{"podcast":{"title":"On Assignment","slug":"on-assignment-7432756","podcast_index_feed_id":7432756,"rss_url":"https://feeds.megaphone.fm/onassignment","website_url":"https://www.reuters.com/","image_url":"https://megaphone.imgix.net/podcasts/8a76c28a-2fe5-11f0-8cbc-eb2eaa014389/image/c39e83d75e4719d2e47c7935583dcace.png?ixlib=rails-4.3.1&max-w=3000&max-h=3000&fit=crop&auto=format,compress","author":"Reuters","episode_count":49,"summary":"Dive into the stories behind the news with a new podcast from Reuters. We take you past the headlines right to the heart of the action. From the frontlines of war to corporate boardrooms and the centers of political power, listen to our award-winning investigative journalists around the world make sense of the most important stories today.","last_synced_at":"2026-07-25T12:19:07.195469+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/on-assignment-7432756"},"episode":{"title":"Collateral damage: The war comes for Iran’s ancient past","slug":"collateral-damage-the-war-comes-for-iran-s-ancient-past","published_at":"2026-07-11T00:00:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/on-assignment-7432756/collateral-damage-the-war-comes-for-iran-s-ancient-past","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/on-assignment-7432756","url":"https://pdst.fm/e/traffic.megaphone.fm/THRH5222112756.mp3","audio_url":"https://pdst.fm/e/traffic.megaphone.fm/THRH5222112756.mp3","summary":"As U.S. and Israeli strikes hit targets across Iran, some of the country's most treasured cultural sites found themselves in the blast zone. Reuters reporters gained rare access to historic palaces and the UNESCO-listed heart of Isfahan, documenting shattered windows, damaged mosaics and centuries-old architecture scarred by war. On this episode of On Assignment, Pulitzer-winning investigative journalist Michael Pell explains how Reuters combined eyewitness reporting, satellite imagery and forensic analysis to uncover what happened—and why the loss of cultural heritage matters, even amid a conflict measured in human lives. Further reading Shattered tiles, trembling domes: An inside look at how the war has damaged Iran’s historic sites","meta_description":"As U.S. and Israeli strikes hit targets across Iran, some of the country's most treasured cultural sites found themselves in the blast zone. Reuters repor…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":1738,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/on-assignment-7432756/episodes/collateral-damage-the-war-comes-for-iran-s-ancient-past/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/on-assignment-7432756/collateral-damage-the-war-comes-for-iran-s-ancient-past.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}