Will the U.S. bomb Iran?
Post Reports
The Washington Post
4.4 • 5.1K Ratings
🗓️ 18 June 2025
⏱️ 27 minutes
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Summary
Six days into the exchange of blows between Israel and Iran, President Donald Trump is weighing a direct attack on Iran.
The decision would have massive implications — entangling the United States in yet another foreign conflict that some members of Trump’s base say would be a betrayal of his “America First” campaign promise. Trump says he’s issued an “ultimatum” to Iran to dismantle its nuclear program.
How would American involvement in the Israel-Iran conflict further inflame hostilities in the region — and what could retaliation against the U.S. look like?
Host Elahe Izadi speaks with Pentagon reporter Dan Lamothe and investigative reporter Carol Leonnig about this pivotal moment for Trump, the United States and the world.
Today’s episode was produced by Laura Benshoff with help from Emma Talkoff. It was edited by Ariel Plotnick and Maggie Penman. It was mixed by Sean Carter.
Another story we’re following today: The Supreme Court has ruled that states can ban some gender transition treatments for minors. In December, when the court heard arguments in U.S. v. Skrmetti, Post Reports followed a family at the center of the case. Listen to that episode here.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | We're now in the sixth day of the Israel-Iran conflict, and there is one question everyone |
| 0:08.0 | watching this is asking. |
| 0:10.5 | What will the United States do? |
| 0:13.4 | President Donald Trump is weighing whether to directly bomb Iran. |
| 0:17.6 | Here he is talking today to reporters. |
| 0:19.5 | I may do it. |
| 0:20.5 | I may not do it. I mean, nobody knows what I'm going to do. I can tell you this, |
| 0:23.6 | that Iran's got a lot of trouble, and they want to negotiate. |
| 0:31.4 | Meanwhile, Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khomeini said Iran does not bear Trump's threats |
| 0:37.3 | and, quote, absurd rhetoric. |
| 0:39.6 | He vowed that Iran will not surrender as Trump has demanded and that U.S. military intervention |
| 0:44.8 | would bring, quote, irreparable damage. So where does this go from here? And how many people |
| 0:52.3 | could get caught in the crossfire. |
| 0:56.9 | From the newsroom of the Washington Post, this is Post reports. |
| 1:01.0 | I'm Elahe Izadhi. It's Wednesday, June 18th. |
| 1:05.0 | I'm joined today by the Post's military affairs reporter Dan Lamoth. Hi, Dan. |
| 1:09.6 | How you doing? |
| 1:10.4 | We're also joined by Post investigative reporter Carol Lennig. Hi, Dan. How you doing? We're also joined by post-investigative |
| 1:12.5 | reporter Carol Lennig. Hi, Carol. Great to be here. So it was a tense night here in Washington |
| 1:22.4 | as we were all watching whether the U.S. would bomb Iran as part of the ongoing conflict between Iran and |
| 1:29.3 | Israel. So today, I'm going to talk with Dan and Carol about the questions the Trump administration |
| 1:35.2 | is weighing right now and how a potential U.S. military intervention could divide President Donald |
... |
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