David E. Sanger

And finally, I think we have to recognize that after war has started, after you have shattered a government, after you have bombed its people,

that you've then unleashed a whole series of new political forces that none of us really understand.

Maybe this will end the way President Trump envisioned and Bibi Netanyahu envisioned on February 28th with an uprising against the Iranian government.

But it's very possible that we have triggered the opposite effect.

And we're just not going to know that for months, maybe years to come.

Wildly more complicated, Michael.

Before, we were just negotiating over the status of their nuclear program.

Now we're negotiating over their future survivability as a state.

And that is completely existential for the Iranians.

And it's going to add dramatically to the complexity of bringing this war to an end.

Thank you.

Good to be back, Rachel.

It certainly feels like that, Rachel.

After all, the United States, for the first time, hit at the core of Tehran, the leadership compounds, and the Iranians have responded by missile attacks on many of the U.S.

allies and on U.S.

bases.

If that doesn't define a war, even one that may only last a few days, I don't know what does.

That's right, David.

Well, this phase of it started with the protests last January.

And you remember that there were hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of Iranians who were on the streets.