UNBIASED Politics
Special Report: Understanding the Conflict with Iran (PLUS a Listener Q&A)
16 Mar 2026
Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.
Chapter 1: What triggered the recent U.S. strikes against Iran?
Welcome back to Unbiased, your favorite source of unbiased news and legal analysis.
welcome back to unbiased politics today is monday march 16th and we are taking a break from unbiased university to talk about the ongoing conflict in iran i know this episode is obviously a couple weeks overdue but as you all likely know at this point if you've been tuning into unbiased university i have been on maternity leave since the end of february so this was just really the soonest i could get around to putting out an episode
Now, obviously, the situation between the United States and Iran is constantly changing and evolving. So just note that I have done my best to give you the most up to date information in this episode. But of course, you know, there's going to be certain facts and numbers and things that are bound to change as the days go on.
So yeah, without further ado, let's just kind of jump into today's episode. How we'll do this is this. We will start with a recap of what kind of triggered the February strikes. We'll do sort of like a history, if you will, give you a bunch of historical context. And then we'll talk about what's developed since those February strikes.
Chapter 2: How did the 2015 nuclear deal impact U.S.-Iran relations?
And then towards the end of the episode, I'll answer a few of your questions that you submitted on Instagram. OK, so as we know, on February 28th, the United States, in coordination with Israel, launched strikes against Iran. The strikes have mainly targeted nuclear facilities as well as some other energy facilities, military infrastructure, members of Iran's leadership, Iran's naval ships.
things of that nature. The most recent report from the US military said that the United States has hit more than 6,000 targets in Iran. And then I believe there was a separate report from the Israeli military that said Israel has hit more than 7,000 targets in Iran. But as far as the United States, what the United States military is saying is that more than 6,000 targets have been struck by Iran.
american strikes one of those american strikes did hit in iranian elementary school but we'll talk more about that particular strike a bit later in this episode because i know you guys had a lot of questions on that one Now, there are a handful of reasons that the administration has cited for these strikes.
So destroying Iran's missile capabilities, destroying Iran's navy, preventing Iran from developing nuclear weapons, making sure the Iranian regime can't continue to arm or fund these terrorist groups and proxies that are outside of Iran's borders, and then also freedom for the Iranian people.
Chapter 3: What are the reasons behind U.S. military actions in Iran?
But the one reason that I really want to focus on first is Iran's nuclear program, because that is a big one. And once we do that, we'll kind of talk about how that ties into some of these other reasons cited by the administration, like regime change.
What I'll say to start is that both sides of the aisle here in the United States, as well as leaders from various countries, do not want Iran to have nuclear weapons. This is something that has bipartisan support. And that's why President Obama actually said, negotiated a deal back in 2015 with six other countries called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA.
And this agreement involved the United States, China, Russia, France, Germany, the UK, and the EU, and it was specifically intended to limit Iran's nuclear development. So under the JCPOA, Iran agreed to certain limits on its nuclear program, right?
So this included a 97% reduction in its uranium enrichment, a prohibition on pursuing nuclear weapons, and then limits on uranium enrichment for a period of about 10 to 15 years. And this was all in exchange for sanctions relief.
Chapter 4: How does regime change factor into the U.S. strategy towards Iran?
However, roughly three years after that deal was signed, President Trump comes into office and he pulls out of the deal. So this was in 2018. He called the deal, quote, one of the worst and most one-sided transactions the United States has ever entered into, end quote. And according to a White House fact sheet from Trump's first term, his decision to pull out was made for a couple of reasons.
He felt that the deal failed to adequately protect America's national security interests. And that the deal, quote, enriched the Iranian regime and enabled its malign behavior while delaying its ability to pursue nuclear weapons and allowing it to preserve nuclear research and development, end quote. So Trump felt at the time and still feels that in addition to Iran agreeing to, you
Iran should have also agreed to never having an intercontinental ballistic missile or a long range missile. Iran should have also had to agree to stop developing any nuclear capable missiles, stop proliferating ballistic missiles to others, stop its support for terrorists, extremists and regional proxies.
end its quest to destroy Israel, stop its threats to freedom of navigation, specifically in the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea, stop escalating conflicts in the Middle East and destabilizing the region by proliferating weapons to the Houthis and other militant groups, end its cyber attacks against the United States and its allies, stop its human rights abuses,
Chapter 5: What are the implications of the strikes on Iran's nuclear program?
and stop its unjust detention of foreigners, including United States citizens. Those are all things that Trump felt should have been included in the deal. So for all of those reasons, Trump pulled out of the deal and reimposed sanctions that targeted Iran's energy, oil and gas, and financial sectors. So Iran then goes back to, you know, just unrestricted uranium enrichment.
