Are You Pleased He's Dead?' Piers Morgan Grills Mehdi Hasan on Ayatollah - With Sam Asghari

16:13Sam Asghari:We left the people to die. And I was pointing out that goes against the norms of all naval maritime warfare. I'm no expert. This is what I'm told. I'm told that goes against all the norms of maritime war, that even in World War II there were times when the Nazis shot down boats and saved... You know, pulled in some of the survivors. That doesn't mean I'm saying the American military or the Israeli military is Nazi Germany. I'm simply pointing out that some of our tactics are so barbaric that they compare to some of the worst people in history. That is not the same as saying Iran is Nazi Germany and therefore we should invade.

16:40Sam Asghari:Piers, you know this. You're slightly older than I am. You know that every time we've gone to war, we've accused our enemies of being Hitler. We said it about Saddam, we said it about Milosevic, we said it about Gaddafi. That is the lazy go-to move. And I know you hate me comparing Trump's rhetoric to Hitler's rhetoric. No, I know, I know. But when you say... Well, that's not compared to Iran to Nazi Germany. I know, but, Manny, come on.

16:59Piers Morgan:Manny, come on. When you say things like, even the Nazis didn't do that, it's like, no, but the Nazis did murder 12 million people and did kill 6 million Jews in a Holocaust.

17:09Sam Asghari:So the Nazis weren't that great. Every time I come on this show, you make this point. So, all right, let me make this point one more time. So, first of all, I'm sure you've compared Russia's and Putin's invasion of Ukraine to horrible, horrible historical episodes. You've said this before. I just want to nail this once and for all, because it's been multiple times. If you compare something to the Nazis, that doesn't mean it's always 12 million dead. Would you agree with me that Nick Griffin is a Nazi, the UK BNP leader? A court said you can call him a Nazi. Would you agree he's a neo-Nazi?

17:37Piers Morgan:Well, he's a far-right lunatic, yeah.

17:41Sam Asghari:You would never call him a Nazi, because a court said you could call him a neo-Nazi. Are you saying skinheads with swastikas who run round European towns attacking migrants who say Heil Hitler? Are they Nazis? I would say they are. They're Nazis. I would categorise them as... The criteria that you can only be a Nazi... I would categorise them as far...

17:56Piers Morgan:I'd categorise them as Nazi sympathisers. But my point being... My point being, in one week, you went from saying don't use Nazi analogies to using Nazi analogies.

18:06Sam Asghari:I didn't say that. Now, it appears this is really bad on your part. That's not what I said. I said that don't call Iran Nazi Germany. And then I said, let's not do things in the Pacific that even the Nazis didn't do. That's a completely different point. If you can't see it, I'm sure your viewers do.

18:24Piers Morgan:I think probably we should just all stop using the Nazis and Hitler in every debate about everything that happens.

18:30Sam Asghari:Fair enough. Fair enough.

18:34Piers Morgan:What's odd about this war, really odd, because this could never have happened 25 years ago about anything, The fiercest opposition to the war hasn't just come from people like you on the left, which would be expected, but it's come from Tucker Carlson, from Candice Owens, from Nick Fuentes. Fuentes has even said it's time for the far right and far left to come together, even if that means voting Democrat. I mean, an extraordinary statement to make. How do you feel about your new bedfellows?

19:08Sam Asghari:Well, come on. That's a cheap shot and you know it. And by the way, Nick Fruendis is a neo-Nazi, but he hasn't killed 12 million people. Come on, Pearce, when you opposed the Iraq War in 2003, Nick Griffin, a Nazi in the UK, opposed the Iraq War. Was he one of your bedfellows?

19:22Piers Morgan:No, I'm not actually saying they're your bedfellows. We can't all choose our allies. Do you feel like I do? By the way, look... No, no, no, of course. Of course, I'm not judging you by who else shares your view of this war, because there are many people on all sides. I just think it's politically fascinating that some of the most high-profile right-wing commentators in America, if you basically hid their image and their name and changed their voice a bit, people might think it's you. And I find that that's a real shift in the conservative right in America, isn't it? It's just fascinating.

19:58Sam Asghari:Yes, it is. And I hope no one ever confuses me for Nick Fuentes or Candace Owens. But let me say this to you. Donald Trump has betrayed a section of his base. Now, look, I'm not one of these people who says there's a big split in MAGA. You look at the polls, most Trump voters are cultists. They're happy to change their positions and suddenly become pro-war overnight. But there are a few people, as you say, like Tucker Carlson, Marjorie Taylor Greene has been very strong as well in calling this out. Look, you said it at the beginning. Donald Trump has completely betrayed, because he's a liar, every promise he made.

