So, this is a crime against humanity. Pure and simple.”
Now would’ve been a good time for Amanpour to point out there is no inherent geopolitical reason for Israel and Iran to hate each other. It is only the regime’s ideological anti-Semitism that has led us to today. If the Iranian government didn’t make Israel’s destruction its reason for existing, Israel wouldn’t care if Iran had a civil nuclear program any more than it cares that India or France has one.
Later, Takht-Ravanchi claimed that just as Iran weathered 8 years of war with Saddam Hussein’s Iraq, it will do the same now. That led Amanpour to wonder, “As you know, the Israelis are much more sophisticated and powerful than Saddam Hussein ever was. That was some 40 years ago. This is a much bigger order of magnitude. As you know also, President Trump is publicly weighing whether to join the strikes and whether specifically to hit, for instance, the very deeply buried Fordo facility with the very big bombs. Do you—what do you think? What are you reading? Do you think the Americans will get involved and what would your response be?”
After threatening the U.S. if Trump decides to join in, Takht-Ravanchi again spun, “And by the way, Fordo is another protected site based on IAEA rules. So, that will be another instance of, you know, a crime which is being done unfortunately by Israelis and Americans, which is prohibited under international law.”
Amanpour followed up by asking for his assessment of Israel’s goals, “I'm going to get to that in a moment because the Israelis say their intelligence said that you were moving towards weaponization and they had to act now. But I'm going to ask you that in a moment. But first, do you believe that what is happening is regime change targeting or regime destruction targeting? How do you assess the removal of a big layer of military commanders and what President Trump said about Ayatollah Khamenei, that he would be an easy target if they were to decide to take him out? How do you interpret this? Is this about regime change?”
Takht-Ravanchi answered that, “I don't know about their intention. Just ask them what the intention is. But we will do whatever necessary to protect ourselves. And we have the experience. As I said, eight-year of war during Saddam's era, when everybody was helping Saddam. So, you say that you should not compare Saddam and Israeli regime, but do not forget the fact that all the world were behind Saddam at that time, and we were the ones who resisted.”
While Amanpour did keep her word and ask why a nuclear program that is supposedly peaceful is enriching uranium at levels not needed for such purposes, she never did confront Takht-Ravanchi on the regime’s eliminationist rhetoric. Secondly, Takht-Ravanchi’s claim about the whole world being against Iran during the Iran-Iraq War is wrong. Put aside the fact that most countries “were behind Saddam” only after Iran cleared Iraqi forces out of the country and took the war into Iraq, there was one country that aided Iran before that. It even bombed Saddam’s nuclear program in 1981. That country was Israel, and Iran responded after the war by continuing to commit itself to destroying the country that helped save it.
Here is a transcript for the June 18-taped show:
PBS Amanpour and Company
6/18/2025
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR: Tell me what is going on, what has been damaged? How close to your headquarters? What can you tell me exactly about what's happening right now?
MAJID TAKHT-RAVANCHI: We have been witnessing an act of aggression, a clear case of naked aggression against Iran and the Iranian people since five, six days ago. We were about to start new rounds — new round of talks with Americans on Sunday, that was 15th of June, and two days before we were attacked by the Israelis in the middle of the night. They attacked residential areas. They attacked paramedics. They attacked, you know, citizens who are just sleeping in their homes. They attacked our university professors. So, this is a crime against humanity. Pure and simple.…
AMANPOUR: As you know, the Israelis are much more sophisticated and powerful than Saddam Hussein ever was. That was some 40 years ago. This is a much bigger order of magnitude. As you know also, President Trump is publicly weighing whether to join the strikes and whether specifically to hit, for instance, the very deeply buried Fordo facility with the very big bombs.
Do you — what do you think? What are you reading? Do you think the Americans will get involved and what would your response be?
TAKHT-RAVANCHI: We don't know. If the Americans get involved, you know, directly, definitely we — our hands will not be tied. We'll do whatever necessary to protect our people and our interest. The Americans have been collaborating with the Israelis. Although, they have said it that they do not have anything to do with this conflict, which is not true. But if they decide to be engaged militarily, direct military involvement in this massacre, definitely we will do whatever necessary to protect ourselves.
And by the way, Fordo is another protected site based on IAEA rules. So, that will be another instance of, you know, a crime which is being done unfortunately by Israelis and Americans, which is prohibited under international law.
AMANPOUR: I'm going to get to that in a moment because the Israelis say their intelligence said that you were moving towards weaponization and they had to act now. But I'm going to ask you that in a moment. But first, do you believe that what is happening is regime change targeting or regime destruction targeting? How do you assess the removal of a big layer of military commanders and what President Trump said about Ayatollah Khamenei, that he would be an easy target if they were to decide to take him out? How do you interpret this? Is this about regime change?
TAKHT-RAVANCHI: I don't know about their intention. Just ask them what the intention is. But we will do whatever necessary to protect ourselves. And we have the experience. As I said, eight-year of war during Saddam's era, when everybody was helping Saddam. So, you say that you should not compare Saddam and Israeli regime, but do not forget the fact that all the world were behind Saddam at that time, and we were the ones who resisted.
And now, there is a very strong cohesion within the Iranian society to resist aggression, to resist foreign interference in our domestic affairs. So, you ask the people who are in Tehran, ask the embassies, ask the people who live in Tehran these days. And ask them the morale of the people, and you will understand that the Iranians are behind their government because they are facing a foreign aggression, which we'll be resisting.
