Where Is the Iran-Israel Conflict Headed?

The Political Scene | The New Yorker

WNYC Studios and The New Yorker

Politics, Obama, News, Wnyc, Washington, Barack, President, Lizza, Wickenden

4.2 • 3.3K Ratings

🗓️ 20 June 2025

⏱️ 40 minutes

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Summary

The Washington Roundtable discusses the escalating conflict between Israel and Iran, and the possibility that the United States will join the fray by bombing Iranian nuclear facilities. They are joined by Karim Sadjadpour, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and a longtime Iran expert. “What is going to drive events is not the national interest of the United States or the national interests of Iran, but this duel between these two men, Donald Trump and Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei,” Sadjapour says. “What I really fear is that both of these men feel like their honor is on the line.”

This week’s reading:
“Donald Trump’s No-Strategy Strategy on Iran,” by Isaac Chotiner
“The Trump Crackdown on Elected Officials,” by Jonathan Blitzer
“What Is Israel’s Endgame with Iran?” by Robin Wright
“The Military’s Birthday Parade Rolls Quietly Through Trump’s Washington,” by Antonia Hitchens
“After Attacking Iran, Israel Girds for What’s Next,” by Ruth Margalit
“Why Netanyahu Decided to Strike Iran Now,” by Isaac Chotiner
“President Trump’s Military Games,” by Ruth Marcus
“Is the Anti-Trump Opposition Getting Its #Resistance Back?” by Jon Allsop

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi, how are you guys? Nice to see you. Here we are. Good to see familiar faces. Oh, my God. I have to say it is haunting to be reading about this, having lived through the run-up to the war in Iraq, I have to tell you. Do you remember back in the first Trump term when everyone was like, well, you know, at least these are all crises of his own creation.
0:21.7	The idea of Donald Trump in a war, I think, is not something that we're all collectively
0:28.2	ready to process.
0:29.7	It's incredible how fast things have escalated and how irreversible it feels at this point.
0:38.8	Welcome to the political scene from The New Yorker, a weekly discussion about the big questions
0:44.1	in American politics.
0:45.7	I'm Susan Glasser, and of course, I'm joined by my colleagues, Jane Mayer, and Evan
0:50.6	Osnos.
0:51.7	Hi, Jane.
0:52.5	Hey, guys.
0:53.5	Hi, Evan. Good Hey, guys. Hi, Evan.
0:54.6	Good morning, guys.
0:57.7	We have been watching, along with the rest of the world, the rising conflict between Israel and Iran.
1:04.7	It's fair to say there have been many points in recent history when we've walked up to the brink of a moment like this.
1:10.7	But now, as Israel has unleashed its maximalist attack on Iran,
1:15.9	and Iran has struck back,
1:18.2	we've reached what seems like the threshold moment for the region
1:22.3	and for our own involvement in it.
1:25.5	Our guest today is a great expert on the region, a friend of this podcast,
1:29.8	who spent his own professional career closely watching these tensions play out in the Middle
1:34.4	East. We've relied on him for his expertise on Iran. We'll bring in Karim Saddipur in just a
1:40.2	moment, but first, let's timestamp this conversation. We are talking on Wednesday morning.
	...

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