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The Amanpour Hour

Interview with Former Special Representative for Iran and Venezuela Elliott Abrams; Interview with Lebanese Justice Minister Adel Nassar; How Iran Uses Cluster Munitions to Pierce Israeli Defenses; Interview with Political Analyst Mostafa Daneshgar; Interview with Expert on Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps Maryam Alemzadeh; The Religious Fervor that Fuels Iran's Military. Aired 11a- 12p ET

Aired March 14, 2026 - 11:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:00:38]

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Hello everyone, and welcome to THE AMANPOUR HOUR.

Here's where we're headed this week.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

AMANPOUR: America and Israel's war on Iran enters its third week. President Trump's former special representative for Iran and Venezuela, Elliott Abrams, tells me it'll either end with regime change or Trump declaring his military goals are met.

Then, the massive fallout in Lebanon from Israel's second front against Hezbollah. With almost a million fleeing for their lives, the Lebanese justice minister joins me.

And from the Iranian perspective, the view from the opposition and inside the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Political analyst Mostafa Daneshgar and scholar Maryam Alemzadeh, join me.

Also ahead.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: These kids just received two weeks -- three -- training and just how to shoot with the guns and send them to battlefield, using them for the mine field to destroy it.

AMANPOUR: Using children as human minesweepers. From the archives, how Iran's war with Iraq in the 80s showed a deep faith, devotion and defiance that fuels its military to this day.

And finally, it's Oscar weekend and we bring you two Iranian filmmakers and a first-time nomination showing a different side of Iranian society.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

AMANPOUR: Welcome to the program, everyone. I'm Christiane Amanpour in London.

Starting a war is always easier than ending it as they say. So two weeks after the U.S. and Israel first struck Iran, though significantly weakened, it remains defiant. Crippling the vital global oil trade through the Strait of Hormuz and sending prices soaring.

In a statement attributed to him and read by Iranian state TV using a stock picture, the new supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei's first proclamation, vows revenge for the death of his family, vows the Strait of Hormuz will remain closed, and calls for U.S. bases in the Middle East to be shuttered.

And sources familiar with the latest U.S. Intelligence findings say there is no evidence of the regime collapsing as of now.

So what is the exit strategy? The president has been sending out mixed messages.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're ahead of our initial timeline by a lot. I would say that we probably would not have thought after a month we'd be here.

We took a little excursion because we felt we had to do that to get rid of some evil. And I think you'll see its going to be a short-term excursion.

The main thing is we have to win this thing, win it quickly but win it. And there are many people, I'm just watching some of the news, most people say it's already been won. It's just a question of when. When do we stop?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

AMANPOUR: Well, that is a good question. And it's clear that Israel, America's partner, wants to go all the way to regime change. And this week its tactic shifted a bit to Israeli drone strikes on local security targets at street checkpoints in Tehran.

Despite Trump touting his action in Venezuela as the perfect model for Iran, so far like in Venezuela, where the Maduro regime remains in place despite his capture, Donald Trump has backed off the idea of a democratic future for the people of Iran.

But despite the confusion about the end game, some of his key advisers still have faith that it will all work out as Donald Trump has said, like Elliott Abrams, who was his point person on Iran and Venezuela in Trump's first term.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

AMANPOUR: Elliott Abrams, welcome back to the program.

ELLIOTT ABRAMS, SENIOR FELLOW FOR MIDDLE EASTERN STUDIES, COUNCIL ON FOREIGN RELATIONS: Thank you. AMANPOUR: So, it's two weeks into this war. Do you have any clear idea of the exit strategy and the precise goals?

ABRAMS: Well, I think the goals have been set out -- we'll come back to that. But the exit strategy, I think, is really one of two things. Either there is some kind of uprising against the regime, or in probably a week or two, the president will call it off. He will say, we have hit all the targets we planned to hit, and now it's over.

