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The Amanpour Hour
Interview WITH Former Iranian Ambassador To Germany And Princeton University Visiting Research Collaborator Seyed Hossein Mousavian; Interview With Former Pentagon Analyst Wes J. Bryant; Iranians Caught Between Foreign Bombs And Repressive Regime; Interview With Former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett; How Iran's Islamic Republic Fights Its Wars; Nowruz In The Shadow Of War. Aired 11a-12p ET
Aired March 21, 2026 - 11:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[11:00:39]
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: More U.S. analysts are saying that three weeks after going to war against Iran, when it comes to ending it, Iran is in the driving seat.
I asked former Iranian diplomat Seyed Hossein Mousavian how that happened.
Then, amid soaring oil prices and questions about the rules of armed conflict, Pentagon whistleblower Wes Bryant has this stark warning.
WES J. BRYANT, FORMER PENTAGON ANALYST: If we are so good at protecting civilians, how did we just kill nearly 200 young schoolgirls in Iran? And how have we not even acknowledged that that's the case?
AMANPOUR: Then --
Trapped in the middle, Iranians who want regime change are finding themselves dodging foreign bombs and facing a regime crackdown. We have a special report.
Also ahead --
Everyone is a target. Israel continues assassinating top Iranian officials, but the Islamic Republic shows no sign of collapse. I ask Israel's former prime minister Naftali Bennett about this killing campaign.
And from my archive, lessons from Saddam Hussein, the miscalculation he made when he invaded Iran in 1980.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
AMANPOUR: Welcome to the program, everyone. I'm Christiane Amanpour in London.
Dangerous escalation in the Iran war. This week, Israel hit the massive South Pars gas field in Iran, which is used for domestic civilian consumption and government revenue with Iran retaliating on gas infrastructure in the Persian Gulf states.
Though President Trump posted on Truth Social that he wasn't aware of the strike in advance, "The Wall Street Journal", quoting top U.S. officials, say he was aware.
Meantime, the president is threatening to destroy the gas field completely if Iran again hits energy infrastructure in Qatar, the UAE or Saudi Arabia.
Despite a wave of high-level assassinations by Israel on the Iranian leadership this week, the government remains in place and, according to analysts, is now literally calling the shots with its chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz.
Iran's military infrastructure has been massively degraded. So what is the end game? With Tehran under bombardment and leadership in the crosshairs, I reached for a former diplomat for the Islamic Republic, Seyed Hossein Mousavian, a former nuclear negotiator and advisor to the assassinated security chief, Ali Larijani.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
AMANPOUR: Welcome back to our program.
SEYED HOSSEIN MOUSAVIAN, FORMER IRANIAN AMBASSADOR TO GERMANY AND VISITING RESEARCH COLLABORATOR, PRINCETON UNIVERSITY: Thank you, Christiane. Thank you for having me.
AMANPOUR: Where do you think this policy of, as they call it, you know, decapitation, elimination, essentially cutting the head off the snake, as they would put it, where does it leave the Iranian leadership right now?
MOUSAVIAN: It really depends to the end state of strategy of President Trump, the United States and Israel. You have heard a lot of this strategy, the aim of attacking Iran was regime change.
You had an official from White House, director of energy, publicly said the goal was to control Iranian energy. You had Senator Graham saying that after regime change, we will have tons of money.
Therefore, it seems at least part of the establishment is looking for regime change and Iranian oil and wealth. If this is the case, I think we are going to have endless war.
But Israeli objective, I think, is different than the U.S. You heard Prime Minister Netanyahu very clearly, very officially, very openly said he is following the strategy of greater Israel.
[11:04:48]
MOUSAVIAN: And you had the ambassador, United States ambassador to Israel, which very openly said Israel has right to occupy other Middle Eastern countries.
