This Week Those Books is chock-full of crucial context — from fiction and non-fiction — to the shouty, doomscroll news cycle.
What you need to know about Iran
EXTRA POST REUSING THREE BOOKS: A 1970s satire. Imperial forces. Recent events
Screenshot of Iranian Professor Seyed Mohammad Marandi’s X video post, claiming that 24 girls were killed by the US-Israel strikes at an elementary school in Minab city
The Big Story:
After months of threats, Trump’s America is dropping bombs on Iran and calling for the overthrow of its government.¹
- Israel joined with the US to strike Iran, saying it’s a “pre-emptive attack” but this is a dubious justification under international law.²
- Iran has vowed “crushing retaliation” and fired waves of missiles at Israel and US bases in Qatar, Bahrain and the UAE.
- Oil prices, already 20% higher this year, may rise further.
- Iraq’s prime minister condemned the “unjustified attack” on Iran and warned that the entire region was at risk of “sliding into unpredictable consequences”.
The Back Story:
- The US-Israel operation is the most significant attempt to overthrow Iran’s Islamic regime since the 1979 revolution that redrew the political map of the Middle East.
- The attack marks Trump’s new imperialist streak. In January, he ousted Venezuela’s president Nicolas Maduro; on Christmas day, he launched strikes on Nigeria and in June 2025, he conducted air US strikes against Iranian nuclear facilities at Natanz, Fordow and Isfahan. Trump has made repeated threats to take over Greenland.
- Imperial powers have meddled in Iran’s affairs for centuries