[11:04:43]

AMANPOUR: And knowing him as you do, because you were in 1.0, you had the Iran file, you had the Venezuela file. What do you think is more likely?

ABRAMS: Oh, I think it's more likely that he will just call it off. I do think that this regime is doomed because the people of Iran really hate it. But that doesn't tell us whether it's going to fall in a week or five years.

AMANPOUR: What would you be thinking if you were still in the advisory position, and what would you advise the president and his -- essentially his war cabinet right now?

ABRAMS: I would say I would worry less, frankly, about gas prices. If gas prices peak in March, don't worry about November. People will have other things to worry about when they're voting.

I would say what the president ought to be thinking about is the remaining almost three years. Do you want to have to do that again? What happens if Iran starts, for example, rebuilding?

You want to be in a position to say, I have taken these facilities out. I've taken them all out, the nuclear and the missile, and you won't have to do this again while you are president.

I think you want to be able to say, I have achieved what I wanted to achieve, and my successors may have to deal with this if the Iranian people do not overthrow the regime by the time I leave office. But you don't want to have to do this again.

AMANPOUR: So, it's hard to actually evaluate because, let's face it, both Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu, after the June 12-day war, stood in front of their publics, looked them in the eye, and said, we have obliterated the nuclear, you know, program. Everything's entombed, or we've crashed it down, or they cannot do it. They just can't do it for a generation. We've removed this existential threat, said the Israeli prime minister.

And now, apparently, they didn't, and they knew they didn't, so they're going again. So, you say -- I mean, I think I'm hearing you say, this could go on for years.

The most important thing in the nuclear thing, right, is the highly- enriched uranium. Is that not right? ABRAMS: That's very important, but there are other questions also,

which is their ability to enrich uranium going forward from now. Yes, they presumably still have that amount of enriched uranium, but they can always create more, unless they're prevented from doing so.

I think also people realize now, their neighbors above all realize now, the dangers that were coming from their missile program, which obviously have done a lot more damage.

The nuclear program has not yet done any damage to neighbors, but the missile and drone programs have. So, those need to be hit and really hit very hard.

AMANPOUR: Can I ask you again about the people of Iran? When asked directly to Senator, or rather Secretary of State Marco Rubio, what will you do to fulfill your promise of helping the Iranian people if they come out after all this. They basically had no answer to that.

Venezuela also, slightly different situation, but there is not the attention to democracy and freedom of the people in Venezuela. So, are you comfortable with that?

ABRAMS: Well, I think you have to look at this not from March, 2026 only. The president, again, has just short of three years. I really do believe that though they are not moving at all fast enough toward transition to democracy, there will be one.

And there will be an election next year in Venezuela. And by the time Trump leaves office, they will have restored democracy in Venezuela.

In the case of Iran, you know, if two years from today there is an uprising and the regime falls, I think we will all say, well, this would not have happened if it weren't for the events of 2026 and the damage that was done to the regime and its instruments of repression.

So, yes, if you look at it from this week, it may seem as if, well, that's not working.

But that's not the critical thing. The critical thing is what happens now over the next months and years in Iran and when does the regime fall?

AMANPOUR: All right. Well, you're sure it will. Others are not so sure. But look, there's a hope for many people that it will.

Cuba is being blocked, as you know, from oil supplies from its traditional allies, Mexico, you know, Venezuela, et cetera.

Do you think that this administration has its eyes next set on Cuba and will Cuba collapse?

ABRAMS: Well, I absolutely think they have their eyes on Cuba. And the problem in Cuba is there's nobody to talk to. That is, the president of Cuba, Mr. Diaz-Canel, has no power in their system. It's not -- it's pointless talking to him.

[11:09:52]

ABRAMS: So, who do you talk to? Raul Castro, well into his 90s, may or may not really be in charge. I know the administration is making efforts to figure that out.

Look, without the oil from Venezuela and Mexico, their economy really is going to collapse and they're going to have to start talking to the United States. I'm sure they're willing to do economic change at this point.