20:23Sam Asghari:He said, vote for Harris, World War III. Vote for Harris, Middle East wars. Vote for Harris, Muslims will have to die. Vote for Harris, U.S. troops will have to join a draft. On the weekend, Caroline Leavitt, Piers, astonishingly refused to rule out the military draft coming back, which is an insane thing to even have to be asked about. So he has completely done a U-turn on this. Whether he gets punished by a significant enough number of his own voters, the Nick Fuentes types who defect or stay at home in November, we shall see. But he's clearly lied. And J.D. Vance, by the way, Piers, the man who was the most anti-war member of his cabinet, who gave long speeches about no reason to go to war with Iran, he's just disappeared off Twitter.

21:00Sam Asghari:He used to be on there trolling me every other week, trolling left-wing journalists. Now he's quiet, he's gone to ground, because he knows they cannot defend the indefensible.

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21:53Piers Morgan:Interestingly, I think politically it's been a very bad week for Vance actually because the anticipation that he would be the logical successor to Trump. He has just disappeared this week. And the one who's emerged as a much stronger person, I think, on the Trump side, if you're looking for someone to maybe run in 2028, probably Marco Rubio now.

22:16Sam Asghari:Although I would push back in Piers and say it could actually work in Vance's favour if this turns into the disaster some of us think it will, in that he can say, well, I was always against it, you know that. Behind the scenes, I was the guy pressuring. It was Marco out there trying to invade every country from Venezuela to Iran to Cuba. And look at the disasters. Marco, he was never one of us. He was never MAGA. I frankly find both of them to be deeply overrated. I wouldn't be surprised if the Republican contender in 2020, if it's not Trump, is actually neither Marco Rubio nor J.D. Vance. But it's, to quote Donald Rumsfeld, a known unknown.

22:46Sam Asghari:Someone who's out there. We don't quite know who they are. But they emerge from the ashes of another disastrous Trump presidency. I think Vance and Rubio, deeply overrated figures. You saw Rubio having to do a clean-up in aisle 12 last week when he had to come out and say, no, no, I never blamed Israel for this. I didn't say we did it because of Israel. And then the reporter's like, well, I was the one who asked you the question. It was a greatly embarrassing moment for Marco Rubio on the Capitol.

23:08Piers Morgan:It was, and he clearly, I think, meant what he said the first time, and then they decided to shift the narrative. Because they realised... Oh, Piers, you can't say that.

23:16Sam Asghari:You'll be accused of anti-Semitism.

23:19Piers Morgan:By the way, on that, you saw the spat I've been having with Ben Shapiro, and I've responded to him today with a quite lengthy piece about it because I do think it's ridiculous. This idea that you cannot criticise the Israeli government, specifically, I've always been very specific, I'm criticising the government and its actions, not the Israeli people, not Jewish people. I don't have an anti-Semitic bone in my body. But people like Ben Shapiro, if there's any sign that you are not absolutely blindly in favour of everything Israel does, then you are anti-Semitic and you must be shamed, mocked, preferably cancelled.

24:00Piers Morgan:And he's basically gone the full hog with me. I mean, he's gone from being a willing guest on my show many times when I was always defending Israel's right to defend itself. And then the moment I got more critical of the government in the war on Gaza, that was it. Never replied to messages and now has come out fully swinging. I just find it ridiculous that in a democracy like the United States, he can't see how ridiculous that is for somebody trying to position himself as a great free speech warrior.

24:35Sam Asghari:Welcome to our world, Piers. This is what some of us endured for many years. This is cancellation of people who speak out against Israel. There's a reason they're targeting you and Tucker Carlson in particular, because you have these huge platforms and you are seen as quote unquote reliable allies and you can't be dismissed as, you know, crazy leftists or mad Muslims. And therefore you have to be shut down before anyone else. And they're not hiding this stuff, Piers. Benjamin Netanyahu has talked about the information war being the front line, the main war that Israel's fighting, taking over TikTok being the most important strategy for pro-Israel side with the Ellison family.

25:07Sam Asghari:They're not hiding the fact that they know they're losing the messaging war. And instead of like, stop doing war crimes, they're just trying to suppress free speech. And it's going to backfire, sadly, on Jewish friends of mine, on the Jewish community in this country. Because once you devalue an important term like antisemitism, once you cheapen a phrase like antisemitism, once you start calling anyone who criticizes Netanyahu or the killing of kids, when you call Miss Rachel, the world's most popular children's entertainer, an antisemite because she said don't kill kids, right, you're completely undermining the very important common struggle we should have against antisemitism.

