Chapter 1: What triggered the U.S. and Israel's attack on Iran?
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From The New York Times, I'm Rachel Abrams, and this is a special episode of The Daily. We have breaking news that we're following from overnight. The U.S. and Israel have launched a wide-scale assault on Iran.
Breaking news this hour. Smoke can be seen coming from buildings in Tehran, and people have reportedly been running away in panic there.
This weekend, the United States and Israel have launched a massive attack against Iran, killing the supreme leader and, according to Iranian state media, several people in the country's leadership structure. This is very big news. These strikes are now officially decapitation strikes. The strikes were the most aggressive military action that the U.S.
has taken against Iran in generations, aimed at toppling a regime that president after president has deemed an enemy of the United States. A missile fragment falling to the ground and exploding in Doha, the capital of Qatar. But the attack has already prompted retaliation across the region, as well as fears about a wider conflict that could reshape the Middle East.
You can hear the sirens are going off right now, and this is indicating essentially that there is a barrage of missiles coming towards Israel.
U.S. embassies across the region are now telling Americans to shelter in place. And just in, the State Department is now urging all U.S. citizens in Lebanon to get out while commercial options are still available. Today, my colleagues Mark Mazzetti and David Sanger explain what's next for Iran and what these strikes threaten to unleash. It's Sunday, March 1st.
David, Mark, welcome to the show.
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Chapter 2: How have Iran's leaders responded to the attack?
But I also thought it was interesting that the response was not an overwhelming one. And that suggested to me that it's possible the Iranians think that they were being baited into dumping all of their missiles and drones early on, leaving them defenseless if there are second or third wave strikes by the U.S. and Israel. So they responded right away.
but they certainly kept a fair bit in reserve. So at least for now, we're not seeing a serious number of casualties in the response.
So basically, all of this is happening overnight, at least East Coast time, where we are. And Trump releases a video that a lot of folks in the U.S. wake up to on Saturday morning that explains that this is the U.S. military action that we have all been waiting for.
A short time ago... The United States military began major combat operations in Iran. And in this video, he talks about why he ordered it and what the goal is. Our objective is to defend the American people by eliminating imminent threats from the Iranian regime. David, tell us what stood out to you from this video. Well, there are two things that jumped out at me, Rachel.
The first part of the video was about the long list of grievances that the U.S. had against Iran. And he went back 47 years. Among the regime's very first acts was to back a violent takeover of the U.S. embassy in Tehran.
to the taking of the American hostages in the embassy for 444 days, to the bombing of an American barracks in Beirut, and on to accusing Iran of knowing about, if not participating in, the attack on the USS Cole in the late 1990s. Finally, to the great proud people of Iran, I say tonight that the hour of your freedom is at hand. But then he turned in a different direction.
When we are finished, take over your government. It will be yours to take. This will be probably your only chance for generations. And for the first time, he basically urged the Iranian people to use this opportunity to rise up against their government. Now is the time to seize control of your destiny and to unleash the prosperous and glorious future that is close within your reach.
This is the moment for action. Do not let it pass. And that was pretty remarkable because we had been wondering, what was the plan to get from attacking the leadership compounds to actually changing the regime?
Right. He's basically saying in this video, we are going to take out the heads of the regime and now the people of Iran should rise up and basically finish the job of ousting their government.
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