State of the World from NPR

Latest Episodes:

A glimpse of one Iranian’s life in Tehran during the war Mar 13, 2026

Show notes

Understanding exactly what is happening inside Iran is difficult. The government rarely gives visas to western journalists and closely monitors those that do enter the country. The internet is closely controlled by the regime. For the past two weeks, since the U.S. and Israel began their war in Iran, a writer in Tehran has been sharing entries from her diary with NPR about this war. We hear some of her writings which offer an intimate look at her life under bombardment.
See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.
NPR Privacy Policy

While the war in Iran gets attention, what’s happening in Gaza? Mar 12, 2026

Show notes

Five months ago, President Trump declared ceasefire in Gaza, having negotiated a deal that includes phased Israeli withdrawal from the territory and Hamas disarmament. But that was before the U.S. and Israel launched a war in Iran taking the Trump administration’s attention away from the Palestinian territory. We go to Gaza and find it’s still cutoff from the outside world and gains towards a durable peace have been paused or reversed.
See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.
NPR Privacy Policy

Another front in the war with Iran: the Israel-Lebanon border Mar 11, 2026

Show notes

In southern Lebanon, Hezbollah militants backed by Iran have been firing rockets at Israel in retaliation for Israel’s war in Iran. And Israel has been firing back hard. Almost 700 thousand Lebanese have been displaced, mostly fleeing Israel’s strikes.
We go to both sides of this renewed conflict. In northern Israel daily rockets are keeping people on edge but also defiant. In Lebanon, Hezbollah’s wide popularity has been eroded by the fighting.
See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.
NPR Privacy Policy

What four years of war in Ukraine looks like from Russia Mar 10, 2026

Show notes

Russia’s so-called “special military operation” in Ukraine recently passed the four year mark. And over that time it has become the deadliest conflict on the European continent since World War II. Over 1.5 million people are dead, injured or missing, according to western governments and think tanks. Our correspondent in Moscow tries to answer one of the most persistent and difficult questions of this war: do Russians support it?
See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.
NPR Privacy Policy

Does the Iraq war hold lessons for Iran? Mar 09, 2026

Show notes

As we enter the second week of U.S. combat operations in Iran, NPR’s Leila Fadel considers the similarities and differences with the last time the United States waded into war in the region, in Iraq in 2003. Leila covered that war as well and talks to some experts about what lessons can be drawn.
See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.
NPR Privacy Policy

The effects of a widening war in the Middle East Mar 06, 2026

Show notes

A week ago, the U.S. and Israel began airstrikes on Iran, killing the regime’s leader and starting a war that has now threatens to to expand throughout the Middle East. Iran struck back, firing missiles and drones at Israel, but also at U.S. allies including Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
Meanwhile, Hezbollah militants in Lebanon fired rockets at Israel, and Israel has now conducted attacks in a Beirut suburb believed to be a militant stronghold. Thousands have been displaced. And the U.S. and Israel have continued and intensified their bombing campaign in Iran. We get an update from four NPR correspondents in the region in Beirut, Dubai, Tel Aviv and Eastern Turkey.
See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.
NPR Privacy Policy

Who will be Iran’s next leader?; How Ukraine might help defend the Gulf Mar 05, 2026

Show notes

A panel of clerics in Iran are meeting to decide on the next leader of the fundamentalist regime after Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in recent airstrikes. After nearly 40 years of his rule, the choice could either cement hardline continuity under his son or usher in a fundamentally transformed regime. We hear about likely candidates.
And as Iranians are attacking American bases in the Middle East with drones, the government of Ukraine is offering its expertise. They say more than 57 thousand of the same type of drones have been used against them in the last four years.
See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.
NPR Privacy Policy

New information about the bombing of a school in Iran Mar 04, 2026

Show notes

New details are emerging about the bombing of a girls’ school in southeastern Iran that killed 165 people, many of them students, according to Iran state media. The Pentagon says it is investigating what happened. Meanwhile satellite images suggest it could have been a precision airstrike. NPR was the first to report on the new images, and we hear more about what they reveal.

And as the U.S. strikes on Iran continue, more Iranians are fleeing the war. We go to the border with Turkey to hear from those who have left Iran.
See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.
NPR Privacy Policy

What is the strategy for regime change in Iran and is it working? Mar 03, 2026

Show notes

Days after Israeli and U.S. air strikes killed Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Israel said it had targeted the building where top Iranian clerics would meet to choose his successor. Israel’s Prime Minister says the goal of this war is to get rid of the religious regime that has ruled Iran for almost half a century. Many of the possible successors to Iran’s have been killed in the attacks, leading to questions to what and who might come next. We hear from NPR correspondents covering the White House and the Middle East.

And in announcing the U.S. attacks on Iran, President Trump called on Iranian security forces to defect and for Iranians to take over the government. We hear from people inside Iran to gauge the possibility of that happening.
See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.
NPR Privacy Policy

What the war feels like in Iran and Israel Mar 02, 2026

Show notes

The U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran continue. Meanwhile Iran is retaliating, firing missiles Israel, but also U.S. allies in the Gulf like Bahrain, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and even air bases Cyprus, threatening to expand the conflict. And the Hezbollah militia in Lebanon entered the fight, launching its first attacks on Israel in more than a year.
We get an update on developments throughout the Middle East. And we hear the voices of people experiencing the war. In Iran, there are mixed emotions for some. In Israel, the familiar feeling of needing to rush to shelters as they are under Iranian missile fire.
See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.
NPR Privacy Policy

Our TOPPODCAST Picks

Follow Us

Stay Connected

State of the World from NPR

Related Podcasts

Links

Stay Connected