Hi, I'm Ravi Agrawal, Foreign Policy's Editor-in-Chief.

This is FP Live.

Iran and Israel are locked in a fierce and prolonged fight.

Last Friday, Israel launched a surprise coordinated attack on military and nuclear targets in Iran. It's safe to say

that Tehran was shocked. There had been some suggestions that Israel might attack, but Iran saw

those mostly as threats, a negotiating tactic, especially since nuclear talks between Washington

and Tehran were still underway.

And then over the weekend and into this week, Iran began to fight back with what it can,

shooting ballistic missiles towards Israel and also sending in hundreds of armed drones.

Israel, meanwhile, is continuing to attack key targets across Iran. This is a

really serious conflict, and there are real concerns it could escalate, even to the broader

region. Now, Israel says it took action on Friday because it had intelligence that the Iran

was closing in on nuclear weapons.

We don't yet have proof of that claim, but we do know that Israel can't easily end Iran's

nuclear ambitions. Iran's main nuclear facility in Fordow is deep underground and attacking

it would take massive bunker busters that only the United

States could help with.

So where is this all headed?

How does it end?

And what does it mean for the Middle East?

I wanted to speak this week with someone who really understands Iran and its motivations.

Vali Nasser is the author of a new book called Iran's Grand Strategy, A Political History.

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