# Inside Iran: Is the war about to escalate?

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-world-with-richard-engel-and-yalda-hakim-7027228/inside-iran-is-the-war-about-to-escalate
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-world-with-richard-engel-and-yalda-hakim-7027228/inside-iran-is-the-war-about-to-escalate.md
Podcast: [The World with Richard Engel and Yalda Hakim](https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-world-with-richard-engel-and-yalda-hakim-7027228)
Published: 2026-07-15T04:00:00+00:00
Episode link: https://the-world.captivate.fm
Audio file: https://episodes.captivate.fm/episode/19e75ad6-f52f-42c6-9656-2d9e7baa76b1.mp3?aw_0_1st.showid=017f3337-d13b-4493-8846-ca84c374143c&aw_0_1st.episodeid=19e75ad6-f52f-42c6-9656-2d9e7baa76b1
Processing state: not_requested
JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-world-with-richard-engel-and-yalda-hakim-7027228/episodes/inside-iran-is-the-war-about-to-escalate
Duration seconds: 1492

## Resource

Richard has just returned from Iran, where he witnessed the funeral of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. He shares what he saw inside the country, answers your questions about reporting from Tehran as tensions flared once again, and explains what the funeral revealed about the mood inside Iran after months of conflict. Richard is also joined by Professor Robert Pape, one of the world's leading experts on war and military strategy. They look at why the Iranian regime still appears so resilient when the country has suffered such significant military blows. And is the US and Israel's strategy achieving its goals - or risking something much bigger? Together they unpack Pape's theory of the "escalation trap", explore where Iran still holds leverage, and ask whether this conflict is any closer to ending, or about to accelerate. Email your questions about to Richard and Yalda at theworld@sky.uk. You can also watch our podcasts on our YouTube channel here .

## Actions

- request_transcript: `POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-world-with-richard-engel-and-yalda-hakim-7027228/episodes/inside-iran-is-the-war-about-to-escalate/transcription-requests` — Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode.
- read_markdown: `GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-world-with-richard-engel-and-yalda-hakim-7027228/inside-iran-is-the-war-about-to-escalate.md` — Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource.

A page view does not enqueue transcription. Agents should invoke `request_transcript` explicitly when they need this episode processed.

## Transcript

Full transcripts are not published on public pages unless there is a clear rights basis.