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- [00:03]
A
Hey, everybody. Welcome to here's the scoop from NBC News. I'm Yasmin Vesugian. US And Israeli strikes continue to hit targets across Iran as the US Continues Operation Epic Fury. The coordinated attack that was launched in the early hours of Saturday morning killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and several members of Iran's top leadership and is reshaping the Middle East. Now at the White House, President Trump delivered his first live address to the nation since the war began, outlining his objectives.
- [00:33]
B
First, we're destroying Iran's missile capabilities and you see that happening on an hourly basis and their capacity to produce brand new ones and pretty good ones they make. Second, we're annihilating their navy. We've knocked out already 10 ships. They're at the bottom of the sea. Third, we're ensuring that the world's number one sponsor of terror can never obtain a nuclear weapon.
- [01:02]
A
Despite the death of most of their leadership, Tehran has been fighting back as the conflict could become an all out regional war. Today on the show, we're going to dive deep into why this is happening now, what the Trump administration's plan is going forward and how the war is impacting the region as a whole. Also now, with their leadership toppled, what does it mean for the future of the Iranian people? Plus, authorities are investigating a potential terrorist link in the mass shooting in Austin, Texas that left two people dead and 14 others injured this weekend. And voters in Texas, North Carolina and Arkansas head to the primary polls tomorrow. What these races could signal for the midterms. But first, President Trump said today that Operation Epic Fury could go on for weeks and that attacks could intensify. So how did the US Launch this operation and how does it impact the entire Middle East? For that, I want to bring in NBC News senior national security correspondent Courtney Kuby and NBC News chief international correspondent Keir Simmons in Dubai. I want to get both of your reactions first 48 hours into this war. Really. Courtney, you're in Washington, Kier, you're in Dubai. Both been covering this since Saturday two days in now. Give us your top line reactions. Kira, you first. What, what is life like in, in Dubai right now?
- [02:22]
C
Yeah, we have had quite a weekend here. I mean, there's just been explosion after explosion, some shaking the house. We are about 20 miles from an air base. And you know, it's been scary at times, but you know, a bunch of stuff is happening that is, is making history, I would say.
- [02:42]
D
Yeah.
- [02:42]
C
And just one small example of that is the extraordinary way that the uae. But all of these Gulf countries are managing to defend against these hundreds of rockets and drones using, by the way, their alliance and partnership with America for things like Patriot Defenses. You have to be careful when you say this because something can go wrong at any moment. But, you know, in a sense, they've demonstrated that the Iranian missile barrage, Iranian missile arsenal is not as scary as necessarily folks who thought it was.
- [03:14]
A
And Courtney, give me a reaction from Washington before we get into the nuts and bolts of this conversation.
- [03:19]
D
Yeah. So from a US Military perspective, they're looking at this as being pretty successful so far in that they are. They have laid out an enormous number of targets. They won't tell us exactly how many, but in the first 24 to 32 hours, they hit over a thousand targets and they still have a lot more to go. Now, when you talk about how Iran has responded, I totally agree with what Kir just said. We learned after April of 2024 when Iran retaliated against Israel, October 2024, when Iran retaliated against Israel, and then the 12 day war, we learned that Iran, I don't want to say that they're the paper tiger when it comes to their ballistic missile program, but we learned that their goal seems to be just volume. So they just shoot off as much as they can. The hope is that at least one or two of those will get through at various locations and then that will have the impact. And we're actually seeing that play out here as well. So the thousand targets that the US has fired off, Iran has fired off equal number, if not more of projectiles. It's just as Kir was saying, they've shot a lot of them down or been able to intercept them. And part of this is due to this integrated air defense system throughout the entire region that the US has been trying to build with some of these Gulf allies for years. And essentially what that means is there are different radar systems that exist throughout the region, and they can all basically talk to one another. And in that way, they can see threats to one another. There's now this system that exists where other allies can help and identify the trajectory where, going where it's coming. And they can, they can help defend against. I mean, in some ways they're defending one another, especially in some of those smaller nations.
- [04:50]
A
So I think one of the big questions that I have right now, that I think a lot of us have is the timeline, right? And the ultimate objective here. Let's play what the President said earlier today about that.