Then in 2020, the United States kills Qasem Soleimani, a top Iranian general who led Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. And following that is when Iran said publicly that it would no longer be limiting its uranium enrichment. Now, it's very possible that Iran hadn't been limiting. its uranium enrichment since 2018 when the United States pulled out of the deal.
But after the killing of Soleimani, that is when they came out publicly and basically said, you know, we're not we're not limiting our uranium enrichment. We're going to do what we want.
Chapter 6: How has the conflict affected global oil markets?
Also in 2020, Iran went ahead and built a new centrifuge production center that that was meant to replace a center that had been destroyed months earlier in an attack. And these centrifuge production centers, by the way, are facilities where the machines used to enrich uranium are actually built, okay?
And around this same time, Iran actually passed a law that mandated uranium enrichment and the installation of advanced centrifuges at one of its nuclear facilities. So Iran was clearly taking more steps to advance its nuclear program once Trump went ahead and pulled out of the deal and reimposed sanctions in 2018, but even more so in 2020 following the killing of Soleimani.
So then when Biden takes office in 2021, he got the original signers of the JCPOA back together in an attempt to reach another deal. Nothing really came of this because both Iran and the United States were adamant that each side kind of be the first to restart its obligations under the deal. So, you know, the United States wanted Iran to stop enriching its uranium first.
Iran wanted the United States to lift its sanctions first.
Chapter 7: What are the main arguments for and against U.S. involvement in Iran?
And because neither country wanted to be the first to act, the talks kind of just fell apart. Iran then ends up electing a new president. And when talks did resume between the original signers of the JCPOA, Iran came to the table, you know, under this new president with an even more hardline stance than what it came with before.
Now, keep in mind, because there's no agreement in place at this point, and because the United States and Iran can't seem to come to an agreement, Iran is continuing to enrich its uranium business. during all of this, while all of this is happening. So then in 2023, the war between Israel and Hamas breaks out. Hamas is backed by Iran. Israel is backed by the United States.
And I'm not going to get into the relations between Israel and Iran or Hamas and Iran or Israel and the United States because that could, of course, be three episodes alone. But for purposes of this episode, what you need to know is that because of that war that
Chapter 8: What legal questions surround the recent military actions against Iran?
The United States never ended up finalizing negotiations while Biden was in office. Another notable thing happened in 2023, though. So the International Atomic Energy Agency, which is an international organization that sort of keeps track of nuclear programs around the world.
came out with this report that said there were trace uranium particles at Iran's main nuclear facility that had been enriched to 83.7%. Now, 90% is nuclear weapon status, okay? But there's also an important thing to make mention of here as well. That report from the IAEA specifically referenced trace particles. And
Even though it referenced only trace particles, this was still important because it showed that Iran's enrichment machines were capable of getting very close to weapons grade uranium. And also, once uranium reaches about 60% enrichment, which Iran had already acknowledged producing, getting to 90% is technically a lot easier. So because of this, when Trump took office in 2025,
He went ahead and sent a letter to Iran's supreme leader, essentially demanding negotiations for a new nuclear deal. And in that letter, he basically said that the United States wanted to negotiate a new deal and that if Iran were to reject negotiations and continue moving forward with its nuclear program, there would be consequences. And he left this kind of vague.
He didn't exactly say what those consequences would be. He just said, if you guys don't come to the table and work with us on this, there will be consequences. And that letter gave Iran 60 days to reach a deal. And the first round of negotiations took place on April 11th, 2025, roughly one month after that letter was sent to Iran's supreme leader.
Once the first round of negotiations started on April 12th, that is when that 60-day clock started ticking. That meant that Iran had until June 11th, 2025 to make a deal. So the second round of talks happens a week later on April 19th. A third round happens on April 26th, a fourth round on May 11th and a fifth round on May 23rd.
After that fifth round of talks, Trump comes out and says that both sides were close to finalizing a deal. But at the same time, Iran said that Trump's desire to control Iran's nuclear activity was a, quote unquote, overkill. So it wasn't really clear where things stood. And keep in mind that at this point, Iran really only has about two weeks to reach a deal. Right.
So then on May 31st, the IAEA reports that Iran had accumulated a record stockpile of enriched uranium up to about 60 percent purity. And the reason that this is significant was because this was a stockpile now, not simply trace particles as was reported before. And I mentioned once uranium reaches about 60% enrichment, getting to weapons grade becomes a lot easier.
So the IAEA reported that Iran had over 400 kilograms of uranium enriched to 60%. that Iran was the only non-nuclear weapon state producing uranium at that level, and that if the uranium was enriched further to about 90%, it could theoretically be used to produce multiple nuclear weapons. In light of that report,
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