Escalation in the War with Iran

Fareed Zakaria GPS

CNN

News

4.2 • 3.1K Ratings

🗓️ 5 April 2026

⏱️ 41 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Today on the show, the war with Iran shows no signs of slowing. President Trump took to Truth Social to threaten Iran into opening the Strait of Hormuz. This came after the successful conclusion of a high-stakes mission to rescue a stranded airman from an F-15 jet Iran shot down Friday. Fareed speaks with Richard Haass, president emeritus of the Council on Foreign Relations, and Zanny Minton Beddoes, editor-in-chief of The Economist, about the recent developments and where the war might go from here. Then, many of the Iranian regime’s top leaders have been killed since the start of the war. Fareed is joined by the International Crisis Group’s Ali Vaez to discuss what Iran’s current leaders might be thinking, and if they are more likely than before to pursue a nuclear bomb. Finally, in the minds of many, the Islamic Revolution of 1979 dominates Iranian history. But the British-Iranian historian Ali Ansari tells Fareed that you must look further back to truly understand one of the world's oldest civilizations. GUESTS: Zanny Minton-Beddoes (@zannymb), Richard Haass (@RichardHaass), Ali Vaez (@AliVaez), Ali Ansari (@aa51_ansari) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	This is the global public.
0:04.0	Welcome to all of you in the United States and around the world.
0:07.0	I'm Farid Zakaria, coming to you live.
0:10.0	Today on the program, in a prime time address to the nation this week,
0:15.0	President Trump said the war was nearing completion,
0:19.0	but threatened to bring Iran back to the stone ages where they belong.
0:24.8	He scolded allies for inaction and said Americans would soon be free of Iran's nuclear blackmail.
0:32.8	What should the world make of this messaging and what is the path out of the conflict?
0:38.3	I'll talk to Richard Haas, Zanyminton Beddows and Aliwai's
0:43.3	about Trump's speech and all that has unfolded since.
0:47.3	Plus, Trump repeatedly said Iran had been a threat for 47 years. We'll talk to a British Iranian
0:56.4	historian about why Iran's history can help us understand what is happening today.
1:05.1	But first, here's my take. Well into the second month of the U.S.-Israeli war, it is worth taking stock of where
1:12.9	things stand. Here's what things look like in Iran and its neighborhood before the war began
1:18.3	in late February. In June 2025, Iran's nuclear enrichment facilities had been, in President
1:24.6	Trump's words, completely and totally obliterated by a 12-day bombing campaign
1:30.3	by U.S. and Israeli forces using American stealth bombers and 30,000-pound bunker-busting bombs.
1:37.3	The head of Israel's defense forces agreed with Trump, saying,
1:41.3	we have set Iran's nuclear project backed by years, and the same goes for its
1:45.9	missile program. That conclusion was reiterated by Israel's Atomic Energy Commission, which added
1:52.7	that the achievement can continue indefinitely as long as Iran did not get access to nuclear
1:59.4	materials and that access was actively being denied.
	...

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