A major turning point in the Israel-Iran conflict
Post Reports
The Washington Post
4.4 • 5.1K Ratings
🗓️ 17 June 2025
⏱️ 24 minutes
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Summary
Israel launched attacks on Iran last week. Iran quickly retaliated. The fighting has left many feeling both fearful and hopeful. Now, it is unclear whether this escalation in a long-simmering conflict could turn into a wider war.
Elahe Izadi speaks with Post reporter Yeganeh Torbati about why Israel chose this moment to launch strikes against Iran, whether Iran’s government could fall, and whether the U.S. and President Donald Trump will get involved.
Today’s show was produced by Peter Bresnan. It was edited by Lucy Perkins and mixed by Sam Bair.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | On Friday, Israel launched direct strikes on Iran. These strikes killed top officials and hit military bases in some nuclear-related sites. Post-reporter Yegane Torbati has been covering Iran for years. So after these strikes, she immediately reached out to sources inside Iran to understand how people were feeling. |
| 0:23.6 | She spoke to a man named Merdade. He lives in Bandarabas in southern Iran, and we're only using his first name to protect him from government reprisal. |
| 0:32.6 | Mardad told her he was so tired of living under the Iranian government's repression and mismanagement |
| 0:39.6 | that he initially welcomed these attacks. |
| 0:43.2 | So he's saying there that he has not been as deeply I'm, I'm, I'm, my family. |
| 0:55.0 | So he's saying there that he has not been as deeply happy as he is now |
| 1:00.0 | in more than 10 years when he woke up and saw the news. |
| 1:04.0 | He felt joy and so did his family. |
| 1:08.0 | And we don't have any harassing |
| 1:10.0 | and we know if, even if a grand grand his family. And he's saying there's |
| 1:11.4 | even if we're |
| 1:13.2 | even if we get |
| 1:13.8 | a lot of |
| 1:14.8 | the people who are |
| 1:16.2 | but also from |
| 1:17.9 | the way that |
| 1:19.0 | in the way of this |
| 1:20.5 | government |
| 1:20.9 | is better. |
| 1:22.3 | And he's saying |
| 1:22.8 | there that we don't have |
| 1:24.1 | any fear and we know |
... |
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