How can Iranians rebuild while crackdowns intensify?
The Take
Al Jazeera
4.7 • 748 Ratings
🗓️ 30 June 2025
⏱️ 22 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Israel’s bombs have stopped, but grief and fear linger in Iran. As families search the rubble for loved ones, authorities are intensifying crackdowns, branding activists and minorities as Israeli agents. How can Iranians rebuild under tighter repression?
In this episode:
- Alex Shams (@alexshams_), Editor-in-Chief of Ajam Media Collective
Episode credits:
This episode was produced by Chloe K. Li and Haleema Shah, with Phillip Lanos, Spencer Cline, Kisaa Zehra, Mariana Navarrete, and guest host, Manuel Rápalo. It was edited by Kylene Kiang and Noor Wazwaz.
The Take production team is Marcos Bartolomé, Sonia Bhagat, Sarí el-Khalili, Tamara Khandaker, Phillip Lanos, Chloe K. Li, Melanie Marich, Ashish Malhotra, Haleema Shah, Khaled Soltan, Amy Walters, and Noor Wazwaz. Our editorial interns are Remas Alhawari, Mariana Navarrete, and Kisaa Zehra. Our guest host is Manuel Rápalo. Our engagement producers are Adam Abou-Gad and Vienna Maglio. Aya Elmileik is lead of audience engagement.
Our sound designer is Alex Roldan. Our video editors are Hisham Abu Salah and Mohannad al-Melhem. Alexandra Locke is The Take’s executive producer. Ney Alvarez is Al Jazeera’s head of audio.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Al Jazeera Podcasts. |
| 0:07.0 | Today, as the bombing stops, a new crackdown in Iran begins. |
| 0:16.0 | We're seeing basically an intensification of the most repressive aspects of the government |
| 0:21.4 | that were already in place and now getting worse. |
| 0:25.1 | Iran's government is calling it a victory, but many Iranians are still mourning and now face |
| 0:30.0 | arrests, fear, and uncertainty. |
| 0:35.2 | I'm Manuel Rapalo, and this is the take. |
| 0:40.3 | As a ceasefire holds, Iranians are trying to rebuild their lives after nearly two weeks of fighting. |
| 0:51.3 | In those two weeks, Israel's attacks killed more than 600 people in Iran. |
| 0:57.7 | In the middle of the night, June the 13th, that we could something unusual is going on. |
| 1:03.7 | We could hear a airplane flying over the city with southern anti-craft shootings going on, |
| 1:08.0 | we turned on the phone satellites, when the students will invade Iran, surprisingly. |
| 1:12.6 | We couldn't believe this might be Israel alone to invade Iran on that scale. |
| 1:17.6 | And that might have been helped by United States or some other countries. |
| 1:21.6 | One Iranian citizen in Tehran spoke to us about his experience. |
| 1:26.6 | He asked to stay anonymous, |
| 1:29.1 | but said even as the ceasefire was announced, |
| 1:31.6 | he felt doubtful it would hold. |
| 1:34.7 | When ceasefire was announced by the American president, |
| 1:38.3 | immediately everybody started to think |
| 1:41.7 | what is going on. |
| 1:43.8 | We were skeptical, first of all, |
... |
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