AMANPOUR: I want to play a soundbite from Iran's foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, who spoke to Al Jazeera about the decapitations and about how the regime is still operating.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ABBAS ARAGHCHI, IRANIAN FOREIGN MINISTER (through translator): I do not know why the Americans and the Israelis still have not understood this point. The Islamic Republic of Iran has a strong political structure with established political, economic and social institutions.
The presence or absence of a single individual does not affect the structure. Of course, individuals are influential and each person plays their role -- Some better, some worse, some less.
But what matters is that the political system in Iran is a very solid structure.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
AMANPOUR: So, Mr. Mousavian, how solid -- first of all, do you agree with the foreign minister? And these are very top leaders now who've been assassinated, very top, from your supreme leader to the head of the intelligence, to the head -- you know, the national security official, Ali Larijani. How much more can the government there tolerate in terms of targeted assassinations?
MOUSAVIAN: First of all, about the resilience, Christiane, I think the world already is somehow surprised. During past 20 days, Iran has demonstrated significant resilience.
The American-Israeli assumption was that the regime would collapse 48 hours, maximum 72 hours after they assassinate number one, the supreme leader, and about 50 very high-level security military officials.
But Iran retaliated just three hours after the assassination of the leader and the officials, attacking the U.S. military bases in the region, attacking Israel. And during last -- past 20 days, you have seen how powerfully they are retaliating.
I think perhaps Israelis and Americans, they should have already studied the history when Iran resisted eight years, Saddam invaded Iran.
The U.S., Europe, Soviet Union, China, India -- all regional countries -- they were supporting the aggression of Saddam, and Iran was alone. And for eight years, Iran alone resisted. And Saddam is over 20 years, Saddam is gone. Therefore, I think they will be able to continue their resilience, their resistance at least for months to come.
But having said that, Christiane, we should not make a mistake. Majority of Iranians, they are not satisfied with the social and economic situation of the country.
AMANPOUR: But I want to ask you the day after. Let's say this government stays in place. I already read that the president has called in members of the IRGC, the Revolutionary Guard, to say, how are we going to meet the demands of our dissatisfied people? And even if we survive, they are going to protest again and they are going to want change.
So, who's going to come out the winner if this regime stands? If it's the military, IRGC, it's going to be very tough on the people. And Iran doesn't have the wherewithal to actually meet the legitimate needs of the people, the economic needs of the people, nor do they necessarily want to have a theocracy. So, how do you see the day after?
MOUSAVIAN: I believe if the war is finished today, the problem for the Iranian government, Iranian establishment, would be at least double or triple compared to the before war. Because they have already the economic problems, sanctions, inflation, depreciation of Iranian currency, a lot of problems before the war.
Now, they have the damages, the destruction of a big part of the country after the war. Therefore, this would be a double burden of the Iranian establishment.
I really cannot imagine they can sustain the type of governing system which they have been doing during the last two, three decades.
And if the war is going to be finished tomorrow, they need substantial reforms in order to satisfy the people domestically and in foreign policy. They have to solve the problem with the regional countries.
[11:09:48]
MOUSAVIAN: They need to have a compromise with the U.S. They need to end the hostility with the United States and vice versa. The U.S. also need to end the hostility with Iran in order to lift the sanctions. Otherwise, Iran would have much more problem after the war.
AMANPOUR: All right. I appreciate it. Thank you very much, Mr. Mousavian, for being on with us. Thank you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
AMANPOUR: Coming up next, the Pentagon whistleblower warning of dangerous disregard for civilian casualties in Iran.
And later in the program we go to Israel. When and how does it measure success? I speak to former prime minister, Naftali Bennett.
[11:10:28]
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AMANPOUR: Welcome back to the program.
This has been lambasted as a war of choice against Iran by President Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, based on claims of an imminent threat from Tehran.
But this week, even Americas intelligence and security community cast serious doubt on that in testimony before Congress.
With memories of the false claim by the Bush administration that Saddam Hussein had WMD, which paved the way for the disastrous 2003 war on Iraq, which also, by the way, empowered Iran by removing its arch enemy, Saddam.
