A War Correspondent on the Crisis in Iran

The Next Big Idea

Next Big Idea Club

Education, Social Sciences, Science, Society & Culture

4.4 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 9 March 2026

⏱️ 43 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

As the war with Iran enters its second week, two big questions loom: How did we get here? And how will it end? We put those questions to Scott Anderson. Scott is a veteran war correspondent who has reported from Israel, Lebanon, Egypt, Bosnia, Northern Ireland, Sudan, and El Salvador. He’s also the author of King of Kings, a riveting account of the 1979 Iranian Revolution. He helps us unpack the long, complicated history between the US and Iran — countries that were once close allies — and looks ahead at what may come next. "In the Middle East," he says, "things can always get worse." Sponsored By: Bitdefender — Get 30% off your plan at ⁠bitdefender.com/idea⁠ Fabric — Join the thousands of parents who trust Fabric to help protect their family at ⁠meetfabric.com/nbi⁠ Factor — Head to ⁠⁠factormeals.com/idea50off⁠⁠ and use code idea50off to get 50% off your first box Granola — Get three months free at ⁠granola.ai/idea⁠ Shopify — Start your $1/month trial at ⁠⁠⁠⁠shopify.com/nbi⁠⁠⁠⁠

Transcript

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0:00.0	Today's episode of The Next Big Idea is sponsored by Shopify Fabric Granola and Factor.
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0:08.8	Sign up for your $1 per month trial today at Shopify.com slash NBI.
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0:18.3	Apply in just minutes at meetfabric.com slash NBI.
0:22.6	Eat like a pro this month with Factor.
0:24.6	Head to FactorMeals.com slash Idea 50 off and use code Idea 50 off to get 50% off and free breakfast for a year.
0:34.9	Granola, the AI notepad that helps you get the doing done.
0:38.2	Get three months free at granola.a.ai's idea.
0:41.9	I'm Caleb Bissinger, and this is the next big idea.
0:45.8	On February 28th, the United States and Israel attacked Iran.
0:50.3	A short time ago, the United States military began major combat operations in Iran.
0:59.6	The administration has offered various explanations for the timing and necessity of this war.
1:05.0	Here's Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
1:07.7	We knew that there was going to be an Israeli action. We knew that that would precipitate an attack against American forces.
1:12.6	And we knew that if we didn't preemptively go after them before they launched those attacks,
1:17.6	we would suffer higher casualties and perhaps even higher those killed.
1:21.6	The next day, President Trump contradicted that explanation.
1:24.6	Mr. President, did Israel force your hand to launch these strikes against Iran?
1:29.7	Did Netanyahu pull the United States into this war?
1:32.3	No, I might have forced their hands. You see, we were having negotiations with these lunatics,
1:39.0	and it was my opinion that they were going to attack first. They were going to attack if we didn't
	...

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