What are the wider repercussions of the U.S. bombing of Iran's nuclear sites?

On Saturday night, President Donald Trump made a stunning announcement. A short time ago, the U.S. military carried out massive precision strikes on the three key nuclear facilities in the Iranian regime. The U.S. joined Israel's war on Iran and bombed three of the country's nuclear sites, including Fordow, located deep inside a mountain. The strikes were a spectacular military success.

Iran's key nuclear enrichment facilities have been completely and totally obliterated. Trump then urged Iran to seek peace. Iran the bully of the Middle East While cautioning that the U.S. has more firepower at its disposal. There will be either peace or there will be tragedy for Iran far greater than we have witnessed over the last eight days.

Remember, there are many targets left. In the aftermath of the bombing, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu congratulated Trump on the attack. Your bold decision. to target Iran's nuclear facilities with the awesome and righteous might of the United States. will change history. On Sunday morning, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Aragchi tweeted that the U.S.'s attack would have, quote, everlasting consequences.

Consider this. The move by the Trump administration is a massive escalation and brings the U.S. into direct conflict with Iran. How will Iran respond, and what are the wider repercussions? From NPR, I'm Andrew Limbong. With Wise, you can send, spend, or receive money across borders, all at a fair exchange rate. No markups or hidden fees. Join millions of customers and visit wise.com. T's and C's apply. This is Ira Glass of This American Life.

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After the US strikes on Iran, how are the major players in the region and around the globe reacting? Robin Wright is a journalist who's written a number of books on the Middle East, including The Last Great Revolution, Turmoil and Transformation in Iran. And she joins me now. Hi, Robin. Hi, Andrew. Did this bombing by the Trump administration surprise you? I think there's been momentum over the last three or four days headed in this direction. So it kind of became inevitable.

The scope of it, I think, was a surprise that the United States went after three targets. And of course, we don't know the extent of the damage yet, but this is clearly a military setback for Iran's nuclear program.

Let's talk about Endgame here from both President Trump and Netanyahu. Is there any daylight between the two of them there? Well, Prime Minister Netanyahu has repeatedly talked about regime change. His defense minister has said that the supreme leader could no longer exist. I think that Israel...

implicitly has broader aims than simply military. And President Trump made clear in his address to the nation that This, he hoped, would be a one and done and that Iran would come back to the negotiating table immediately. and basically surrender. Now, remember, Iran does have a right to a civilian, peaceful nuclear energy program as a member of the Non-Proliferation Treaty.

Bottom line is that both the United States and Israel want Iran not to have any capability to enrich uranium for any purpose. So there's a gap between the two leaders in Israel and the United States. And it's unclear how each of them might proceed if Iran doesn't cave. Iran is used to taking the long view.

And sometimes I think here in the U.S., we kind of forget the scope of history. I think that's a fair assessment. You know, there's that adage that the enemy also gets a vote. Is that something we should be keeping in mind here? Well, absolutely. First of all, Iran... or the Islamic Republic since its 1979 revolution, has survived an eight-year war with Iraq. It faced many different...

challenges politically, economically, militarily. And the supreme leader is still in power. The system still exists. And you have to look at the broader... society and culture. The majority of Iranians are Shiite and the religion is based on the idea of that it's better to die fighting injustice.

than to live with injustice and there's a minority mentality in Iran ethnically Iran Iranians are a minority in terms of their Muslim sect they are a minority So there are on many fronts that instinct of survival and feeling like you're perpetually the victim and that you need to stand up against those attacking or repressing you.

All right, I want to zoom out a bit. Who were the winners from the attack on yesterday, outside of Israel? I'm wondering, what is China thinking today? China has watched as the United States was bogged down. arming Israel for the war on Gaza, its attacks on Hezbollah in Lebanon. China has also watched as the United States has been engaged in rearming Ukraine.

Several presidents in the 21st century have talked about China really is the priority and the greatest threat long term to the United States. And there has been nothing to hamper China. which has territorial ambitions when it comes to Taiwan, too. What about Russia? Iranian drones have been a key weapon used against Ukraine and Iran's foreign ministers now headed to meet with Putin. What's Russia likely to do next?

It's very interesting, and that's a good question, because Iran has been critical to Russia's campaign against Ukraine. It has provided hundreds, even thousands of drones to Russia, and they have been... used brutally against Ukrainian civilian targets, some military as well. And the question is, can Iran provide...

more drones to Russia? Or has Russia built up a capacity with the help of Iranian technology on its own to continue the kind of drone attacks that have been critical in the war in Ukraine? So Russia has been an ally of Iran, but they are also very different kinds of governments. And even Vladimir Putin doesn't want to see Iran.

which is not too far away, have a nuclear capability. And that was the one thing the world's six major powers agreed on in 2015, even though there were tensions back then over Ukraine and Russia's occupation of Crimea. There's a lot of attention today on whether Iran might retaliate against U.S. service members or soft targets in the region. But Iran has always fought in a sort of like asymmetrical fashion. What do you think we should expect now?

Iran, since its 1979 revolution, has used asymmetric tactics over and over. against what it views as its enemies. It used the first suicide bombs against Israel in Lebanon and then against two U.S. embassies and the Marine peacekeepers in Lebanon in the 1980s. engaged in hostage takings, including some of my friends in Lebanon and as well at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran. It has gone after Saudi Arabia's oil facilities.

It is not going to engage in reaction that is tit for tat in terms of military sophistication. It has the ability to go after regionally, whether it's... Some of the 40,000 U.S. forces in the Middle East or U.S. and Israeli targets elsewhere in the world. Knowing Iran as well as you do, what are you going to be keeping an eye at for the next couple of days? I wouldn't be surprised if Iran retaliated in some way and then sent a message that it didn't want to see a war escalate. I think Iran...

wants this over. I think it wants diplomacy. The problem is even if all parties get to the negotiating table, can they really come up with an arrangement that all sides can accept? So that's really... The most important thing, this conflict will not end militarily. It has to have some kind of diplomatic outcome that will ensure there are no further flashpoints about what Iran is doing.

militarily. That's journalist Robin Wright, author of The Last Great Revolution, Turmoil and Transformation in Iran. Robin, thank you so much. Thank you. This episode was produced by Avery Keatley. It was edited by Sarah Robbins. Our executive producer is Sammy Yennegan. It's Consider This from NPR. I'm Andrew Limbaugh. Support for NPR comes from NPR member stations and Eric and Wendy Schmidt through the Schmidt Family Foundation.

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