Back then, the U.S. caused thousands of civilian casualties. Later, the Pentagon set up a unit to protect people caught in the crossfire. But President Trump and Defense Secretary Hegseth closed it down.
I've been speaking to Air Force combat veteran, Wes Bryant, who was a senior advisor, now whistleblower. We spoke in light of Hegseth inflammatory language. This week, he blasted the quote, "stupid rules of engagement". And we discussed the very real civilian disaster on day one, when what's believed to have been a U.S. Tomahawk missile destroyed a girls' school in Iran, killing nearly 200 female students and their teachers.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
AMANPOUR: Wes Bryant, welcome to our program.
BRYANT: Thanks for having me.
AMANPOUR: Listen, your specialty is international law, civilian targets. You had, you know, a bureau to deal with that.
What do you make of the way this is unfolding? Because not only did we see the girls' school targeted -- well, hit, hit. But now we're seeing, certainly from reports from the inside, more and more civilian targets either targeted or caught in the blast.
What do you think about how that's going?
BRYANT: Yes, exactly. And that's the key here, is not just this tragedy against the girls' school, but how many more cases are there? And there's likely a lot.
You know, my colleagues at Air Wars are tracking upwards of 80 separate incidents so far between U.S. and Israeli strikes of civilian casualty instances. And, you know, we're tracking upwards of 1,800 civilian casualties so far, and that number will very likely rise.
You know, I find this shameful, frankly. Let's go to the girls -- the example with the strike on the girls' school. Shameful that our administration, our secretary of Defense, or War, as he calls himself, and our senior military leadership can't even to this day acknowledge that they actually struck the school, let alone provide some kind of half semblance of an apology and then address the situation appropriately.
The horrifying aspect of this is that we are importing in the U.S. military, importing the standards that Israel has created in the war in Gaza of utter recklessness in targeting, blatant disregard for international law, and an incredibly high tolerance for civilian casualties, and brushing them off, saying things like, you know, civilian casualties will happen in war, the enemy embeds in urban areas, and no other military takes as much care to prevent civilian casualties.
These sound exactly like what Netanyahu's been saying for years.
AMANPOUR: Well, he's saying that now about the Iran, "we're the most moral army in the world". And not only that, the secretary of Defense, Hegseth, has also said that.
I am going to play a little bit of a soundbite that he said from the Pentagon podium. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PETE HEGSETH, U.S. DEFENSE SECRETARY: No nation takes more precautions to ensure there's never targeting of civilians than the United States of America. From the boat strikes in the Caribbean, where every single strike is assessed, to this campaign here, no nation in the history of warfare has ever attempted in every way possible to avoid civilian casualties.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRYANT: It's almost laughable if it wasn't so enraging. You know, these boat strikes on so-called narco-terrorists, that was a summary execution. That was murder, even if they're drug smugglers. Completely illegal per U.S. and international law.
And, you know, to go back again, Hegseth sounds exactly like what Benjamin Netanyahu and the Israeli government have been saying for years in their war in Gaza in response to the genocide in the war in Gaza that no other nation takes as much precautions.
Yes, I can attest, you know, I carried out strike campaigns and strikes for over two decades in the war on terror.
[11:19:48]
BRYANT: I can attest that, yes, we have a lot of precautions built in, but we've also made a lot of mistakes and continue to make a lot of mistakes. And that is why the civilian harm mitigation and response enterprise was established under Secretary Austin, under the Biden administration, and which Hegseth came in and completely slashed under the construct of, you know, woke. It's not -- it's not fitting with his concept of lethality and killing, right? So, I would argue that if we are so good at protecting civilians, how did we just kill nearly 200 young schoolgirls in Iran? And how have we not even acknowledged that that's the case?
AMANPOUR: So, I want to ask you furthermore, then, what you make, and do you think it was loose lips from Hegseth? Do you think he even understood what he was saying when he said we will take no quarter, no mercy for our enemies? What do you understand that to mean?