25:38Sam Asghari:We have Republican group chats like every week leaking out of young Republicans talking about Jews and black people in the most vicious terms. And then you turn to the leadership of Jewish organizations in this country, the ADL, Jonathan, and they're busy just talking about Israel and Iran. And I very, very worry about the fact that when, you know, when the, I don't want to say the real anti-Semitic rules, they're anti-Semites of all types, but when the anti-Semites, the OG anti-Semites of the far right, the Nazi types, if you will, when they're back on the rise and you have people just singularly focused on what is some college kid on campus holding on a placard?

26:08Sam Asghari:What is Piers Morgan saying? Who is Tucker Carlson platforming? If that's your only metric for anti-Semitism, then we're all screwed, because the forces of bigotry are on the rise against Jews, against Muslims, against minorities of all types.

26:23Piers Morgan:The term moral abominations, right? I think we can all agree there's been a lot of moral abominations going on generally in the last few years. But according to independent human rights groups, the Iranian regime slaughtered up to, and I use that word, we don't know for sure, up to 30 ,000 of its own people during the recent protests in January. At the time you posted, I have a feeling a lot more Muslims around the world would support the Iranian protests for freedom and democracy. If so many members of the pro-regime change Iranian diaspora weren't such raging Islamophobes. Now, my response to that would be, OK, there may be people in that pro-regime change movement who are Islamophobic.

27:11Piers Morgan:There might well be. But they're also risking their lives on the streets to get rid of a very repressive, evil regime. Was it fair to muddy the waters there in the way that you did with that post?

27:27Sam Asghari:Not really, because it's a quote tweet, Piers. For those people who are not on Twitter like you and I, quote tweet is responding to another tweet. So that tweet doesn't make sense without the tweet I was referring to, which was a tweet from a very prominent pro-regime change Iranian-American activist where she was attacking Zoran Mandani for celebrating the hijab. And I just didn't seem to understand why should women in New York, Muslim women in New York, not get to celebrate hijab, celebrate wearing the hijab or have the right to wear hijab simply because the Iranian government oppresses women in hijabs or forces women to wear hijabs in Iran.

27:56Sam Asghari:That's the definition of bigotry, peers to attack one group of people for the actions of another. That was the only point I was making. And by the way, I wasn't talking about people on the streets of Iran. The Iranian diaspora peers, as you must have noticed by now, contain some seriously unhinged people. I think this is recognized by even Iranian Americans, that there are people in their own community who were really out there. And you'll remember this from the Iraq war. There were British Iraqis who were just raving for war. They wanted Ahmed Chalabi to come in. They said anyone who opposed the war like you and me were pro-Saddam.

28:23Sam Asghari:And that happens in every diaspora community during the war. Happened with the Syrians too. There are Iranian monarchists, the people who support the crown prince, who don't want to hear any criticism. You know, Christian Amanpour did a tough interview with the Shah's son. They went and heckled her and said she's pro-regime. So there's a lot of irrational people. There were people at a rally over the weekend, Piers, I'm not sure if you saw the clips, they were saying it was worth it for these kids to have died, because that's what the cost is of freeing the country. If you're telling me that 160 kids is worth it, then I can't take you seriously.

28:51Sam Asghari:And too many people, not all of them, but too many people in the Iranian diaspora are so keen, I understand why, to get rid of the government in Iran, that they're willing to do deals with the devil. They're willing to support Netanyahu. They're willing to say Islamophobic things. That was the point I was making. It was an observation that I find a lot of my fellow Muslims don't sympathize, when they should, with people under oppression because they see them as somehow opposed to them and their religion. I would like to, you know, break those things out into separate categories. We should all support the rights of any people in any country, whatever their religion or race, when they are fighting for freedom.

29:24Sam Asghari:But that doesn't mean that doesn't excuse bigotry or, you know, generalisations by people in the diaspora. And I was referring to certain nut jobs in the diaspora.

29:34Piers Morgan:The performance of the Democrats in America in the last eight days, I would say, has pretty much summed them up. I think their leadership are very ineffectual, very incompetent, don't seem very politically astute, never mind anything else. You know, you've got an overwhelming number of Democrats, Democrat voters in America that are against this. There's no fire in the belly on the Democrat side, galvanising the anti-war movement in the way that you would have expected. Why is that, and what is the answer for the Democrats?

30:14Sam Asghari:I thought you were going to be devil's advocate, Piers. Everything you said I agreed with 100%. Every word of that was music to my ears. They are weak. They are useless. I mean, the leadership. I don't like to generalise because there are a lot of Democrats like your Roe Conners who are doing very good work in trying to stop the war in highlighting the double standards. There is Senator Chris Murphy who's been very strong. Senator Chris Van Hollen. There's individual Democrats who have been very strong. The leadership, Schumer in the Senate, Jeffries in the House, absolutely useless. When they're asked, are you going to fund this war, they can't just say, no, we're not going to fund an illegal, immoral war.