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B
We're already substantially ahead of our time projections. But whatever the time is, it's okay. Whatever it takes, we will always. And we have, right from the beginning, we projected four to five weeks, but we have capability to go far longer than that. We'll do it.
- [05:23]
A
And then earlier today, Secretary of Defense, Secretary of War, as he calls himself, Pete Hegseth, he actually told people to stop calling this the start of a forever war. What are you hearing and what would make the United States and Israel say, okay, it's run its course, we're ready to stop down.
- [05:45]
D
I think that they have laid out these very specific military objectives. General Cain, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, laid some of them out today that are slightly, they're just slightly different than the way President Trump has been talking about them in these social media videos. They want to, yes, destroy the Iranian navy. They want to, yes, destroy the Iranian ballistic missile program. And they aren't talking about destroying the nuclear program. They're just saying that they want to ensure Iran never has nuclear weapons. So if you look at it from that perspective, that is a somewhat finite, a large number, but there is a definite number of targets to destroy the ballistic missile programs. That is a defined mission. So my big question has been, once the military objectives are met, is there going to be a continued mission that actually pursues regime change, or is it going to be sort of how President Trump figured? First spoke about that in the first social media video where he said, we call on the people there to rise up and to bring a regime change. This is your best chance in generations at this point. The way that military officials are talking to us about it, I think it's going to be the former where they're going to, they've got the defined targets, they're going to go after them, and then they're going to essentially say, okay, our military mission here is done. Now it's on to regime change. And that's not our job. The one caveat to that is we have no idea what's going to happen on the ground. And we don't know, as this comes to a closer, closer to being a finished military objective, whether the Trump administration will say, well, yeah, we will try to pursue regime change. That's when you talk about you have to have some sort of a presence on the ground to actually accomplish that.
- [07:18]
A
Well, have they taken that off the table that troops will not be on the ground?
- [07:22]
D
Not at all. President Trump, I mean, he keeps saying, I don't wanna put troops on the ground, I don't wanna put boots on the ground, but I Also find it interesting, they talk about boots. You know, these don't have to be boots on the ground. These can be sneakers in the form of US personnel who are maybe even military. But under title 50, under CIA. Got it.
- [07:42]
A
The Special Forces, basically, and the intelligence units.
- [07:44]
D
Exactly. Yep.
- [07:46]
A
Kir, I want to talk about what Iran is doing because you mentioned that you spoke with a former commander in Iran's Revolutionary Guard. What did he tell you?
- [07:54]
C
Well, for example, you have to take with a pinch of salt that I asked him why they're targeting civilian. Civilian airports, which by, you know, our airport here in Dubai, massive, massive hub for international travel was hit. It was evacuated, thankfully, before that, Abu Dhabi to Kuwait. It's because he said the US or its allies have been flying drones from those airports. So. And this interesting thing with this stuff is, of course, they might have been looking at some Chinese satellite images of that and, or misread that. Who knows if they really believe that? But there's also a campaign here to, to frighten people, to target the economies here, to try to get the governments and to cause chaos, to try to get leaders in to go to Washington and say, please stop doing this.
- [08:39]
A
Court, you laid out some of the scenarios that this could go. The direction it could go in, right? There could be the people rising up when the US And Israel stop bombing. Right. Overthrowing their government, you know, voting on a democracy in six months. Right. There is the possibility of this country falling into civil war. There is a possibility of it becoming complete and utter mayhem inside Iran, which would speak to the point that you made earlier and Kir made earlier, which is that would lend itself to threatening the national security of this country, of the United States. Right. What have we heard militarily from the Pentagon as to what they are willing to withstand? Right. If in fact, that is the direction
- [09:21]
D
this thing goes, they will not address the idea of who could be in charge of Iran in two weeks, four weeks, six weeks, whatever it is, they will simply will not address it. They're kicking all of that back to the White House. President Trump seems very confident in some sort of succession that exists that he won't talk about from a military perspective. The only thing that they seem completely focused on right now is ensuring that militarily, they have wiped out any ability for Iran to threaten the US or allies and neighbors. And we're seeing the decisions being made. It's not really clear who's making them all. We don't know if there's some lower level Iranian military officials or even political officials, maybe who are deciding to take strikes on Oman, for example, you know, politically and strategically, actually, that makes very little sense. So when we see that they're already lashing out in ways that are somewhat unexpected, we have no idea how much worse they could get. And while it's not really clear who's running the place, we don't know who's making these decisions. It could be delegated down to a lower level. It's the strategic corporal issue. Right. That we've heard about in the US Military forever and that they've always been so concerned about in the Gulf and in the Strait of Hormuz. The idea of one lower level military person making a decision like slamming a boat into a US Destroyer, that has huge strategic implications for years and decades to come. We're seeing that play out potentially in Iran right now.