Because Senator Mark Kelly has tweeted, "No quarter isn't some wannabe tough guy line. It means something. An order to give no quarter would mean to take no prisoners and kill them instead. That would violate the law of armed conflict. It would be an illegal order. It will also put American service members at greater risk."
Do you agree with that?
BRYANT: I absolutely agree. You know, we have to take a look here and ask ourselves, who are we as a people when we have people like this in extreme positions of power? You know, he sounds and acts maniacal. He has already carried out war crimes and continues to state the intent to carry out war crimes. And that's horrifying.
AMANPOUR: Well, we will clearly try to get some reaction to that because it is a serious allegation, but others have made that now. And it is very, very concerning.
You blew the whistle on the Pentagon for gutting your program precisely for the reasons and the concerns that you express right now.
But even beyond that, the retired general, former army commander, General Stanley McChrystal talked about, quote, "insurgent math". He said, "For every civilian killed, at least 10 new enemies are created." Talk about that for a moment.
BRYANT: When the Trump administration states that part of their mission here anyway is to free the oppressed Iranian people, well, killing hundreds, likely thousands of civilians, including, you know, small children. And then on top of that, showing absolutely no remorse for it, doesn't send that message whatsoever.
And then what you have is, you know, you're -- very clearly, you're going to turn the population against the U.S. cause.
I mean, put yourself in that situation. If another country came in to remove the Trump administration and bombed your child's school, would you really view them as a liberator? Not at all.
AMANPOUR: I'm just going to finish by saying the Pentagon has said a general officer or a special officer will look into the school attack and we'll wait and see what they come up with. But thank you very much indeed.
BRYANT: Thank you so much for having me.
(END VIDEOTAPE) AMANPOUR: Coming up, it's fire on all sides for some Iranians who face pressure from their repressive government while foreign bombs are falling. We hear from voices on the inside, next.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Every time you go outside, even just to go to the market, you see machine guns and Dushkas, heavy guns, on the streets.
Everyone is afraid of the checkpoint.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[11:23:16]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
AMANPOUR: Welcome back to the program.
Now, as the war continues, many Iranians are finding themselves trapped in a nightmarish double bind, under bombs which are falling from the sky and from their own government, threatening to crush any future protests. This week, Iran's leadership explicitly warned off anyone who might take advantage of the chaos.
CNN correspondent Jomana Karadsheh reports on the people caught between foreign bombs and their own repressive regime.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Celebrating the death at their oppressor. This is what the world saw coming out of Iran last month after Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed. But cloaked in digital darkness, a new wave of brutal suppression was already beginning.
Teenage brothers, Ahmad Rizza and Amir Hussein Faizi (ph), were among the crowds that poured into the streets on February 28th. This was the car they were in with their father, honking the horn in celebration. Security forces opened fire on them, according to activists, killing the 15- and 19-year-old boys.
As the regime faces America and Israel from the sky, it is tightening its grip on the ground, determined to extinguish any ember of an uprising.
Two months ago, it did just that, killing thousands of protesters in the bloodiest crackdown in the history of the Islamic Republic. Iranians still reeling from the collective trauma of January 8th and 9th, now being warned, take it to the streets and it will happen again.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Our team have their fingers on the trigger.
[11:29:45]
KARADSHEH: The chief of police threatening protesters, they will be treated as the enemy and shot.
The feared Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps promising another massacre of protesters. This time, they say it will strike harder than they did in January.
Messages we've received from Iranians inside the country describe a regime using every tool in its playbook to crush dissent.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): Every time you go outside, even just to go to the market, you see machine guns and Dushkas, heavy guns on the streets.
Everyone is afraid of the checkpoints. They are basically the regime's street level enforces.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: People are randomly being checked, their phones being searched, being asked questions like what are you doing out here? They even arrest and take them for a further investigation.
KARADSHEH: Video trickling out only a small window into this new climate of fear.
