June 17, 2025
The Israeli-Iranian War: How We Got Here & What It Means
Israel’s strikes against Iran’s military and nuclear infrastructure, as well as its key military and security leadership, shocked the world. How did we arrive here? What did the Israeli strikes accomplish? What options does Iran have? How did the Iranian-U.S. nuclear talks fail to forestall this? Will the United States become a party to the conflict? What about the Russian and Iraqi dimensions? Nicole Grajewski of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and Rachel Brandenburg, an adjunct senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security, joined Ryan to answer these questions and more.
Listen to the full episode on War on the Rocks.
More from CNAS
-
Transatlantic Security / Middle East Security
The Russia-Iran Partnership: A Geopolitical Balancing ActIt has been almost a year since Russia and Iran signed their comprehensive strategic partnership. That deal established a 20-year partnership between the two countries coverin...
By Andrea Kendall-Taylor & Jim Townsend
-
Transatlantic Security / Middle East Security / Energy, Economics & Security
Sanctions Aren’t Enough to Shut Down the Moscow-Tehran Black Market for WarThe geographic scope and extent of Iranian-Russian cooperation highlights the failure of traditional sanctions to prevent Moscow and Tehran from seeking key components like ch...
By Delaney Soliday
-
How a Peace Deal Between Hamas and Israel Will Reshape the Middle East
Rachel Brandenberg joins NPR to discuss how the region will change if Israel and Hamas continue to abide by the peace deal President Trump brokered. Listen to the interview o...
By Rachel Brandenburg
-
Donald Trump’s Gaza Plan Skips Step One
The White House proposal attempts to solve too many distinct issues all at once, without enough input from Palestinians....
By Delaney Soliday