On Monday, an Iranian state newscaster was in the middle of a broadcast, when her coverage was interrupted.

By a blast.

It was just one in a series of dramatic moments over the past five days,

as Israel has escalated its attacks on Iran.

Our colleague Sunna Engel Rasmussen has been covering the conflict.

Sunna, what do we know about Israel's objective here?

Publicly Israel and Israel's Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, have said that they want to cripple Iran's nuclear program.

Moments ago, Israel launched Operation Rising Line,

a targeted military operation

to roll back the Iranian threat to Israel's very survival.

But if you talk to Iranians and if you see the nature of the war

unfolding in Iran currently, I think there's definitely signs that regime change is on the table, at least.

If you're targeting the state media of a country, that to me looks more like regime change than it does targeting a nuclear program.

How perilous do things look for Iran right now?

This is the most serious situation that the Islamic Republic has been in since the late 80s.

I don't think there's any doubt about that.

I think the question now is whether the Islamic Republic, the whole system that has been in power since 1979,

survives this war.

Welcome to the Journal,

our show about money, business,

and power. I'm Annie Minoff.

It's Tuesday, June 17th.

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