Zanna Anderson
Managing Editor
On Sept. 23 at 7 p.m., College of Wooster students, faculty and staff gathered for the inaugural Pizza and Politics lecture series, co-sponsored by the political science (PSCI), global & international studies (GLIS), urban studies (URBN), and Middle East & North African studies (MENA) departments. Almost every seat in the Ruth Williams classroom was filled. The topic of this particular lecture was “War and Its Consequences: Iran, the U.S., Israel, and the Region,” which featured the following speakers: Matthew Krain (PSCI & GLIS), Hamed Goharipour (URBN & MENA) and Erum Haider (PSCI & ENVS). Pizza, dessert and beverages were also provided on behalf of the political science department and the Roy W. Adams Endowment Fund.
Krain began the presentation with an overview of the historical context of Iranian, American and Israeli relations. He explained how U.S. involvement in the 1953 coup that deposed Prime Minister Mossadegh and reinstated the Shah laid the groundwork for the 1979 Islamic Revolution. The U.S. later supported Iraq in the Iraq-Iran war. From these experiences, Iran developed a worldview based on anarchy, self-help, mistrust of foreign powers, maximizing security/power and resisting external limits on its power.
Moving on to the current conflict, in 2025 and 2026, the U.S. and Israel launched attacks on Iran, which resulted in the 12-Day War. The U.S.’s and Israel’s goal for this attack was to target nuclear facilities, military hardware and leadership. In retaliation, Iran attacked U.S. military bases in neighboring countries, which had massive geopolitical ripples. In essence, gulf states realized that hosting a U.S. military base on their soil was no longer a deterrent against foreign attacks. These attacks were expensive for the U.S. to recover from and also contributed to the lack of American support for the war.
This conflict has also had significant effects on the global political economy, particularly because of the highly interdependent state of the world. Global fuel price spikes have been the most prominent example of Iran’s weaponized interdependence, as restriction of the Strait of Hormuz acts as a chokepoint for much of the world’s fossil fuel supply. The U.S. tried to retaliate against this leverage by restricting Iran’s access to the U.S. dollar for fossil fuel transactions. Iran did not yield to this pressure for the U.S. and ended up switching from the USD system to the Chinese Yuan (RMB).
Next to speak was Goharipour, who focused on the Iranian perspective of the conflict. Goharipour described how Iran was devastated by the 1980 invasion so the government began investing heavily in self-reliant capabilities (missiles, nuclear tech, drones) and strategic depth via regional allies (Hezbollah in Lebanon, AnsarAllah in Yemen, allied groups in Iraq).
This intense spending weakened the power of the Iranian rial which ultimately led to the first wave of domestic dissent. In 2019, there were widespread protests regarding the economic state of Iran. A later wave included the “Woman, Life, Freedom” protests from 2022 to 2023, which were met with violent repression by Iran. The economic protest would later resurge on January 18 and 19 of 2026, which resulted in internet blackouts and conflicting casualty reports that range from 3,000 to 30,000 depending on the source.
Goharipour also explained the current state of Iran’s military and geographical constraints. Iran maintains over 100 underground “missile cities” that protect core networks despite surface entrance strikes. Recovery from enemy strikes does not take hours but days. Iran’s mountains are also obstacles to enemies, as the difficult topography slows military progress and drives up operational costs.
In the end, the current options for next steps in the conflict appear to be de-escalation (seen as an Iranian strategic victory), further escalation (risking major energy shocks) or a prolonged stalemate.
Next to present was Haider, who first highlighted the human cost of the conflict and how this has affected state legitimacy and moral authority. The Iranian regime’s longstanding autocratic repression (especially against women-led protests since 2019) eroded its moral standing. On the other hand, the American missile strike on Shajareh Tayyebeh girls’ elementary school –– which killed 148 people, most of whom were children –– has also degraded the authority of the U.S. on the global stage.
Haider also focused on the impact of the conflict on Iran’s regional neighbors, mainly Pakistan. Lacking domestic reserves and dependent on imported LNG (99% from Qatar and UAE), Pakistan suffered severe economic disruption from soaring oil prices. This resulted in the closing of schools and markets in March 2026 due to transit costs. Pakistan has long occupied an interesting position in Middle East-U.S. relations, as the country has sought a gas pipeline from Iran for a long time but has been blocked by U.S. interference.
As such, Pakistan took on the role of mediator between the U.S. and Iran while publicly flattering Donald Trump, crediting him with resolving a 2025 conflict with India and nominating him for a Nobel Peace Prize. This has also helped Pakistan curry favor with the U.S. to limit Trump’s attacks towards the country in terms of entry conditions. Much of this political importance may have just been the result of being in the right place at the right time, according to Haider.
The diversity of speaker specialities in the lecture appears to have been received positively by students in attendance.
“I think different kinds of perspectives are always valued in discussions like this, so that was very refreshing and good to see, but also really depressing,” said Suemin Hong ’27.
James Marquis ’28 also spoke about what he thought about the talk, stating, “I like that there was a focus on the human toll this is taking on people, and that the U.S.’s decisions don’t just impact the U.S., but everyone, and that the scope of these decisions and their implications are wide-reaching.”