Political change is going to be harder and it's harder than Venezuela because Venezuela was a democracy more recently. Venezuela has had a real parliament. Venezuela has real opposition political leaders like Maria Corina Machado. The transition to democracy will be easier there.

But yes, I think the administration wants this to happen while Trump is president and even this year. And I think the chances of it are pretty good.

AMANPOUR: All right. Thank you for joining us.

ABRAMS: My pleasure, as always.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

AMANPOUR: So some hope being dangled for the Venezuelan people.

Coming up later on the show, fury in Lebanon, not just against Israel's renewed invasion, but also against Hezbollah for provoking it. I spoke to a key Lebanese government minister as the war creates mass displacement and civilian casualties.

Also ahead, the head might have been lopped off, but the Iranian regime is still standing and fighting. Two experts joined me to pull back the curtain on the system that keeps Iran going.

[11:11:21]

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AMANPOUR: Welcome back to the program.

There are fires burning all across the region because, as predicted, the war on Iran is not staying in Iran. Tehran is retaliating against Persian Gulf states at U.S. bases there and on civilian and economic targets. America's Citibank has already evacuated its Dubai HQ and others might follow.

And Israel is pounding southern Beirut in Lebanon, hitting Hezbollah targets there since the group fired missiles and drones across the border. And for the first time, launched a coordinated attack with Iran.

All week, civilians have been mass evacuating, hundreds of thousands already displaced. For the first time, the Lebanese state has reacted furiously to the powerful, non-state armed force which is Hezbollah. It's demanding that Hezbollah stop and respect the nation's sovereignty.

Adel Nassar is the Lebanese justice minister who's taking on the daunting challenge of confronting Hezbollah and he joined me from Beirut.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

AMANPOUR: Minister, welcome to the program.

ADEL NASSAR, LEBANESE JUSTICE MINISTER: Thank you for having me.

AMANPOUR: So, what would you say is the state of the war, they say, against Hezbollah in your country? What is the humanitarian fallout? Is Hezbollah still standing and fighting?

Tell me where we are a few days into this war on your country.

NASSAR: As a result of the current war, there is -- there are around 570 killed, more than 1,400 injured. The number of displaced, you are talking about 800,000. But in reality, these are only the ones that have been registered. And I foresee that the number is really higher than this.

There are, therefore, a real dramatic situation in Lebanon, and the civilians are suffering a lot. The country is suffering from huge damages, and the schools are closed, and the current situation is very difficult.

AMANPOUR: Now let me ask you about the central issue here, and that is the continued activity of Hezbollah and Hezbollah firing at targets inside Israel in the opening days of Israel and the U.S. war on Iran.

Now, your government is taking quite a hard line on Hezbollah. Your president has said there's a ban -- he's announced a ban on all Hezbollah military actions, but they're still fighting.

So, what can you do? I mean, how -- first of all, what can you do to stop them right now?

NASSAR: No. What is important at the beginning is to explain a little bit that after a long period of time where Hezbollah was installing all its military infrastructure, and this government took a first decision through its governmental declaration that has been presented to the parliament where it was clearly stated that the monopoly of the strengths must be given only to the state.

After that, there were strikes coming from Israel, and Israel was taking as a pretext the presence of the military infrastructure of Hezbollah. But the position of the state is that in order to build, for internal reasons and for the interest of Lebanon, it was very important to implement the monopoly of the weapons.

Hezbollah was complicating the process. Hezbollah did not cooperate as much as it should in this process. [11:19:50]

NASSAR: And by not cooperating, it was clear that Hezbollah was offering, also pretexts for Israel to strike on Lebanon. And when Hezbollah took the unilateral decision to launch rockets against Israel, they gave also the pretext to Israel to start a large war.

AMANPOUR: Right.

NASSAR: So, we were in a process of strikes, and now we are in a full war.

