886: Blackout
This American Life
This American Life
4.5 • 91.3K Ratings
🗓️ 3 May 2026
⏱️ 61 minutes
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Summary
Since the war began in Iran, we've heard very little from people inside the country — and there's a reason for that. The entire country has been under an internet blackout. We worked with reporters Roxana Saberi and Fatemeh Jamalpour to get voice memos out of the country. Even though it was dangerous and difficult, people wanted to be heard.
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- Prologue: Shirin's parents suddenly disappear into the blackout. (5 minutes)
- Act One: It’s a war and a blackout. People want to talk about both. (17 minutes)
- Act Two: What happened before America and Israel went to war with Iran. (9 minutes)
- Act Three: Iranians have many opinions about the war, and about each other. (12 minutes)
- Act Four: What happened inside Iran the night President Trump threatened that "a whole civilization could die." And a clue about where the internet blackout is headed. (19 minutes)
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | From WBEZ Chicago, it's This American Life. |
| 0:03.9 | I'm Khana Jafi Walt sitting in for Ira Glass. |
| 0:07.3 | When Shirin Jafari moved to the U.S. as a young adult, |
| 0:10.7 | there are a lot of promises made to her family back home. |
| 0:13.8 | We'll be in touch all the time, call you every week, almost like we're in the same town. |
| 0:18.4 | Which is the kind of thing you say. |
| 0:21.0 | But Sharin actually pulled this off for the last 20 years. |
| 0:25.6 | We are a close family. |
| 0:27.7 | We message several times a day. |
| 0:30.3 | We send each other real, like normal stuff. |
| 0:33.5 | I mean, I don't want to lose those details, those small details of their lives because I am so far away from them. |
| 0:45.1 | And they really get into the details, this family. |
| 0:48.6 | Who ate what? How far was the walk? |
| 0:51.0 | What's the latest with the dental work? |
| 0:52.8 | On the phone, by text, random thoughts tossed |
| 0:55.8 | out at any hour. Have you seen this pumpkin dessert? Unsolicited suggestions. I would send them |
| 1:02.4 | videos of exercises they can do at home. Like you worrying about them getting enough movement? |
| 1:09.3 | I would love them to, yeah, I would love, yes, I have been trying to get my mom to do more yoga and my dad to not sit all day. |
| 1:18.5 | How's that going? |
| 1:20.5 | Not great. |
| 1:22.0 | So just like a constant ongoing conversation with them. |
| 1:26.0 | Totally. |
... |
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