- [10:45]
A
And Courtney made a really good transition for me to you, Kir, on this last one, which is the security concerns when it comes to those commercial vessels in waterways including the Strait of Hormuz. What are the economic implications of this conflict as it seems as if it is spreading beyond the borders of Iran?
- [11:03]
C
Yeah, I mean, the oil price jumped this morning about 10% and came down. I think it's got down to about up 5%, 4%. That's a big jump for the oil price. But it's also an oil price which has been dropping over time. Here's a little irony, is that it's gone. The oil price has gone down so much that countries like Saudi Arabia, some of these big oil producers, it's really problem for them.
- [11:27]
A
Keir Simmons, Courtney Kuby, I know you guys have a busy day ahead of you, so thank you for your time.
- [11:32]
D
Thanks, Yaz.
- [11:33]
C
Thank you, guys.
- [11:37]
A
All right, we are going to take a very short break. And when we are back, what does the future look like for the Iranian people? That's next. And while you're waiting, why don't you take a moment to subscribe to the podcast wherever you're listening. That way you'll catch new episodes as soon as they drop. We'll be right back. Your new home is now ready. Dr. Horton, America's Builder has new homes that are ready today with new construction communities in Ellensburg and throughout the Greater Seattle area. Dr. Horton has the right home for you. At Dr. Horton, we're still building with flexible living spaces, smart home technology and two and three car garages. More communities and more homes available every day. Find your new home in Ellensburg now ready@drhorton.com Dr. Horton, America's builder and Equal Housing Opportunity Builder. Hey guys, have you heard of Goldbelly? It's this amazing site where they ship the most iconic famous foods from restaurants across the country anywhere nationwide. I've never found a more perfect gift than food. Gold Belly Ship, Chicago deep dish pizza, New York bagels, Maine lobster rolls, and even Ina Garten's famous cakes. So if you're looking for a gift for the food lover in your life, head to Goldbelly.com and get 20% off your first order with promo code GIFT. That's Goldbelly.com promo code GIFT. Performance comes down to controlling what you can. For tennis pro Jessica Pegula, that means starting with the air around her. She can't control her opponent or the match, but she can control her rest and recovery. That's why she's trusted blueair for five years and counting. Blue Signature air purifiers are engineered to perform and designed to impress with seven stages of advanced filtration, up to 10 times more odor removal and customizable colors and accessories. Shop blueair.com and use code signature30 to save. And we are back with here's the scoop from NBC News. In making his case for striking Iran over the weekend, President Trump addressed the future of the country, speaking directly to Iranians.
- [13:40]
B
When we are finished take over your government, it will be yours to take. This will be probably your only chance for generations.
- [13:50]
A
Who's in charge right now? What could the future look like and what is the likelihood of a democratic transition in Iran? I want to bring in Jason Rezaian. He is the director of press freedom initiatives at the Washington Post. He previously served as the Post Tehran bureau chief. Hi, Jason.
- [14:07]
E
Yasmin, how you doing?
- [14:09]
A
We have both been nonstop on the coverage of what has been taking place in Iran over the last 48, 72 hours. For those that do not know, you spent over 500 days as a hostage of the Iranian regime. When you think about the death of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the supreme leader of Iran over the weekend, what is your reaction? What does this moment mean to you? Not just as a journalist, but as a person who was imprisoned by this regime.
- [14:42]
E
I think I have to wind it back even further. It's coming up on 25 years since I first traveled to Iran in 2001, I've been covering Iran minus that year and a half that I spent in prison. And throughout that entire time, Ali Khamenei was sort of looming over this situation in very real ways, but also in symbolic ones. I mean, his whole worldview was animosity with America. And you and I and many other people are combined Iranian Americans, American Iranians. It's a tough thing to. To balance. And so to see the Supreme Leader eliminated from the situation, I am, on one level, relieved of that pressure. Right, yeah. But at the same time, that system still exists. It's certainly not thriving. The fact that the United States and isra, over two successive campaigns, one last June and one going on right now, have succeeded in eliminating Iran's top leadership tells you that the Islamic Republic is in a very weakened state. Or maybe it was never as strong as we thought it was.
