Alex Ritson

Barbara Platt Usher, she was talking to Mariam Mashiri. And we have more on this on our YouTube channel. Search for BBC News on YouTube and you'll find Global News Podcast in the podcast section. There's a new story available every weekday.

Still to come in this podcast the view from Israel and the internet blackout that's also hitting the people of Iran.

This is the Global News Podcast. The US government went ahead with its military action without seeking approval from Congress. Here's Helena Humphrey in Washington.

Helena Humphrey. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the operation would remove what he called the existential threat posed by Iran. Our correspondent John Donison is in Jerusalem.

John Donaldson speaking to the BBC's Mariam Mashiri. Iran is now under an internet blackout, according to NetBlocks, an internet monitoring agency. My colleague Merlin Thomas from BBC Verify told me more.

GR Gold from BBC Persian. Let's end this special edition of the Global News Podcast with the thoughts of our chief international correspondent, Lise Doucette, who's recently returned from Iran. This is a confrontation which is very different from what happened last year, where at least when it came to the region, Iran carefully telegraphed its attacks, took care to minimize the risk of causing American casualties.

Iran had warned that this time it would not hold back and that all of US military bases across the region, including US military personnel, there's more than 40,000 across the region, would be at risk. And President Trump himself acknowledged in his eight-minute video that there would possibly be the loss of American lives. But he made it clear that America, as he saw it, was under threat.

and he was ordering this war to commence. A war, a military operation that the Pentagon has codenamed Epic Fury.

Liis, hänen pitkän aamunsa presidentti Trump sanoi, että regiimikäytäntö oli hyvin tavalla. Mitä se näyttää sinun mielestäsi? Olet vain Iranissa viime viikkoja. Onko sinun mielestäsi, että tämä tarkoittaa Ayatollah, suurin jäsen, IRGC? Kuinka kauan luulet, että tämä voisi mennä?

President Trump, U.S. commander in chief, we've often reported on BBC that he has sent conflicting messages about whether this was about Iran's nuclear program, that Iran should not have a nuclear weapon, or that it was about broader regime change.

All of these reasons this morning in that first post. History tells us that there has been, there's been no example of an order, a government, an order being brought down by airstrikes alone. But President Trump has repeatedly said that he wants to keep his

He don't want to put boots on the ground. He made it clear that it would be up to the Iranian people to do that. Remember during the protests of last month he called on them to take control of your institutions. Well the Iranians saw that when they take to the streets that the security forces have lethal force that they're able and willing to use.

The death toll is in the many thousands. It's still being counted. There are still people, there are still families who don't know the fate of their loved ones. So it is a very unpredictable and a very perilous time. And this time, President Trump, unlike the lead up to the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, he didn't go to the

UN Security Council. He didn't try to build a coalition in the region. He is doing this just with Israel. He seems to believe that right and history is on his side, but we have seen no evidence that this preemptive attack described by Israel, that there was an imminent Iranian threat on Israel or on the United States. So a new war has been unleashed, and this morning in these early hours, no one can say with certainty

when and how it will end. Lise Doucette talking to Samantha Simmons. And that's all from us for now. If you want to get in touch, you can email us at globalpodcast at bbc.co.uk. You can also find us on X at BBC World Service. Use the hashtag globalnewspod.

And don't forget our sister podcast, The Global Story, which goes in-depth and behind the headlines on one big story. This edition of The Global News Podcast was mixed by Philip Bull, and the producers were Pete Ross and Peter Hyatt. The editor is Karen Martin. I'm Alex Ritson. Until next time, goodbye.

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