Major funding for backstories provided by an anonymous donor, the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Joseph and Robert Cornell Memorial Foundation.

From Virginia Humanities, this is Backstory.

Welcome to Backstory, the show that explains the history behind the headlines. I'm Brian Ballot.

If you're new to the podcast, my colleagues, Ed Ayers, Joanne Freeman, Nathan Conway and myself are all historians and each week we explore the history of a topic that's been in the news.

And as for this week, there's been one topic in particular that has dominated the headlines. Iran.

Breaking news tonight, the shock waves from the US strike in Iraq that killed Iran's top commander, President Trump accusing Iran of planning imminent attacks on American diplomats and service members.

In Iran's parliament, chance of death to America to run, vowing swift revenge on American soil and announcing they will no longer abide by the uranium enrichment limits in the 2015 nuclear deal, a move which could put Iran on course to accumulate enough fuel for an atomic bomb.

By now, you probably know the timeline of what happened during this rocky and tense week.

Last weekend, an American airstrike killed Iranian general Qasam Soleimani at the direction of President Trump.

Iran vowed to retaliate and launched more than a dozen missiles at two military bases in Iraq, housing American troops.

In response to the attack, President Trump addressed the nation on Wednesday and said the US will impose new economic sanctions on Iran.

The fact that we have this great military and equipment, however, does not mean we have to use it. We do not want to use it.

American strength, both military and economic, is the best deterrent.

So what comes next? Is this the end of the skirmish? Or is it only the beginning?

A lot of people were worried that the United States would respond very harshly to any kind of counterattack by Iran.

But Iran by really striking these bases in a fashion that left no casualties, I think provided Trump with the off ramp to call it a draw.

Hosein Benay is a professor at Indiana University's Hamilton-Lugger School of Global and International Studies.

He's also an author of Becoming Enemies, US-Iran relations and the Iran-Irak War, 1979 through 1988.

And just a note, we recorded this episode on Wednesday and Thursday, but this continues to be a developing story.

Hosein Benay says this wasn't the first time the United States considered targeting General Sulimani.

The previous two administrations, the Obama administration and the George W. Bush administration had each had their chance at taking him out,

and they decided that the political consequences of that would not be worth it.

...