It is clear that in order for Lebanon to be able to face Israel in the diplomatic field or in diplomacy, Lebanon needs to have the decision of war and peace, and to be -- to have the monopoly of strengths within Lebanon.

This is a requirement that we consider as a government needed for the sake of Lebanon, for the interest of all the population of Lebanon, and we consider that Hezbollah's action is an obstacle for the government to be able to take all appropriate actions to defend Lebanon's interests.

AMANPOUR: Can I ask you personally, do you feel safe talking out? You saw what happened to Prime Minister Rafic Hariri. Do you feel safe taking them on?

NASSAR: Let's say that when we are in a specific position, we have to take the stand we believe in, in the interest of the state.

And again, I can tell you that today, what Hezbollah is doing is in full breach of the law, in full breach of the commitments of the government towards its own population, its own people, to stop having a parallel movement making decisions regarding war and peace and engaging or dragging the whole country into regional conflicts.

If you want to assess into a political analysis based on declarations made and positions taken, it seems that Hezbollah is acting as if it wants to be in a front position in the regional war between Israel and the U.S. on one side, and Iran on the other side.

While the interest of Lebanon and all the people of Lebanon is to stay away of regional conflicts. We are a small country. We are a country having various numbers of communities. We can be a model of coexistence, and we should be a model of coexistence. And we should be a model of peace for the world and not to be dragged into the wars of the others.

AMANPOUR: All right. Minister Adel Nassar, thank you very much indeed for joining us on that.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

AMANPOUR: But that joint Hezbollah and Iran strike on Israel has caused mayhem. How Tehran is using cluster munitions to try and pierce Israel's Iron Dome. A report from Jeremy Diamond, who is there, next.

[11:22:54]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

AMANPOUR: Welcome back.

Iran's retaliation includes a first ever coordinated attack with Hezbollah on Israel, including the use of cluster munitions. The danger, effectiveness and scale of those strikes are shaking Israelis as CNN's Jeremy Diamond witnesses and explains how the aim is to pierce Israel's Iron Dome.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Their orange glow streaks across the night sky. Each speck of light a small bomb, carrying up to 11 pounds of explosives and raining down indiscriminately, sometimes in densely-populated areas.

They are cluster munitions, and Iran is increasingly packing the heads of its ballistic missiles with dozens of them aiming to pierce Israel's sophisticated air defenses.

One of those small bombs struck the roof of this residential building, and you can see the hole is only a few inches wide. And yet this is the kind of destruction that just one of those small bombs can cause, one of multiple impact points from a single missile.

We confirmed nine separate impacts from that one missile. They include this strike on a Tel Aviv car wash that severely wounded one man, and another in a neighboring suburb. The impacts are spread out across seven miles of mostly residential neighborhoods, illustrating why using these munitions in populated areas violates international law.

The next day, another cluster missile attack sends bomblets tumbling south of Tel Aviv. At least five impacts scattered across eight miles.

One bomb hit a street here. Nearby, two construction workers were killed, the first fatalities in Israel caused by these weapons.

Israel's military, which has itself deployed cluster munitions in other wars, says about half of Iran's missile attacks use these munitions -- vehicles overturned, shrapnel slicing through anything near the impact.

Iran's missiles are more destructive when equipped with a single large warhead, but the clusters are much tougher to intercept.

[11:29:48]

TAL INBAR, SENIOR RESEARCH FELLOW, MISSILE DEFENSE ADVOCACY ALLIANCE: It's a mechanism to bypass an active missile defense. In some cases, you can hit the target with an Arrow or with a THAAD missile for example, but the bomblets will continue and will get to the target. DIAMOND: The Israeli military does try and intercept these bomblets, expending a costly and finite quantity of interceptors in the process.

DIAMOND: So, if there is a strategy here by Iran, that could be it, to try and deplete Israel's air defenses, right?

