meta_pixel
Tapesearch Logo
Log in
Fresh Air

Is the U.S. headed toward military conflict with Iran?

Fresh Air

NPR

Society & Culture, Arts, Tv & Film, Books

4.336.1K Ratings

🗓️ 26 February 2026

⏱️ 46 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

New York Times journalist David Sanger discusses how we got here, the state of Iran's nuclear weapons program, the likelihood of U.S. military force against Iran and if Trump's goal is regime change.

See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.

NPR Privacy Policy

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

Over the years at NPR's Fresh Air, we've gotten to talk with a lot of great filmmakers.

0:05.4

Now we've made a playlist of some of our favorites, including Martin Scorsese, Stephen Spielberg,

0:10.6

Ava DuVernay, Mel Brooks, Spike Lee, Werner Herzog, and others.

0:15.2

Find all our new playlists and more at Fresh Air Plus at plus.npr.org slash fresh air. This is fresh air. I'm Terry Gross.

0:25.6

President Trump has said he'll use military force against Iran unless its government agrees to

0:31.2

U.S. demands that Tehran shut down its nuclear program and pledges to never again pursue

0:36.9

creating a nuclear weapon.

0:39.1

As I record this this morning, negotiations are underway in Geneva between Iran's

0:44.5

foreign minister and Trump's special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Whitkoff, along with

0:50.1

Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, who doesn't have an official position within the

0:54.4

current administration. Are we headed toward a military conflict with Iran? If so, would it be

1:01.2

a limited series of airstrikes on select targets? Would the U.S. attempt regime change,

1:06.9

resulting in a larger war? My guest, David Sanger, can't answer those questions, but he can tell us

1:13.5

how we got to this precipice and what the consequences might be for the U.S. if the president

1:19.2

does use military force. Sanger is a White House and National Security correspondent for the New York

1:25.6

Times. For years, his coverage has included

1:28.4

Iran's nuclear program and U.S. and Israeli attempts to sabotage it. He's also the author of the

1:35.5

book New Cold Wars. Although I'm recording this introduction this morning, we recorded our

1:41.3

interview yesterday morning. We started with a clip of what President Trump said about Iran during his State of the Union

1:48.3

address Tuesday.

1:49.9

They've already developed missiles that can threaten Europe and our bases overseas, and they're

1:55.7

working to build missiles that will soon reach the United States of America.

...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from NPR, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of NPR and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.

Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.