30:44Sam Asghari:They don't understand the politics, as you say, that the party, the base, is in a very anti-war, very angry position. The American public as a whole has a very dim view of the Democratic Party. Did you see the poll recently, Piers, that says the only two things that are less popular than AI, AI is very unpopular in the US, the only things less popular than AI are the Democratic Party and the Islamic Republic of Iran, according to public opinion. That's a savage indictment of the Democratic Party and its leadership. And that's because they are out of tune with American voters, are definitely out of tune with their base.

31:11Sam Asghari:This is a moment now to go after Trump for his lack of a plan, lack of a strategy, betrayal of his base, his immoral killing of schoolgirls in a school and then lying about it and trying to blame Iran, supporting a war in which they're blowing up oil depots and civilian infrastructure without going to Congress. Piers, Tony Blair went to Parliament, went to the UN Security Council. George Bush sent Colin Powell to the UN Security Council. He went to Congress to get a vote of authorization. This guy, Trump, hasn't even bothered to do even what Bush and Cheney did when they rushed to war. And yet the Democrats open goal, just keep missing the goal, the leadership, again, of the Democratic Party.

31:45Sam Asghari:As I say, individual Democrats, especially those running for president, are doing a good job. Ruben Gallego of Arizona has been very strong. I like his tagline that Trump was elected to try and expose pedophiles and end wars. Instead, he's protecting pedophiles and starting wars. I do think that should be the line of the entire Democratic Party.

32:00Piers Morgan:Just finally, are you pleased that the now dead Ayatollah Khomeini, the older Khomeini, is no longer ruling Iran?

32:13Sam Asghari:It's a good question. I don't take pleasure in killing anyone. I don't think you should have illegally killed the leader, a foreign leader of a nation, who's also, by the way, a spiritual leader to millions of Shia Muslims around the world. He wasn't my spiritual leader, but he's a spiritual leader to many people I know. And that's a reality. I know people watching at home, non-Muslims may kind of scratch their heads and say, but you know, he's a tyrant in a foreign country. But that is the reality. He wasn't just a political ruler. He was a spiritual ruler. And to kill him, to assassinate him on day one of the war will have insane consequences.

32:42Sam Asghari:I hope I'm not back on this show in a year, two years, three years saying to you, Piers, do you remember when I told you that killing Khomeini will have a backlash? There will be terrorism. There will be revenge attacks. I hope that doesn't happen, but it could happen. It might likely happen. U.S. intelligence is suggesting it might happen. The blowback from killing a foreign head of state, from killing an Ayatollah, a religious leader, in this way, in this blasé way. By the way, Piers, they also killed the people he wanted to succeed, Khamenei. They're so incompetent. Trump now admits that in the next door building, they accidentally also killed the people they wanted to be their Delcey Rodriguez in Iran.

33:13Sam Asghari:So, no, I don't, I'm never going to support assassinating foreign leaders, killing foreign leaders. So, you know, Colonel Gaddafi was raped and murdered on the side of a street in Libya. Is Libya better off without him? Well, A, not sure about that. B, obviously, I don't shed any tears for Gaddafi, but that is not what you do. I'm never going to support the killing of anybody outside of a trial, outside of due process. And, you know, it's for the Iranian people to decide their future. If the Iranian people want to get rid of Khamenei, it was up to the Iranian people, not up to Benjamin Netanyahu and Donald Trump.

33:40Sam Asghari:And by the way, what a great regime change war this is. They replaced Ayatollah Khamenei with Ayatollah Khamenei. That's real high-level success in your regime change war. His son, apparently, is more hardline, we're told, than his father. And why wouldn't he be? They just killed his mum, his dad, I think his wife as well, his sister. He's not a guy who's going to do a deal any time soon or roll over for Donald Trump. So, strategically, it's a disaster. And legally and morally, no, you can't just kill people you don't like. Am I going to support... You know, I don't like Benjamin Netanyahu, Piers.

34:08Sam Asghari:Maybe you've noticed, though, for the last two years. But I don't support anyone assassinating him.

34:13Piers Morgan:My actual question, though, but it was brilliantly deflected. My actual question was, are you pleased that he's no longer ruling Iran?

34:23Sam Asghari:Well, I don't support the vilayat al-faqih, what is called the Islamic system of rule in Iran. So I don't support any ayatollahs being in charge of Iran. In Iraq, for example, you have an ayatollah named Sistani, who the Americans have worked with for a long time. He's a spiritual leader of a lot of Iraq Shias and a lot of Shias around the world. He's never taken executive authority. He's never said, I'm going to be in charge of Iraq. He sits in his house and he gives his religious rulings. I prefer that system of government. So, in a sense, are you asking me, do I hope that, you know, do I want Ayatollahs to rule Iran?