"Iran is a superpower," they chant. "Iranians are proud." Regime supporters roam the streets at night with a menacing message. They are still here. They are still in control.
State media, like so many times before, has been airing videos of those arrested allegedly confessing to being foreign agents. Text messages like this one warn those who find a way around the imposed Internet blackout will be treated as spies.
This crackdown only expected to get worse, as outside forces that want to overthrow this regime add fuel to the fire.
REZA PAHLAVI, IRANIAN POLITICAL ACTIVIST (through translator): We are now at the decisive stage of our final struggle. Await my final call.
KARADSHEH: The Israeli Prime Minister telling Iranians his forces are, quote, "creating the conditions on the ground for them to rise up."
As the IDF releases video like this showing what it says are attacks on regime checkpoints that have become a major instrument of suppression and killing the regime's top leadership, one after the other.
An uprising seems impossible right now for those who find themselves trapped between two hells. From inside their homes, they still defiantly cheer against the regime that time and time again has failed to silence the people risking it all for freedom.
Jomana Karadsheh, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
AMANPOUR: Coming up later on the show, while the war on Iran is one of the most unpopular in American history, in Israel, it's another story. Netanyahu's popularity is rising with the potential to boost his prospects in a future election.
I speak to his rival, former prime minister Naftali Bennett.
[11:32:48]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
AMANPOUR: Welcome back to the program.
Israeli intelligence is unmatched in this war. Its targeting of Iran's leadership precise. After wiping out yet another top layer, its war aims seemed clearer than ever, sow chaos in the ranks to make way for a popular uprising.
This even as "The Washington Post" reports, Israeli officials privately assess it would lead to another massacre.
So what is the strategy as the leadership still stands, still retaliates and remains in control on the streets. Inside Israel, over 90 percent of the Jewish population supports the war on Iran, according to the Israel Democracy Institute. Prime minister Netanyahu has vowed to cement Israel's security by changing the face of the Middle East forever.
Former Israeli prime minister, Naftali Bennett is the man most likely to challenge Netanyahu at the ballot box. And while they have many domestic differences, Bennett supports this war. He joined me from near Tel Aviv.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
AMANPOUR: Welcome to the program.
NAFTALI BENNETT, FORMER ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: Thank you.
AMANPOUR: Ok.
So, you've killed Khamenei, Larijani, the head of the intelligence, on and on and on over the last three weeks. But the system, the government there still remains in place and they are still firing missiles and the regime hasn't fallen.
Tell me, are you surprised? Because I know that there is quite a lot of surprise that this very targeted and accurate campaign hasn't done what you hoped it would do yet.
BENNETT: No, our goal is to dismantle the threat. And the threat is the nuclear threat, the ballistic missiles and the regional terror.
That's Israel's goal, to remove a threat that's been building for many years. And it's working very well. We are dismantling this big terror machine.
AMANPOUR: What will be the line that tells you that you have -- that it's done?
Are you looking for the regime to collapse? Are you looking for it to -- people to rise up? What are you looking for?
BENNETT: Look, the issue of the rise up, that's a decision the Iranian people will have to make. That's not ours to decide. We are very considerably degrading the regime itself.
[11:39:47]
BENNETT: The Basij, the terror police, the policemen that have been running after women who don't cover their heads, et cetera, et cetera.
But that's not ours to decide. We're focused on removing the threat to the region and the threat to Israel.
AMANPOUR: "The Washington Post", as you probably know, has revealed a cable. It's a State Department cable from the U.S. embassy in Jerusalem.
It says, "Senior Israeli officials privately told U.S. diplomats that if Iranians take to the streets, quote, "the people will get slaughtered" because the IRGC has -- still has the upper hand."
This at the same time as your prime minister is calling on the people to stand up. How do you justify it? And do you agree with that cable that's -- that come from, you know, the U.S. embassy to the State Department?
