The University of Montana's Dr. Mehrdad Kia has long talked about the terrorist regime controlling Iran as a "paper tiger." With Israel in charge of the skies, and the people in Tehran fleeing the city- is that now on full display?

The University of Montana's Dr. Mehrdad Kia is not only Montana's leading expert on the Middle East, he is one of our nation's finest experts as well. Dr. Kia grew up in Tehran and fled just before the radical Islamists took over.

Just over one month ago, we talked with Dr. Kia about the strategic importance of President Trump's trip to the Middle East, and how he was boxing out Iran, Russia, and China. Now look at what is taking place in Iran: Israel controls their airspace, the ayatollah is hiding in a bunker, the people of Tehran are listening to President Trump when he tells them to flee the city- and China and Russia appear to be staying out of it (by and large).

Dr. Kia: "That's actually a Persian joke that all the airports are closed and all the flights are canceled, but you can still fly the Israeli Airlines. So, which tells you something about how the people of Iran think about their own government and how incompetent it is. I think lot of this huff and puff about the threat from Iran to regional stability if they are confronted was basically coming from Washington and those who wanted to somehow bribe and provide financial contributions to the Iranian regime under the name of somehow finding a peaceful compromise...I have been saying for years now that first of all, the Iranian regime, or much of it I should say, is a paper tiger, that you know, all these missiles and all this military capability and even the nuclear program, is basically a defensive posture to prevent any action by United States and its allies, especially Israel, to get rid of the government. It is also a strategy to psychologically defeat their own people and to create enough fear and terror that people would say they are too overwhelming of a power to be challenged."

It was an incredible conversation with Dr. Kia all around. I especially enjoyed when he talked about being a kid in school in Iran and how he had fellow students who were Israelis and they were all friends...before the terrorists took over of course.

Here's the full chat with Dr. Kia from Wednesday: