The New Yorker Radio Hour What Could Go Wrong, or Right, in a War with Iran
40 snips
Feb 27, 2026 
Karim Sadjadpour, a Carnegie Endowment policy analyst who studies Iran, explains U.S. intentions and risks in the current standoff. He discusses how unclear goals—nuclear pressure versus regime change—could play out. He outlines Iran’s internal fractures, the Revolutionary Guard’s power, the dangers of targeting leaders, and why limited strikes might be preferred to full-scale intervention.
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Hospital Worker Describes Lethal Crackdown Evidence
- A hospital worker north of Tehran witnessed mass trauma and says clinical agents laughed while attempting CPR on a killed grandmother.
- He sent evidence of hundreds of casualties from two emergency wards during the crackdown.
Activist Says Funerals Pushed Her Toward Wanting Intervention
- A Tehran activist in her 20s shifted from opposing foreign intervention to wanting U.S. action after attending many funerals and seeing brutal repression.
- She compares waiting for intervention to Waiting for Godot, saying Iranians feel they can't fight the government alone.
Red Lines Shaped The Current U.S. Posture
- President Trump's repeated red lines after Iran's protests helped shape expectations and were flagrantly violated, escalating U.S. military buildup around the Gulf.
- Karim Sadjadpour ties the buildup to nine public warnings and Iran's reported mass killings, arguing enforcement credibility matters.