BENNETT: Look, ultimately, Christiane, I believe that this regime will fall. I don't know when, though. It's a corrupt, old, disconnected and incompetent regime, pretty similar to the Soviet regime in the 80s. So, ultimately it will collapse. And that would be good for the people of Iran, for the region.
We cannot time this and we cannot -- it's not a deterministic situation where if we take three or four specific actions, this will happen. It's an issue of the Iranian public.
But we are significantly damaging the whole terror apparatus, the whole Basij, IRGC regime apparatus to make it as weak as it will ever be, or at least in the near future.
I understand it's not -- it's not easy. And no, I can't be here and guarantee that, you know, within days the regime will fall.
AMANPOUR: There's reports now of European diplomats and national security officials who are beginning more and more to come out and say that they believe that there was an endgame -- I see you shaking your head because I know that Israel has never believed in these negotiations.
But the truth is that there was no imminent threat from Iran. All the intelligence says that. Do you think that it was -- given what's been going on now for the last -- more than three weeks, Israelis dying, Israelis, you know, being on the receiving end of missiles, allies in the Gulf, all these people who signed the Abraham Accords with, et cetera. Do you think that it's -- that this was the right way to go? I know it was a dream of Netanyahu's. He said it himself. My dream for 40 years has now come true.
BENNETT: Look, I understand the impatience. It's natural. But a threat that's been building for 40 years cannot be dismantled in 10 days. It takes a bit of time.
And if we have not acted now, we would have reached a point where the threat is just not manageable.
So, you're asking about an imminent threat. We were -- a responsible leadership doesn't wait for the moment that the threat is imminent because by then it's too late.
When is a threat imminent? When they have a bomb? When they have 10 bombs? When the missile is on its way to Europe or America or Israel? Is that when it's imminent?
Precisely to prevent us from getting to that moment, we had to act now. It's such a logical thing that I think anyone who's decent should understand that. If you wait for the last moment, it's too late. Just like what happened with North Korea.
AMANPOUR: So, I'm interested because you are confirming that it was an imminent threat at the time.
Let me just move on because there's other things to ask you, including about Lebanon.
I know you think -- I know the strategy is to change the Middle East by essentially bombing all the threats that you perceive. But are you concerned about getting back into a ground, you know, invasion, occupation and quagmire?
BENNETT: It's unfair to say that we think that we want to bomb the Middle East to change it. No, we don't want to bomb the Middle East to change it. We want security. That's all we want. We don't want a broader Israel. We don't want anything. We want my children here in Ra'anana and up in the north to live. That's all we have. Our only goal in this tiny little country.
The problem is, and the mistake that's been made for the past four decades is that we allowed threats to grow and grow to such a size that it became essentially a ring of fire around us. And yes, it is painful to remove that ring of fire.
Hezbollah has taken Lebanon as a hostage. We have no war with Lebanon, but we certainly want to remove Hezbollah as a threat to our people. And this will end when Hezbollah ends and stops being a threat to our people.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
AMANPOUR: Trying to change the Middle East, one domino at a time. And you can watch my extended conversation with Naftali Bennett, as well as with all my other senior guests online at Amanpour.com.
[11:44:50]
AMANPOUR: Coming up, Iran's retaliation and the effect on the global energy supply was clearly misunderstood and underestimated by the war planners. And now there is a global oil and gas crisis.
From my archives, recalling Saddam Husseins miscalculation in 1980, when he invaded Iran. Endurance and a sense of martyrdom and sacrifice became Iran's secret weapon.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We must continue our struggling against Iraqi Government until final victory.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[11:45:21]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
AMANPOUR: Welcome back to the program.
Just before the first strikes on Iran, the Trump administration signaled little concern for how the looming war might impact the global energy market.
Well, this week, the president was left scrambling, asking allies to help secure the Strait of Hormuz. It's a sign of how much the Iranian response may have been misjudged. And it echoes another moment in history.
Last week, we brought you a report from a CNN series called "In the Name of God". It was based on exclusive footage from the height of the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s.
