The REAL reason the US can’t beat Iran

- [Johnny] When you think of Iran, you probably think of this. (intense music) - [Newsreader] At least 65 people have been killed in demonstrations that began in Tehran almost two weeks ago.

- [Newsreader] Some 60 Americans bound and blindfolded are now beginning their sixth day of captivity inside the U.S. Embassy in Tehran.

- [Newsreader] So far, more than 3,000 people have been killed according to the World Health Organization.

- [Johnny] Today, our perception of Iran is dominated by the regime that has controlled it for almost 15 years.

(protestors chant in foreign language) I want to show you a different Iran, the Iran that existed long before this regime.

I want to show you what led up to it. Because understanding that Iran is key to understanding how we got this brutal religious regime and how it has survived for so long.

You might think that the story of modern Iran is going to be about religion, but in fact, the story I'm about to tell you is about power and fear.

Because for most of its history, Iran was a superpower, an advanced civilization ruling over huge swaths of land that today we call the Middle East and Central Asia.

- [Pundit] They have been culturally, militarily, politically at the center of things for a very long time.

- Oh, and this was starting like over 2,000 years ago. But empires rise and fall and this empire eventually was in decline, which gets us to our story, which starts here.

(serious music) This moment, the year 1800, Iran is ruled by a family dynasty called the Qajars and they find themselves in between two big empires, both of them expanding pretty quickly.

If you look at these empires' old maps, you'll see that both of them called this place Persia. That's what outsiders called Iran.