Iran’s fight for survival / The widening war / Trump’s nebulous goals
Sources & Methods
NPR
4.9 • 919 Ratings
🗓️ 5 March 2026
⏱️ 28 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Host Mary Louise Kelly talks with International Correspondent Aya Batrawy, based in Dubai, and Pentagon correspondent Tom Bowman, about the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran. Six days of war have turned the middle east upside down, and it's still not clear how the U.S. will determine when its objectives have been accomplished.
Recommended Iran reading:
Blackwave by Kim Ghattas
All the Shah’s Men by Stephen Kinzer
Prisoner by Jason Rezaian
Persian Mirrors by Elaine Sciolino
Listener spy novel recommendation:
Pariah by Dan Fesperman
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | LifeKit can help you change your life in record time. In just about 20 minutes, a Life Kit episode gives you evidence-based tips you can put into practice that day. No fast forwarding to get to the good stuff. Just smart, straightforward advice right away. Listen to the Life Kit podcast in the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts. |
| 0:22.2 | You know, there's real concern about water desalination plants, electricity grids, and also e-banking. |
| 0:28.4 | Because if any of those are hit, this place will come to a complete standstill. |
| 0:34.5 | The Supreme Leader of Iran targeted and killed. |
| 0:38.8 | Gulf Allies under attack, global energy markets disrupted. |
| 0:43.3 | The U.S. Israeli war with Iran is spilling out across the region. |
| 0:47.9 | What are the goals? And how does it end? |
| 0:50.9 | This is sources and methods from NPR. |
| 0:56.4 | I'm Mary Louise Kelly. |
| 0:58.0 | In case you are new here, welcome. |
| 1:00.5 | Our name, Sources and Methods, is a term you may know from the intelligence community. |
| 1:05.0 | It speaks to how we know, what we know. |
| 1:07.4 | And you will hear us, walk through that every Thursday, |
| 1:10.2 | as I discuss the week's |
| 1:11.8 | biggest national security stories with the NPR reporters out and about in the newsroom and |
| 1:17.2 | around the world. This week, all eyes, of course, are on Iran, where six days of war are turning |
| 1:24.6 | the Middle East upside down. Joining me this week, Aibatrawe, reporting from her base in Dubai, a city that has been |
| 1:32.0 | literally in the line of fire this last week. |
| 1:34.4 | Hey, Aya. |
| 1:34.9 | Hi. |
| 1:35.4 | And NPR Pentagon correspondent Tom Bowman, covering the war from Washington and sitting right |
| 1:40.3 | across from me. |
... |
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