Today, another chapter, another lesson about how the young Islamic Republic survived international isolation and staggering battlefield losses, fighting off an invasion by Saddam Hussein's Iraq.
Rather than weaken Iran, it eventually would consolidate its power and forge a strategic mindset that endures until this day.
CNN's Larry Lamotte narrates this report from 1985.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LARRY LAMOTTE, FORMER CNN CORRESPONDENT: Iraqi generals say they come at us like madmen. Iraq thought Iran would be a pushover when it decided to attack in 1980. It was a major blunder. Iraq's invasion generated nationalism in Iran and actually helped Ayatollah Khomeini consolidate his power.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We must continue our struggling against Iraqi government until final victory, and we don't accept any imposed peace. LAMOTTE: The ayatollah turned the conflict into a crusade for God,
guaranteeing a place in heaven for those who died in the fight against Iraq. Young boys and old men formed special units and hurled themselves at the enemy at tanks, on land mines.
In one battle, 25,000 Iranian soldiers squared off against Iraqi tanks and artillery. A few hours later, only 250 Iranians were alive.
Iran's almost 3 to 1 superiority in population has allowed it to sacrifice people to Iraq's far more numerous guns, tanks and planes. Even its use of chemical weapons.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No. We can mobilize at least a million for the front. We can choose the time of attack. It is now that we are attacking and Saddam is in defensive.
LAMOTTE: The deputy foreign minister said that in February of this year. In March, Iran did attack, launching a massive offensive along the Tigris River. Some units were even able to cross the river, but it turned out to be the same old story.
Iran's soldiers fought with rifles and rocket launchers. Air and tank support were practically nonexistent. After one week, its losses were estimated at over 15,000 in a battle no one won.
Iran has the money to buy the weaponry it needs. It is an oil rich nation, but it doesn't have enough friends to keep it supplied because of fears it will export its fanaticism.
Only North Korea, Syria and Libya are currently helping out. But those countries do not have the spare parts to keep planes and more sophisticated equipment operating.
Iraq is getting everything it needs arms from Egypt and the Soviet Union, financial aid from Saudi Arabia and others. Even intelligence information on Iranian troop movements from the U.S.
But Iran's manpower and fervor have equalized the odds and allowed it to win back most of the land it lost when Iraq first invaded. Yet Iran has steadfastly refused to talk peace until Iraqi President Saddam Hussein is overthrown or steps down. Iranian leaders do not believe Hussein would honor any negotiated settlement.
Khomeini's personal hatred for the Iraqi leader is another factor. When the ayatollah was exiled from Iran by the shah in 1964, he went to Iraq. But after living there 14 years, Hussein ordered him out of the country at the request of the shah. Khomeini has never forgotten nor forgiven.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
AMANPOUR: That war lasted eight years, and eventually it was fought to a standstill. It ended around a negotiating table.
Today, Iran faces a much tougher international enemy and much more dissent and protest from within.
When we come back, a time of celebration, joy and hope which is overshadowed by war, a final thought on Nowruz, the Persian New Year, after this break.
[11:54:32]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
AMANPOUR: And finally, this weekend, Iranians all over the world mark Nowruz, the Persian New Year and the spring solstice centered around renewal, hope and light. This year, though, war casts a dark shadow over celebrations.
For over 3,000 years, Iranians have taken part in long standing traditions, including the Fire Festival, Chaharshanbeh Suri (ph), where people jump over small bonfires and set off fireworks. It's meant as a way of cleansing and warding off misfortune.
[11:59:43]
AMANPOUR: This year, it was mostly Iranians abroad who could freely and safely celebrate like this group in Spain.
In Iran, morale is low. Markets that would be bustling with holiday shoppers are quiet under the bombs. And while there is hope for change this Nowruz, the year ahead is bound by an uncertain future.
Still, I can say Eid (INAUDIBLE) Mubarak.
And that's all we have time for. Don't forget, you can find all 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 week.