INBAR: We know it. In some cases, the solution by Iran is a salvo of a very large quantity of even a single warhead, ballistic missiles. And try to fire and coordinate the launch sites.

I think Iran doesn't have the capability at the moment of orchestrating a large barrage of ballistic missiles. So, if Iran wants to cause a lot of damage, even with a small number of ballistic missiles, then a submunition missile or missiles with bomblets will be the weapon of choice.

DIAMOND: The weapon of choice as Iran pursues a war of attrition, one missile at a time.

Jeremy Diamond, CNN -- Tel Aviv.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

AMANPOUR: And as Iran continues to fight back against superior military might from abroad and total dissatisfaction from within, a look at what makes it last. We speak to two Iranian experts next.

[11:31:18]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

AMANPOUR: Welcome back.

This week, Tehran says it launched the quote, "most intense and heaviest operation" since this war began. The U.S. and Israel have already said that about their own efforts.

Reportedly, Iran even laying mines in the Strait of Hormuz, effectively shutting the global waterway, which is crucial for the world's oil economy.

The new supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's son, Mojtaba has a target on his back, says Israel.

So let's see how the system was built to survive in asymmetric warfare with Iranian political analyst Mostafa Daneshgar and Maryam Alemzadeh associate professor in history and politics of Iran at Oxford University, and an expert also on the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARYAM ALEMZADEH, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR IN HISTORY AND POLITICS OF IRAN, UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD: The strength of the Revolutionary Guards has not diminished significantly because this organization was established and grew in a way that was not reliant on its top leadership. The decapitation both of Ayatollah Khamenei and the top military commanders has little effect, if any, on the very vast network, the capillary, the penetrated network of branches and stations and bases that the IRGC and Basij, together with other state-sponsored organizations have.

AMANPOUR: So, to you, Mostafa Daneshgar, then, do you think that the aims that you were hoping for, and certainly many in the diaspora and elsewhere inside Iran, that this action, which many have celebrated inside Iran, will lead to an uprising?

I ask that because, as you know, I asked Elliott Abrams, I said how is this going to end? He said either with an uprising or with Trump declaring, you know, he's won and ending the war.

MOSTAFA DANESHGAR, ASSISTANT PROFESSOR, LAWRENCE TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY AND IRANIAN POLITICAL ANALYST: I think two lines in parallel are weakening the Iranian regime now. First is the air campaign that is handled by U.S. and Israel. In parallel, people and protesters in the street, they can uprise at any moment.

I disagree that IRGC is not weakening now. They are weakening, and we can see the indicators. You can see they cannot defend the air, and the U.S. and Israel army can target wherever they want, whatever they want inside Iran.

They targeted Iranian supreme leader easily, easier than any other thing. So, I think this campaign, this air campaign, besides the people, the protesters -- and the people, they are in anger from their country, from the massacre that happened in January 8th and 9th.

So, they will, at some moment, they can take over the government. This can lead to the collapse in the political system, political structure, and lead to people to feel that they are secure. Then they can take the protest to the street one more time.

AMANPOUR: How do you think, for instance, the naming of Mojtaba Khamenei is going to affect the prosecution of this war? And they're still being quite defiant -- well, very defiant.

I mean, people -- you know, leaders there are saying, no, we're not going to negotiate, and we're going to cause Iran a lot of -- rather the West and the world, a lot of economic pain.

[11:39:40]

ALEMZADEH: Yes, the air defense system might be down a lot of Iran's classic, as in like regular army, naval force, and some of the IRGC boats might be down.

But in my view, that's never been the strength of the IRGC. The strength of the IRGC has been its penetration into the country, into its farthest and deepest corners. And that is, to a large extent, still intact.

That's why I'm not too optimistic that even if this war leads to a point of state collapse, and there's like some, like at least temporary ceasefire where bombs are not falling and people can come out of survival mode and take on the streets again, which in my opinion has also, like the likelihood of it, has also been reduced by the war.