- [15:56]
A
Yeah. Khamenei's main job as Supreme Leader was to maintain the loyalty to the ideology of the regime. Right. And some would say that, you know, that regime would not have withstood the test of time had it not been for the Iran Iraq war, had it not been for the support that the Iraqis got from the Americans in that war. And it speaks to, I think, the confusing state that we are seeing now on the ground in Iran and amongst the diaspora as well. I was getting video after video of people celebrating in Iran when they had learned of Khamenei's death, coupled with thousands of people what seemed to be in the streets of Iran shouting his name. Right. Mourning the loss of, you know, the father of Iran, shall we say. Right. How do you reconcile those two reactions?
- [16:49]
E
Both can be and are true and real. Right. And I think the, the support for the Islamic Republic and the support for the ideology and for Khamenei as sort of a cult of personality figure is very real. But I think you have many, many, many millions more, tens of millions more that would like to see this system gone from history for the reason that, one, it's been incredibly repressive from day one and two. Part of the promise of this system was, you know, the oil wealth of this country is going to belong to you. Well, that never happened. And not only did it never happen, the situation has gotten worse and worse and worse. And the fact that the Islamic Republic for 47 years had been able to kind of limp along and subsidize people's lives through cheap utilities, cheap airfare, medical care, education, all of that stuff points to the fact that this country has massive wealth, Right. And resources. But those were incredibly mismanaged, and now much of that is gone.
- [18:03]
A
Okay, so then what does that mean for regime change? Because Iran says, listen, we're still in charge. Right. The regime says, we're still in charge. We have this three man interim Leadership council. What happens now?
- [18:12]
E
A lot of it depends on how far the United States and Israel is willing to go to continue the military campaign. Clearly, Israel had incredible intelligence within Iran over the last couple of years, to the extent that it's been able to assassinate, you know, the top leadership of the country, mostly in pretty targeted ways. And now it's a question of, are they going to further destabilize the country, and what would that require? And then, you know, we've already established that, you know, the Iranian airspace is dominated by the US And Israel, but on the ground, the people with the guns, which is the Revolutionary Guards, and the system that is still operating the country, they have control still.
- [19:06]
A
So, Jason, the president, Prime Minister Netanyahu as well, they have both essentially said, and I'm paraphrasing here, rise up. Right. We're doing the first part now. It's on you to rise up and do the rest. My question to you is, is there a world in which Iranians will be able to democratically elect their next leader?
- [19:28]
E
I feel like Iranians have come to a point where they feel as though they have less and less to lose. And we've seen that in terms of the speed with which people have returned to the street consistently over recent years. I think that there's one thing that it seems that the Iranian regime, the Islamic Republic, that Benjamin Netanyahu's government and Donald Trump's government have in common, they all seem very ready to sacrifice Iranian lives. And I think that that's a really critical piece of this conversation that no one is really talking about. Of course, we're talking about the human toll of war, but this idea that, all right, it's up to you now. Go out and seize power.
- [20:20]
A
How?
- [20:21]
E
With what? And what sort of backup and then what support are you going to provide us? So I think the lack of a plan, of. Of what you know would come next, we're waiting for that from all corners. Right. And I don't think the Islamic Republic has a real good plan other than, you know, we need to keep our grip on power, and we need to do whatever we have to to make sure that happens. And that will mean repression inside Iran. Right. It will also probably mean asymmetrical terror attacks in other parts of the world designed to sow fear in the hearts and minds of people in the region, here in the west and in other places. And from the American and Israeli perspective, it probably means more bombing. And then what?
