June 21, 2019

Let’s call the whole thing off

Tensions with Iran escalated this week and then, Thursday evening, President Trump apparently signed off on airstrikes in Iran only to cancel them. According to reports and an interview the president gave to NBC’s Meet The Press, the estimate of people that would die in the strikes changed his mind and he tweeted that it would not be “proportionate.” Chris Dougherty of the Center for a New American Security discusses the events this week and whether we’d be at war with Iran if the strikes had occurred.

Listen to the full conversation on KCRW's Left, Right, & Center.


  • Podcast
    • October 10, 2024
    Russia in the Middle East with Jonathan Lord and Hanna Notte

    One year after the October 7 attacks by Hamas, the crisis in the Middle East has grown more and more complex. With the region teetering on the brink of broader conflict, the B...

    By Jonathan Lord, Hanna Notte, Andrea Kendall-Taylor & Jim Townsend

  • Video
    • October 2, 2024
    Biden Urges Israel Not to Attack Iran Nuclear Sites

    Rachel Ziemba joins Bloomberg Television to discuss oil rising for a third day as traders watch for supply risks in the Middle East. Watch the full episode from Bloomberg Tel...

    By Rachel Ziemba

  • Commentary
    • The New Statesman
    • October 2, 2024
    The Fury of History

    Even manifestly unpopular regimes do not end on their own. There has to be a trigger....

    By Robert D. Kaplan

  • Commentary
    • Foreign Affairs
    • April 23, 2024
    The Axis of Upheaval

    The West has been too quick to dismiss the coordination among China, Iran, North Korea, and Russia....

    By Andrea Kendall-Taylor & Richard Fontaine

View All Reports View All Articles & Multimedia