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Connections
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Connections

Iran's chances for a democratic future

By Evan Dawson,
Megan Mack, Julie Williams
Published April 8, 2026 at 5:08 PM EDT
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George Yeadon
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WXXI News
Valery Perry with host Evan Dawson on "Connections with Evan Dawson" on Wednesday, April 8, 2026
WXXI News

The Trump administration has said it wants to see a new democratic government in Iran.

Our guest is a senior associate with the Democratization Policy Council, based in Eastern Europe. The council works on issues related to democratic movements around the world.

What does it say about the war in Iran? And what does American involvement mean for its global reputation, its relationship with NATO, and more?

We discuss it with our guest:

Connections
Evan Dawson
Evan Dawson is the host of "Connections with Evan Dawson." He joined WXXI in January 2014 after working at 13WHAM-TV, where he served as morning news anchor. He was hired as a reporter for 13WHAM-TV in 2003 before being promoted to anchor in 2007.<br/><br/>Reach him at <a href="mailto:edawson@wxxi.org" target="_blank" link-data="{&quot;cms.site.owner&quot;:{&quot;_ref&quot;:&quot;0000017a-9b5e-d1df-a7fa-dfffdd1f0000&quot;,&quot;_type&quot;:&quot;ae3387cc-b875-31b7-b82d-63fd8d758c20&quot;},&quot;cms.content.publishDate&quot;:1775161543623,&quot;cms.content.publishUser&quot;:{&quot;_ref&quot;:&quot;0000017c-9927-dcdf-a97d-db2792350000&quot;,&quot;_type&quot;:&quot;6aa69ae1-35be-30dc-87e9-410da9e1cdcc&quot;},&quot;cms.content.updateDate&quot;:1775161543623,&quot;cms.content.updateUser&quot;:{&quot;_ref&quot;:&quot;0000017c-9927-dcdf-a97d-db2792350000&quot;,&quot;_type&quot;:&quot;6aa69ae1-35be-30dc-87e9-410da9e1cdcc&quot;},&quot;cms.directory.paths&quot;:[],&quot;anchorable.showAnchor&quot;:false,&quot;link&quot;:{&quot;cms.directory.paths&quot;:[],&quot;attributes&quot;:[],&quot;linkText&quot;:&quot;edawsonwxxi.org&quot;,&quot;target&quot;:&quot;NEW&quot;,&quot;attachSourceUrl&quot;:false,&quot;url&quot;:&quot;mailto:edawson@wxxi.org&quot;,&quot;_id&quot;:&quot;0000019d-4fdc-dfd5-a3bd-fffd03b40000&quot;,&quot;_type&quot;:&quot;ff658216-e70f-39d0-b660-bdfe57a5599a&quot;},&quot;_id&quot;:&quot;0000019d-4fdc-dfd5-a3bd-fffd03b40001&quot;,&quot;_type&quot;:&quot;809caec9-30e2-3666-8b71-b32ddbffc288&quot;}">edawson@wxxi.org</a>.
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Megan Mack
Megan Mack is the executive producer of "Connections with Evan Dawson" and live/televised engagement programming.

Reach her at mmack@wxxi.org.
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Julie Williams
Julie Williams is an associate producer for "Connections with Evan Dawson." She started at WXXI in 2019 and has been working on Connections since 2022.
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