What's Next for the Middle East: War, Peace, or Revolution?

Plain English with Derek Thompson

The Ringer

News Commentary, News

4.8 • 1.8K Ratings

🗓️ 25 June 2025

⏱️ 46 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Sign up for Derek Thompson's Substack here! Donald Trump rose to power in the Republican Party as a critic of the neoconservative tradition and was opposed to war in the Middle East. But after weeks of Israel’s aerial attacks of Iran, Trump shocked the world with targeted strikes of several Iranian nuclear facilities, including Natanz and Fordo. Suddenly, it seemed like President Trump was getting the U.S. involved in another Middle East conflict. And then, just as suddenly, he declared a ceasefire. (Which was immediately violated, and then agreed on, and perhaps re-violated by the time you read these words.) There are several questions to ask here. How did Trump, noted enemy of international entanglement, become the first U.S. president to ever bomb Iran? What is the U.S. trying to accomplish here? Is regime change in Iran something to hope for or a fast track to chaos? Ray Takeyh is an Iranian-born scholar and researcher at the Council on Foreign Relations. We talk about what just happened, how we got here, and the ways it could play out. If you have questions, observations, or ideas for future episodes, email us at [email protected]. Host: Derek Thompson Guest: Ray Takeyh Producer: Devon Baroldi Links: "The Right Path to Regime Change in Iran" by Ray Takeyh Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Folks, it's Jay Kyle Mann from The Ringer, and as always, basketball is so freaking, freaking good.
0:07.5	It's so good, in fact, that the Ringer's NBA draft show is finally back just in time for a ramp up to June.
0:13.5	We've got you covered every week as we take an in-depth look at who's got next for the NBA's future.
0:19.1	We'll talk the rising and falling stocks of the best and the brightest prospects in the 2025 NBA draft class.
0:25.8	From Cooper flag to Dylan Harper to Vijay Edgecom and more. Tap in with me on the Ringer MBA draft show every Wednesday and make sure that you follow, subscribe and hit us with those five-star ratings.
0:39.0	With HubSpots Built in AI, you can get more done than ever before.
0:43.1	Breeze agents help you do things in seconds that used to take hours.
0:46.3	And Breeze co-pilot keeps you two steps ahead, giving you the right insights at the right time.
0:50.9	Get started today at HubSpot.com forward slash AI.
0:55.6	With HubSpot's built-in AI, you can get more done than ever before. Breeze agents help you do things in seconds that
1:00.1	used to take hours. And Breeze co-pilot keeps you two steps ahead, giving you the right insights
1:04.7	at the right time. Get started today at HubSpot.com forward slash AI. Hello again, a reminder that this week I've moved my writing
1:13.3	from the Atlantic to Substack. You can sign up for my newsletter at Derek Thompson.substack.com.
1:21.2	Tons of free articles, interviews, including a transcript of our latest phone call with
1:25.7	Zoran Mamdani, the Democratic Socialist candidate
1:28.4	from mayor of New York City. If you like plain English and you also like to read, I think
1:33.2	you will like this product. Check out derrickthomson.com. Today, a very strange war with Iran.
1:45.9	One thing you can say objectively about Donald Trump is that the news he makes is often
1:51.4	quite rapidly unmade by subsequent events.
1:54.3	He'll declare a tariff on Monday that's gone by Tuesday.
1:57.5	He'll announce a policy on Wednesday that's overturned by Friday.
2:00.8	He'll announce an initiative on Friday that will die from neglect by Monday.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

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

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