- [21:14]
A
I think one of the reasons why Netanyahu and Trump were able to pull this off is because of the weakened state of Iran's proxies. We are seeing, right, fighting back from Hezbollah now striking Israel, Israel firing back at Lebanon. Do you foresee this becoming even bigger? And could this turn into a regional war per se? I mean, we've also seen obviously what's happening on the border in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
- [21:45]
E
I think we are certainly at risk of wider, more involved set of regional conflicts that intersect. And I think that the Islamic Republic's belief about themselves is that they not only can withstand a war and have networks of groups in the region that they understand much better than the United States does, but I think that that's a sort of a short term reality for them. They're running out of missiles. Right. They're increasingly having a difficult time controlling what goes on in their society and attacks from abroad. I think a lot of this is last ditch efforts to continue to reap chaos in a region where they have been a main player for a very long time. And I want to say this, there will come a time when bombs stop being dropped, missiles stop being launched, hopefully people stop killing each other and Iran will continue to exist. And it has existed for nearly 3,000 years. And it has been a cultural force, a civilization, an influencer in the entire region for centuries. And I'd like for Iran to get back to that position, but that's a long road.
- [23:17]
A
Jason Rezaian, my friend, I'm thankful we were able to speak today and I wish you well.
- [23:23]
E
Thanks, Jasmine.
- [23:26]
A
Coming up, what the first big primary in Texas could mean for the midterms. That's after a very quick break.
- [23:36]
F
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- [25:10]
A
And we're back with here's the scoop from NBC News. Let's get to some headlines. Tomorrow is primary day in Texas, North Carolina and Arkansas. The Senate race has become the biggest flashpoint, with incumbent Republican Senator John Cornyn facing a fierce challenge from Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. Here's NBC News political reporter Bridget Bowman.
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This Republican primary in Texas has been really competitive in part because President Trump has stayed out of it, saying he supports Cornyn, Paxton and Congressman Wesley Hunt. With three candidates in the race splitting the primary vote, this race is expected to head to a runoff on May 26. On the Democratic side, State Representative James Talarico and Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett are battling over how Democrats can win Texas, with Talarico stressing his bipartisan appeal and Crockett saying she can turn out new voters. And also keep an eye on these House primaries in Texas and North Carolina for clues about whether sitting members of Congress could be in trouble in primaries this year.
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A
We're going to be going live on YouTube tomorrow night for that primary election with a panel of our NBC political reporters. You can send in questions for them. So go to here's the Scoop YouTube page and post in the comments. Speaking of Texas, authorities in Austin are investigating the motive for a fatal shooting at a bar Sunday night, including whether it could have been an act of terrorism. The suspect, identified as njoga Danya, killed two people and injured 14 more before being fatally shot by officers at the scene. He was wearing a sweatshirt that said Property of Allah and a shirt underneath with an Iranian flag theme. According to sources familiar with the investigation. Danya had a history of mental illness. Videos of the depositions with former President Bill Clinton and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have been released by the House Oversight Committee. The pair were questioned last week as part of the committee's probe into the late sex offender. Jeffrey Epstein. NBC News is reviewing the videos, which are about four and a half hours each. Check back for the latest on nbcnews.com in oral arguments at the Supreme Court today, the majority of justices appeared to question a federal law that bans drug users from owning or possessing guns. The case was brought by a Texas gun owner, Ali Hamani, who was arrested after he told police during a 2022 search of his home that he used marijuana. Hunter Biden, the son of former President Joe Biden, was convicted under the same law back in 2024 but was then pardoned by his dad. Gun rights advocates argue the law falls afoul of the Constitution's Second Amendment, which protects the right to bear arms. And finally, actor Harrison Ford has a career that has spanned over 50 years. He was presented the Lifetime Achievement award at the 2026 SAG Actor Awards on Sunday night. The Hollywood legend who joked the recognition felt premature, use the moment to look forward to the next generation.
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E
Success in this business brings a certain
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B
freedom that comes with responsibility to support each other, to lift others up when
- [28:19]
E
we can,
- [28:22]
B
to keep the door open
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E
for the next kid, the next lost boy who's looking for a place to belong.
- [28:31]
A
Aren't we all? That is going to do it for us? It Here is the scoop from NBC News. I'm Yasmin Vesugin. We'll be back tomorrow with whatever the day may bring. And if you like what you heard, subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. And you can also subscribe to our daily newsletter, the Inside Scoop. It is a deeper dive on the main stories of the day that comes out every weeknight straight to your inbox. You can sign up for the Inside Scoop as part of our paid subscription@nbcnews.com we'll see you tomorrow.
- [29:08]
G
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