Even if that happens, it's not going to be an easy takeover for the protesters, who I believe are the majority of the population now, because the weapons are still in the hands of the IRGC and Basij. And they do not need the more advanced equipment that has been destroyed to some extent in order to repress a popular uprising.

And Mojtaba Khamenei's appointment, I think he is basically the IRGC's person. He obeys the IRGC, not the other way around. So, if the IRGC decides to take a more pragmatic, more conciliatory route, if it does, I think Mojtaba Khamenei will be no hurdle to that.

AMANPOUR: Let me ask you, Professor Daneshgar, in our final minute, are you concerned with what we're hearing from inside Iran and maybe even some in the diaspora that the attacks on Iranian civilians, whether it's accidental or not, the attack on the depot with, you know, the toxic rain and oil falling down, the damage to really important cultural heritage, is beginning to frighten them and question whether this actually is a war against just the regime or is it against all Iran and all Iranians? Are you concerned about that shift in opinion?

DANESHGAR: I think if the war takes longer than it should be, yes. But at this moment, the answer simply is no, because the people put the blame on the government, on IRGC, because their policy on eliminating Israel and anti-Americanism put the country and brought this war to our country. So, they are blaming the Islamic Republic regime at this moment.

But if the war takes longer than it should be, yes, this shift may happen. But I don't think it will take that long.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

AMANPOUR: Coming up, has the U.S. underestimated the fervor and devotion of the IRGC who styled themselves as guardians of the Islamic revolution?

From my archive, a report on how faith and loyalty drove even children to martyrdom during the 1980s Iran-Iraq war.

[11:42:55]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

AMANPOUR: Welcome back to the program.

When the war began two weeks ago, President Trump called for Iran's military to lay down its arms or face certain death. But he and his war planners had failed to understand or remember the strong religious fervor that commits millions to face death in the name of their faith and guarding their Islamic revolution. So we dug into the archives to find "IN THE NAME OF GOD", the incredible series based on exclusive footage acquired by CNN in the 80s at the height of the Iran-Iraq war. That's when Iraq's Saddam Hussein had invaded Iran, thinking it was weakened by the Islamic revolution that deposed the shah and would be easily defeated, allowing Saddam to achieve his dream of controlling the vital waterways of the Persian Gulf oil trade.

In this piece, we see a boy Mohammed, at the very most 17 years old, probably younger, who was recruited for the front by Iran's paramilitary, the Basij. His family bid him a fond farewell, knowing that he would likely be martyred for one of these children's missions would be acting as human minesweepers.

And here's CNN's Larry Lamotte narrating this report on the series I assisted with, while still an entry-level recruit at CNN.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LARRY LAMOTTE, FORMER CNN CORRESPONDENT: "Khomeini, you are the leader," they chant. "We will go in your direction. We will give our lives for you."

17-year-old Mohammed Kolaktebei (ph) and his fellow volunteers are on their way to basic training and eventually to battle. They will fight in what Khomeini calls the imposed war, a conflict that started with Iraq's invasion of Iran in 1980 and has since become a full-scale holy war.

[11:49:46]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: "It is God's command for us to go to war, and it is also God's promise that if we die as martyrs, we will go to heaven. But that's not why we're here. We're here because God has told us to be here.

LAMOTTE: The hereafter, some contend, is the primary training focus for these Basij volunteers. At a prisoner of war camp in Iraq, two captured Iranians told CNN last year that actual military training for the Basij is minimal.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: These kids just received two weeks, training and just how to shoot with the guns and they send them to battlefield using them for the mine field to destroy.

LAMOTTE: Landmines have been the focus of much outcry in this war, specifically the use of human minesweepers, waves of young volunteers going to their deaths paving the way for tanks that are in short supply.

Mohammed sees it this way.

MOHAMMED, BASIJ VOLUNTEER (through translator): Boys just don't walk around the minefield for just no reason at all. Sometimes it is necessary to do that. It is necessary for a few people to go and make the mines explode in order to make the victory possible. LAMOTTE: Training classes at this Iranian camp appear rudimentary.

