Episode
886: Blackout
- Podcast
- This American Life
- Published
- May 3, 2026
- Duration seconds
- 3655
- Processing state
not_requested- Canonical source
- https://www.spreaker.com/episode/886-blackout--71844863
Actions
POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/this-american-life-7814501/episodes/886-blackout/transcription-requests
Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode.GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/this-american-life-7814501/886-blackout.md
Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource.
Summary
Since the war began in Iran, we've heard very little from people inside the country — and there's a reason for that. The entire country has been under an internet blackout. We worked with reporters Roxana Saberi and Fatemeh Jamalpour to get voice memos out of the country. Even though it was dangerous and difficult, people wanted to be heard. Visit thisamericanlife.org/lifepartners to sign up for our premium subscription. Prologue: Shirin's parents suddenly disappear into the blackout. (5 minutes) Act One: It’s a war and a blackout. People want to talk about both. (17 minutes) Act Two: What happened before America and Israel went to war with Iran. (9 minutes) Act Three: Iranians have many opinions about the war, and about each other. (12 minutes) Act Four: What happened inside Iran the night President Trump threatened that "a whole civilization could die." And a clue about where the internet blackout is headed. (19 minutes) Transcripts are available at thisamericanlife.org This American Life privacy policy. Learn more about sponsor message choices. 🎬 SEE THE STORY UNFOLD: Want to see the original photos, documents, and the faces behind this week's acts? 👇 View the visual archive for this episode here: https://goo.su/XwNQm (Updated for each story)