Iran

The war entered a new phase when President Trump began a U.S. naval blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. Aaron David Miller of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace explains what this means.

Three weeks into the U.S. and Israel's war with Iran, it remains unclear how or when the conflict might end. When asked by a reporter on Sunday if he was ready to declare victory, President Trump responded, "no, I don't want to do that. There's no reason to."

New York Times journalist David Sanger discusses how we got here, the state of Iran's nuclear weapons program, the likelihood of U.S. military force against Iran and if Trump's goal is regime change.

In his new book, King of Kings, Scott Anderson chronicles the upheaval that deposed Iran's reigning monarch — and the blunders by American policymakers that played a key role in the outcome.

Iran expert Karim Sadjadpour discusses the war between Israel and Iran, potential fallout from U.S. airstrikes on Iran's nuclear sites, and how this may affect Tehran's authoritarian regime.

New Yorker journalist David Kirkpatrick says a government command hub has been tasked with tracking and protecting U.S. elections from foreign adversaries who seek to sow discord and foment violence.

The Economist Middle East correspondent Gregg Carlstrom explains why some Arab leaders hate Hamas, fear Iran and have some sympathy for Israel — although not for how Israel is waging the war.

New York Times correspondent David Sanger says that Iran and its proxies are posing new challenges: "We're seeing outbreaks of low-level but highly damaging conflict all over the region."

New York Times reporter Mark Mazzetti says prior to Oct. 7, Israel's leadership was focused on an attack by Iran and its proxies —not Hamas. "They were ... myopic about what the true threat was."

Maryam Keshavarz's new film is called The Persian Version. It’s a fiction film, inspired by Keshavarz’s life and her mother’s. Her parents immigrated to the U.S. in 1969. Keshavarz grew up in New Jersey. Like the character in the film, Keshavarz identifies as bisexual, which her parents considered taboo and unacceptable. About half of the Persian Version is the story of Layla’s mother, growing up in an Iranian country village, and being forced to marry her husband at age 13.

Iranian American scholar Pardis Mahdavi, who was once dragged out of a Tehran classroom by morality police while lecturing about her latest book, "On Iran's Sexual Revolution" joins Tonya Mosely to help shed light on the protests in Iran.