34:52Sam Asghari:No, I don't. I'm on the record supporting a democratic system. But I don't support killing people. No, I don't.

34:58Piers Morgan:No, no, I wasn't asking if he supported killing him. I just was asking if you're pleased he's no longer ruling the country.

35:06Sam Asghari:It's a loaded question because his son is leading the country. So am I pleased with that? No, I'm not pleased with his son leading the country. It's not a question you can answer in the back, can you, Piers? Well, no, so if you're not pleased with the son ruling the country... Are you pleased that Saddam Hussein is not ruling Iraq? Yeah. But you oppose that war like I did?

35:30Piers Morgan:Yeah. OK. The two things are perfectly compatible. So you can hold multiple positions at one time. Agreed. Absolutely. Agreed. There's no problem saying that you're...

35:40Sam Asghari:I'm agreeing with you.

35:41Piers Morgan:You could easily... Well, you've agreed... You've now said that you're pleased the sun... You're not pleased the sun is running the country. Is that what you said?

35:50Sam Asghari:No. No, I'm not. Ah. Not at all. I've said that publicly.

35:54Piers Morgan:So does it automatically follow you?

35:57Sam Asghari:And he's only ruling the country. Hold on, hold on. He's only ruling the country because we killed the leader before him, his dad.

36:02Piers Morgan:I understand that. But I'm just trying to work out by natural process of elimination, you must therefore de facto be pleased that the dead Ayatollah is no longer ruling the country.

36:17Sam Asghari:Am I pleased he's not ruling the country? It's a question in vacuum. Does that mean I'm pleased with his son ruling the country? Because it's this weird gotcha question without... No, no, I'm not asking about his son. I don't want to say yes to that because that implies that I'm OK with the fallout from it, which I'm not. But I have made my position clear. I don't think any Ayatollahs should be running Iran. That's not my political or religious viewpoint.

36:38Piers Morgan:So it sounds like a yes.

36:39Sam Asghari:But I don't think you should kill them in order to get rid of them. But I don't think you should kill Ayatollahs in order to get rid of them. I didn't ask you.

36:44Piers Morgan:I didn't ask you about... I didn't ask you if you supported killing you. I just said, are you pleased you're no longer ruling the country? Sounds like you are, but you're just very reluctant to use the word yes.

36:54Sam Asghari:Yeah, because I have to think through the consequence of what I'm saying, Piers. It's good for you to ask a great question in a vacuum, but if I say yes to that question, does that mean I'm supporting what Trump and Netanyahu did? No.

37:06Piers Morgan:I don't think any of that follows. You could just say yes or no.

37:10Sam Asghari:And I don't take pleasure in killing people without trials. If Ayatollah Khamenei did something wrong, the Iranians should have tried him. That wasn't the question. The Iranians should have tried him.

37:19Piers Morgan:Wasn't the question. Mehdi, that wasn't my question. I didn't ask if you were pleased he got killed. It was just a question about my feelings. I just asked you, are you pleased? I just asked, are you pleased he's no longer ruling the country? It's a yes or no. You either are or you're not.

37:34Sam Asghari:No, because I can't... No, it's not... No, Piers, it's not as simple as that. I know you've now latched on to this, but I have to think this through. No, I don't think it's a matter about my feelings. I've only latched on to it because you won't answer.

37:46Piers Morgan:I think it's an easy thing to answer, I think.

37:49Sam Asghari:I didn't know it was a therapy session to ask me about how I'm feeling. I thought it was about my political viewpoint. My political viewpoint is it was wrong to kill him. It was illegal to kill him. It will have disastrous effects for the region. It's mad to take out a head of state and a spiritual leader. And it's even madder when you replace him with his son, who apparently is, quote, unquote, worse than him, both for Iran and for US and Israeli interests.

38:11Piers Morgan:I'll just try one more time then, given all of that. So, no, I'm not pleased at the situation we're in. I'm not asking about the situation. Simply asking, are you pleased... You are. You are. ..that he's no longer ruling the country?

38:24Sam Asghari:No, I'm not pleased about what's going on right now in Iran, which involves killing Khamenei. I'm not going to answer your question out of any context. For you to clip this out of context, no. Nice try.

38:37Piers Morgan:Perish the thought that either of us would take anything from our interviews and clip them out of context, Medhi. You would never do that, would you?

38:45Sam Asghari:Never, never. It's like that time you wouldn't say if Trump was a racist or not when I asked you about seven times on my show.