Recruits are taught how to identify landmines, how to plant them in the ground and how to dismantle them without explosion.

Prayers are as essential to the Iranian soldiers as armaments. They first prepare themselves with ceremonial cleansing, then with shoes removed, facing towards the holy city of Mecca, the soldiers pray five times daily, an important part of Islamic ritual.

They ask Allah for victory and for good health for the ayatollah Khomeini. And they beat their chest, a sign of their willingness to sacrifice for Islam.

Mohammed and 92 percent of his Iranian countrymen are Shiite Muslims, a fundamentalist minority within the Islamic world. Their enemy Iraq though 55 percent Shiite, is ruled by Sunni Muslims under the leadership of Saddam Hussein.

Mohammed sees this war not as a battle between Khomeini and Hussein, not Iran versus Iraq, but as the continuation of a 1,300-year-old split between the two main Muslim sects, Sunni and Shiite.

MOHAMMED: Our goal in Iraq is not for soil or land. Our purpose is to free the people. That's what we want to do is free the Iraqi people.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

AMANPOUR: A warning from four decades ago. And that fight between the two sects of Islam is playing out still right now. Add to that what Iran calls a battle against the Great Satan, the United States and its helpmate, Israel.

When we come back with the U.S.-Iran war, an unsettling backdrop to the Academy Awards tomorrow night, I meet the Iranian filmmakers campaigning for their Oscar nominated documentary and for change back home.

[11:52:48]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

AMANPOUR: Welcome back.

And finally, there is little to celebrate at this time of war -- deaths, skyrocketing oil prices and total uncertainty shaking the whole world.

And yet, Sunday's Academy Awards marathon will be a welcome distraction. And it's also good to remember that art can give us a different perspective and help us get beyond the stereotypes.

That is especially true of the Iranian films in contention this year. Among them "It Was Just An Accident" whose screenwriter Mehdi Mahmoudian we spoke to last week, bravely calling for an end to tyranny even under the bombs falling on Iran, and having just been released from yet another spell in prison. We have also spoken to the two Iranian filmmakers who've made "Cutting

Through Rocks". It's become the first ever Iranian documentary to be nominated for an Oscar, and follows a female midwife, motorcycle rider and would-be politician who was running for local office in her rural village.

And indeed, Sara Shahverdi won overcoming deeply rooted misogyny. And she delivered for men and women who had voted for her.

I spoke to the filmmakers Mohammadreza Eyni and Sara Khaki just after Tehran's brutal crackdown on protesters that killed thousands and just before this war broke out.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MOHAMMADREZA EYNI, DIRECTOR, "CUTTING THROUGH ROCKS": The only thing that gave me hope about the future of our country is its people. People like Sara Shahverdi that you saw in the film, or people like Sara Khaki as the director behind the camera and by having the same mission to bring change to the community.

And actually, we both believe that change could come. It could come from -- could come from the community itself. And this is the result of many people that they are fighting and they're supporting each other for a good change. And we are here not as politicians, but as storytellers. We have the responsibility to share those stories, to inspire each other and to remind each other that change is possible in a very peaceful way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

AMANPOUR: While it's absolutely clear that most Iranians do want to change their government and many support the U.S. -Israel war.

[11:59:47]

AMANPOUR: This week the mood shifted somewhat after the attack on the fuel depot in Tehran that left them breathing poisoned fumes and covered in black, toxic, oily rain.

In addition, the spreading damage done to Iran's cultural sites and heritage is sparking anger and dismay. Some who believed are now asking is this war against the regime or against our nation and against all of us?

Now that is all we have time for. Don't forget you can find all of our shows online as podcasts at CNN.com/audio and on all other major platforms.

I'm Christiane Amanpour in London, thank you for watching, and I'll see you again next.