You're listening to the political scene.

I'm David Remnick.

Early each week, we bring you a conversation from our episode of The New Yorker Radio Hour.

This is The New Yorker Radio Hour, a co-production of WNYC Studios and The New Yorker.

Welcome to the New Yorker Radio Hour. I'm David Remnick. Last week, Donald Trump launched a war

against Iran. And in the days that followed, the administration's rationale has shifted

on a nearly daily basis. Talking with one reporter after followed, the administration's rationale has shifted on a nearly daily basis.

Talking with one reporter after another, the president and its advisors as well

seem to road test ideas and potential outcomes in public, frequently contradicting one another.

The administration seems to want things both ways or all ways.

Pete Hexeth scoffs at nation building, calling that concept dumb.

No more endless wars, he says.

And yet Donald Trump apparently wants regime change, an entirely new government in Iran,

and he won't rule out boots on the ground. J.D. Vance says Trump won't

allow a long war, while Trump himself muses that we have enough weapons to fight forever.

There's a very familiar and ominous ring to all of this. To understand where this war may lead,

for Iran, for the Middle East, and for the United States,

I called on two of my colleagues with decades of experience covering the region.

Dexter Filkins has reported from all over the Middle East and much of the world,

and his best-selling book, The Forever War, is a defining history of our campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Robin Wright has reported from Iran extensively over the years, and she even met with

Ali Khomeini before he became the supreme leader of Iran.

...