38:52Piers Morgan:Mehdi, you can ask me again next time I'm on your show, but it's always good to have you on Uncensored. Thank you very much. Come back anytime. Thank you very much. Take care. Take care, Mehdi. Thank you very much. Well, the Iranian-American actor, model and ex-husband of Britney Spears, Sam Asghari, grew up in Iran until the age of 13 before fleeing the regime. And he joins me now. Sam Asghari, welcome to Uncensored. Thank you for having me, Pierce. I mean, I can ask you the same question I was trying to get Medhi Hassan to say, but are you pleased that the late Ayatollah Khomeini is no longer ruling the country?

39:48Piers Morgan:other than going back to college and obtaining a bachelor's degree in accounting with a minor in finance, then interning somewhere and becoming fluent in all tax forms. But that might be hard to accomplish before tax day. So maybe just stick with Tax Act. Tax Act. Let's get them over with.

40:06Mehdi Hasan:Am I pleased? Absolutely. And are the Iranians in diaspora and people inside of Iran are pleased absolutely.

40:17Piers Morgan:Is that pleasure diluted by the fact that it appears to have had little effect on the regime because his son is now apparently the new supreme leader and there's no sign of any uprising on the streets against the regime despite all the military action that's been taken?

40:37Mehdi Hasan:I mean, absolutely. And that was something expected already by this regime. I mean, I mean, it's something that shows you how undemocratic this regime is to replace an ayatollah with another ayatollah without the people's votes or without anybody involved. So that doesn't change the plan, and that doesn't change what the people of Iran and the people in the diaspora want. And that's something that really doesn't, you know, phase anybody in the diaspora or the people of Iran. They want to change. They want this regime to be completely out of Iran. And this is something that I support deeply.

41:16Piers Morgan:There are lots of people who are pying about Iran without ever having been there. You're in a good position to talk about Iran because you were there for 13 years of your life, the first 13 years. You were born in Tehran in 1994, so 15 years after the revolution. Then you moved to the U.S. when you were 13. But you were there long enough, I guess, to remember quite a lot of it. I think people with longer memories about Iran, they don't remember the monarchy with particularly rose-tindy spectacles. They say that one of the reasons there was an uprising and revolution was the monarchy had become increasingly unpopular as a ruler of the country.

41:57Piers Morgan:You were there 15 years into the revolution and then spent 13 years living under it. What are your memories of this Iranian regime in that period?

42:12Mehdi Hasan:This Iranian regime loves to sort of brainwash everybody that lives there. So my memory growing up, it was just a regime brainwashing every single person. I mean, you got anywhere from going to school, you have to chant to death to America and death to Israel without having any education, without having any outside knowledge about what's going on in the world and who the evil really is. So they love to brainwash everybody that is from the age of zero. And they love them to be occupied with all that in their head and sort of have that upgrowing. And imagine how the Iranian people want this regime out and how evil it is that even with this brainwashing and the system that they had and all the censorship that they had, they're still so unpopular in the country of Iran.

43:03Mehdi Hasan:So growing up in that country was an absolute disaster. I mean, take a look at me now in America. I'm someone that could put my mind into anything and sort of become whoever I want. Take a look at my three sisters. I mean, there were women that were oppressed. I remember there was one night me and my mother, I was around six or seven years old. I remember vividly we had to go pick up my sisters for they got arrested for wearing something that wasn't appropriate. by the Islamic revolution. And look at the fear that they put into these girls growing up. And look at the opportunities that they stripped away from everybody, not only girls, from the men that could just be like me.

43:46Mehdi Hasan:And look at it now. I mean, take a look at the past 47 years of how this regime, what has came out from Iran. The only thing that ever come from this regime that's somewhat an innovation or something like that is a suicide bomb on a drone. And take a look at everybody that have skipped Iran and that have came to America. They're one of the most successful immigrant groups, not only in America and other countries. They're innovators. They're occupying Silicon Valley. They're occupying almost everything when it comes to technology and everything. So, I mean, the opportunities are just limitless in Iran for everybody.

44:27Piers Morgan:Do you still have family back in Tehran?

44:32Mehdi Hasan:Like I'd like to say, you know, I got 90 immediate family members, 90 million immediate family members in Iran, which are my brothers and sisters. That's why I feel so responsible to come on your show and to use my voice as an entertainer to be able to make the American people understand what really happens in Iran and what sets the people far away from their government. And I do have family members that I have not spoke to in many weeks. And I do have friends that I have not spoke to. I had a friend that was murdered in the protest just a month before this war escalated. So this is something that I'm deeply connected to.

45:15Piers Morgan:I'm very sorry to hear about your friend. What happened to your friend?

45:22Mehdi Hasan:My friend was murdered on the street, you know, protesting alongside millions of other Iranians and chanting under the same flag. I mean, the flag that we want, the previous flag before this revolution, the one that you see on the streets of Los Angeles, Toronto, New York, almost everywhere in the world. And they were under the same exact unity. And it wasn't just him. It was more than 40 ,000 people plus that got murdered by that regime specifically. They opened fire using AK-47s and weapons that you use in war. So believe it or not, the war that's happening now against this Islamic regime, which is basically being called a rescue mission and not even war, was happening in Iran for 47 years.

