Iran: What happens next?
The Briefing Room
BBC
4.8 • 731 Ratings
🗓️ 26 June 2025
⏱️ 29 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
President Trump says the conflict between Israel and Iran is over after 12 days. For the US and Israel the declared objective has been to destroy Iran’s capacity to make a nuclear bomb, with a side order of regime change if possible. They have damaged Iran’s capacity to build nuclear weapons but for how long? And what now is the objective for Iran? To rebuild their nuclear weapons programme? Or just for the regime to stay in power? David Aaronovitch and his guests discuss what's next for Iran.
Guests: Dr Patricia Lewis, arms control and nuclear physics expert Shashank Joshi, Defence Editor at The Economist, Dr Lina Khatib, Associate Fellow at the Middle East and North Africa Programme at Chatham House Professor Ali Ansari, founding director of the Institute of Iranian Studies at St Andrews University
Presenter: David Aaronovitch Producers: Caroline Bayley, Kirsteen Knight Sound Engineer: James Beard Production Co-ordinator: Maria Ogundele Editor: Richard Vadon
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, podcasts. |
| 0:08.8 | Israel bombed the Iranians. |
| 0:11.5 | The Iranians bombed the Israelis. |
| 0:14.4 | America wanted negotiations, but then also bombed the Iranians. |
| 0:18.7 | There was a ceasefire. |
| 0:20.1 | Then there wasn't. Le leading to this on Tuesday. |
| 0:23.7 | We basically have two countries that have been fighting so long and so hard that they don't |
| 0:29.6 | know what the fuck they're doing. Do you understand that? Then there was a ceasefire again. Iranian |
| 0:35.5 | airspace has just reopened. But what next? For the US and Israel, |
| 0:40.5 | the declared objective has been to destroy Iran's capacity to make a nuclear bomb with a side |
| 0:46.0 | order of regime change if possible. For Iran, the objective is now, well, what exactly? |
| 0:53.7 | To bide their time to punish the Americans and Israelis, |
| 0:57.0 | to rebuild their nuclear weapons program, |
| 0:59.9 | or just for the regime to stay in power? |
| 1:03.5 | Step into the briefing room and together we'll find out. |
| 1:18.0 | Donald Trump insists Iran's nuclear program has been set back decades by the US military strikes, |
| 1:23.1 | despite a leaked intelligence report casting doubt on the extent of that success. |
| 1:27.7 | But how far had Iran got with its nuclear program? |
| 1:33.8 | I'm joined by Dr Patricia Lewis, who's an arms control expert, with a background in nuclear physics. |
| 1:38.9 | Patricia Lewis, quite a few countries have got the nuclear bomb, |
| 1:41.9 | and we've been hearing for years about Iran getting the nuclear bomb. |
| 1:43.7 | So why hasn't it got one yet? Before the 1979 revolution, |
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