# Why did the US and Israel launch a war with Iran, and what comes next?

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-briefing-room-1106985/why-did-the-us-and-israel-launch-a-war-with-iran-and-what-comes-next
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-briefing-room-1106985/why-did-the-us-and-israel-launch-a-war-with-iran-and-what-comes-next.md
Podcast: [The Briefing Room](https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-briefing-room-1106985)
Published: 2026-03-05T15:23:00+00:00
Episode link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m002s3g2
Audio file: http://open.live.bbc.co.uk/mediaselector/6/redir/version/2.0/mediaset/audio-nondrm-download-rss/proto/http/vpid/p0n4tspl.mp3
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-briefing-room-1106985/episodes/why-did-the-us-and-israel-launch-a-war-with-iran-and-what-comes-next
Duration seconds: 1724

## Resource

It's less than a week since the start of the US-Israel war with Iran. And it's already spread across the Gulf region as Iran retaliates. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader for 36 years, was killed in US and Israeli airstrikes on Saturday. The question now is who is in control in Iran and whether the regime in its current form will remain or if this will trigger major change. David Aaronovitch and guests discuss how the US-Israel war with Iran started and what comes next. Guests: Anshel Pfeffer, Israel Correspondent, The Economist Professor Ali Ansari, founding director of the Institute of Iranian Studies at St Andrews University Dr Burcu Ozcelik, Senior Research Fellow for Middle East Security at the Royal United Services Institute Laurel Rapp, Director of the US and North America Programme at Chatham House. Presenter: David Aaronovitch Producers: Caroline Bayley, Kirsteen Knight and Nathan Gower Production Co-ordinator: Maria Ogundele Sound engineer: Neil Churchill Editor: Richard Vadon

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## Transcript

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