46:06Mehdi Hasan:I mean, they were opening fire on anybody that asked for freedom, for anything, anything that they protested, they opened fire on every single person that was out there.

46:18Piers Morgan:Why do you think we're not seeing any uprisings yet since this war began eight days ago? There is a theory that because it's so dangerous on the streets, from the bombing raids and the missiles coming down, that that's a major factor. Is it also because so many, like your friend, were killed in the protests in January? Is it a combination of both? Are there other factors? But, But at the moment, people are surprised there's been no attempt by the people to rise up during this last week.

46:51Mehdi Hasan:I mean, take a look at this regime. Every time something happens, they do a complete blackout. So we're not seeing what's really happening out there. But we are seeing a lot of people recording from the rooftops, from their windows. And they're so happy about the strikes happening because they're hitting direct targets. And, you know, obviously war is not something that anybody celebrates, but the Iranian people inside of Iran are really happy about this regime being hit accurately. And they're being destroyed. They're being eliminated one by one. And that's why it doesn't change anything when the ayatollah was replaced by another ayatollah.

47:28Mehdi Hasan:I mean, this is something that they're trusting America with. And they're really believing that there's going to be a time where they're giving orders to flood the streets and to come out. But the uprising has already happened. I mean, take a look at the Iranians outside of Los Angeles and outside of Toronto, New York, all over the world. They have already uprised and they have became the voice of the people inside of Iran. And they do have someone that is representing them and someone that inside of Iran are calling for is Reza Patlevi. And we do have a leader into this revolution. And that's someone that wants a democratic future and is supporting freedom.

48:08Mehdi Hasan:and everything that everybody's asking for for this last 47 years of Iran. So the uprising has happened and it will happen. And this is something that everybody is already extremely excited about.

48:22Piers Morgan:I know Reza Blavi well. I like him personally very much. I've been impressed when I've interviewed him. But is is a return to monarchical rule, you know, the exiled son of the Shah going back when in fact, You know, if you're being honest, the Shah at the time in 79 was not very popular in the country. Would this actually have mass popular support, do you think? Or would it be better for the people of Iran to go for an absolutely full on, full throttle, genuine democratic future that doesn't involve a monarchy?

49:03Mehdi Hasan:I mean, take a look at what people have been calling for. They have been calling only one name. And Reza Pahlavi is someone that I have spoke to, I have gone to his meetings, and I deeply support. And just like many millions of Iranians outside of Iran, even inside of Iran, because he is not actually proposing a monarchy. He's proposing a democratic future for Iran, a united Iran. And that's something that everybody truly believes. And they see his genuineness, and they see his education, and they see how he has been in touch with the western side of the world and that is a strong leadership that he's presenting and he is not wanting monarchy unless the iranian people are wanting that so in case we see this regime fall which we are we're very close to it we will have the iranian people choosing a future and he is someone that absolutely supports that you know sam it takes courage to speak out as an

49:58Piers Morgan:iranian someone who lived there and left the country it's it's not a zero risk to yourself you know that. There are many in Hollywood who've been deafening with their silence and yet incredibly vocal about, for example, the war on Hamas in Gaza. Is that a moral cowardice? I mean, should more people where you are right now in LA, I have a home there myself, should more Hollywood figures be speaking out like this? Is there hypocrisy about them racing to defend Palestinians but not wanting to be vocal supporting Iranian protesters?

50:38Mehdi Hasan:Absolutely. I mean, Hollywood is a place where all entertainers are great people. And as an artist, it's hard to believe that you don't want to support human rights. And this is about human rights. It has nothing to do with politics whatsoever. There is strongly political things that are attached to what's happening. But the reason why I'm here today is because I was born in a country of Iran. And under that regime, I would be nothing, and I would have absolutely no opportunities whatsoever. So as an American, I'm extremely proud to be in a country. And my first flag is the United States flag, and the second flag is the lion and sun flag that is going to replace this Islamic revolution flag.

51:21Mehdi Hasan:And as someone that's an artist, it's extremely important for me to support the human rights and the humans are calling for. And I absolutely encourage people in Hollywood to understand and educate themselves onto what's really happening in Iran. And I feel responsible for the 90 million immediate families that I have in Iran. And as someone that has the bloodline of Cyrus the Great running through my veins and the DNA of what was once the hub of human rights. I mean, Cyrus the Great invented human rights and he wrote human rights. and as someone that has American values, that has American grinds, that believes the United States is one of the greatest countries in the world, I feel strongly responsible to speak, especially when there's a blackout, especially when people are being shut off from the internet and we're not able to hear what's really happening and what they really want.

52:15Mehdi Hasan:So it is an absolute responsibility for me to stand for human rights.

52:21Piers Morgan:Have you had threats for speaking out?

52:26Mehdi Hasan:I have not really encountered much threats, just because there's so many people that are supporting this movement, and they're really supporting the human right factor of this movement, not the politics of it. I mean, take a look at what's really happening. This is not just about the Islamic Republic revolution being a threat to the outside world, like America and the nuclear program. This is about the management of what was once a great country. I mean, like I said, take a look at what has happened in the past 47 years of that country. Everybody that had fled the country for a better future, they had succeeded.

53:03Mehdi Hasan:Iranians are among one of the greatest immigrant groups in America. And look at how they took the streets of Los Angeles and New York and Toronto. The protests were extremely friendly. They were practicing their freedom of speech. They were holding the American flag. They were cleaning up after they were done with the protest. And take a look at what was happening with the last weekend protest. Iranians took the streets under one flag, which was the Lion and Sun flag, calling for Reza Pahlavi to return to Iran, calling for freedom, and being happy about the Ayatollah being dead and finally this regime being on a downfall.

53:41Mehdi Hasan:Not only that, they were also, they had photos of the fallen soldiers, you know, at the time it was six, now it's seven. But they were saluting the American soldiers and they were being extremely, you know, the number one immigrants that we're really looking for in America. And something like this was the first time in history that we are seeing an immigrant group being the most patriotic Americans out there. and they're appreciating America. And that's something that really makes me proud is to finally understanding that this regime has nothing to do with the people. And the people of Iran and the people outside of Iran strongly value American values and they want nothing but peace into this world and they want nothing to do with this regime whatsoever.

54:29Mehdi Hasan:So it really makes me proud to see Iranians come out and wave the American flag and understand that it is because of America they are finally having a future.

54:42Piers Morgan:Sam, you've talked very powerfully and eloquently about Iran. It would be remiss of me not to ask you one question at the end about your ex-wife. You were married to Britney Spears from June 2022 to August 2023 last week. as you know and we all know she was pulled over by California highway patrol officers and booked by the Ventura County Sheriff's Office before being released apparently it was a DUI case but we'll wait and see how that plays out but you know I had another of her ex-husbands Kevin Fedeline on my show recently saying he feared for her life there's a lot of concern about people around Brittany that she's spiraling out of control you know her better than most What do you feel about what's happening to her?

55:27Mehdi Hasan:I mean, coming from the country of Iran and seeing women being oppressed, that's something that stuck up to me. And that was a value that it carried my whole entire life. And, you know, in a way, not comparing the situation whatsoever, she was also oppressed by many people that took advantage of her and sort of had the same experience as women do in Iran. And that someone, as someone that's an advocate for women's rights and want freedom of speech and want freedom for everybody, it was hard to believe and hard to see that someone in America was being oppressed. So I have, you know, I admire her very well.

56:02Mehdi Hasan:I've seen what she struggles with. Even though we were married for one year, we were together for seven years. So my values for her, my respect for her always stands. And when we go back to history, if we look at TMZ and all the press that took this and sort of reported everything, that was something that didn't help her. So I'm a strong believer that she needs her privacy, and everybody makes mistakes. And if she made a mistake, I really think she's a strong woman and she could come back from this. But I think my word is for the press to stay away from this and to be able to allow her her privacy and allow her for a great recovery.

56:43Piers Morgan:Do you still talk to her, Sam?

56:48Mehdi Hasan:I always celebrate the past, you know, it's something that I like to celebrate and when things get done with, I always will appreciate it for the rest of my life and I wish her nothing but the best.

57:00Piers Morgan:I just wondered if after what happened, given she was in the news, is that a situation where you would call her?

57:09Mehdi Hasan:Say that again, Piers?

57:11Piers Morgan:I just wondered if you called her after she was in the news or whether you just don't have that kind of relationship anymore.

57:19Mehdi Hasan:In the past few months, I've really been focused on what was happening in Iran. And, you know, my people need me and I feel deeply responsible to focus on this. And I haven't been really focus on you know what was happening in pop culture and in celebrity news so I wasn't I wasn't too aware of it the first one to let me know was uh it was News Nation and Fox so that was uh something that was a sort of a surprise for me but it doesn't change anything I mean I'm always going to respect her and I'm always going to support her well-being and I truly believe that she can recover from this.

57:56Piers Morgan:Sam Asghari it's been a pleasure having you on our center thank you very Thank you very much.

58:01Mehdi Hasan:Thank you, Piers. Really appreciate it.

58:29Piers Morgan:without you.