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Sources & Methods
Live Q&A: Trump on Hormuz; Lebanon, counterattacks, the intel beat, and more
00:37:52
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- [00:00]
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- [00:36]
Greg Myre
The president made some interesting comments on social media today, saying that other countries need to worry about opening the Strait of Hormuz, not America's problem. It really looks like it's gotten more difficult to find a way out of this.
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Mary Louise Kelly
The war in Iran now in its second month, with some 50,000 troops in the region and oil prices continuing to climb. We're dedicating the bulk of this episode to answering your questions about Iran and about our work covering national security. This is SOURCES and Methods from npr. I'm Mary Louise Kelly. This is a special episode of the show because we are recording it on a zoom call with several hundred listeners who we have invited to take a peek behind the curtain as a thank you for their support of npr. So, friends, thank you. To explain the setup, I am looking at a screen where I can see questions coming in in real time from that group. These are questions, we hope, about the latest events in Iran and beyond and about how we do the work that we do on the national security beat. We also have a pile of questions from our mailbox submitted over the last weeks and months, and we will try to get to as many of those as we can in a bit. First, though, we're going to do a little bit of sources and methods, spend some time on the news. And to do that, I am joined NPR national security correspondent Greg Myri. Greg, how are you?
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Greg Myre
I'm doing great, Mary Louise. Great to be here.
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Mary Louise Kelly
All right. We are recording this at noon Eastern. It is Tuesday. It is March 31st. We're diving in, Greg. The latest on U.S. troops in the Middle East. I just said We've got some 50,000 troops now in the region, more arriving. What are they doing? Where are they going?
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Greg Myre
Yeah. So the big news, the development the past few days has been a Marine expeditionary unit arriving in the region. We don't know exactly where. Another one is on the way. Both of those, maybe 2,500 troops each. There's also forces from the 82nd Airborne who are headed to the region a few Thousand there. So these bump up the total US force in the region to about 50,000 or so with a lot of focus on these recent arrivals. And obviously there's a lot of speculation about a possible ground invasion or an action against to help open up the Strait of Hormuz or Kharg island, that island in the Gulf that's so key to Iranian oil exports for now.
- [03:12]
Mary Louise Kelly
What are they doing, Greg? Is it hurry up and wait mode? We're gathering and we wait to see.
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Greg Myre
Absolutely. And again, this is a relatively small force, even the 50,000 number we're talking about. It's not enough to carry out a major sustained ground operation. It could carry out something small and specific, but we don't know what that might be and it's not enough. If you want to have a long open ended ground operation.
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Mary Louise Kelly
It would be one thing for example, to take Cargill and another thing to hold it and secure it long term.
- [03:44]
Greg Myre
Absolutely.
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Mary Louise Kelly
Okay, I want to ask about another development since we last taped Sources and methods, which is end of last week. Last Friday, Iran hit a US base in Saudi Arabia. Iran is still hitting back and hitting back hard. Tell me what happened in Saudi Arabia and its significance.
- [04:04]
Greg Myre
Yeah, this was a big deal for several reasons. It was at the Prince Sultan Air Base outside the Saudi capital, Riyadh. So a base that's been there forever, a key base. The Americans and the Saudis share it and the Iranians had at least one directed, apparently two. Now we're hearing from sources talking to NPR of these E3 AWACS planes. Think of these as flying command centers. They have that big distinctive disk like radar on top of the plane. And it allows them to be in the air and just pick up everything in the region. Radar attacks coming in have this visual and electronic command of the battlefield. Very expensive planes. The US only has about 20 of them. Iran scored a direct hit on one and apparently a second one as well. This was not some random hit. This is deep, deep inside Saudi Arabia at a very well known and important base. The Iranians are getting some very good, detailed information to carry out an attack like this.
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Mary Louise Kelly
Do we know from where?
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Greg Myre
We don't. One suspicion though is it could be Russia and in fact, a source you might not have expected on this. Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky happened to be in the region and he said that Ukraine, as it tries to gather intelligence on Russia, it has been able to determine Russian satellites picking up information on US Military locations in the Middle East. He thinks that Russia is helping Iran, providing them with this kind of detailed targeting information that would allow them to do this. Pentagon is not saying this. We did hear Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth today talk about saying, yes, they're getting some information. He didn't specify.
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Mary Louise Kelly
Pete Hegseth also confirming today, by the way, that he made a quiet, clandestine trip to the region, that he met with troops. He didn't say at which base, but he has been boots on the ground, as it were. I mean, what you're saying, it gives such a sense of how sprawling this is that we've got Russia and Ukraine and Saudi Arabia and all of these players now potentially in the mix, which prompts me to ask where diplomatic efforts are going. What's the state of diplomacy? We had the White House in the form of Caroline Levitt, White House press secretary, on Monday, telling reporters talks are continuing and they're going great. Iran doesn't even admit that there are talks happening. So where do things stand?
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Greg Myre
Right. We've had these conflicting narratives for a week, more than a week now, with the White House saying, yeah, talks are going great, and Iran saying, no, Pakistan,
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Mary Louise Kelly
if they don't even agree, whether they're talking or not, it gives some sense of the distance that may need to be covered before this, before this is over.
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Greg Myre
Absolutely. Absolutely. Pakistan is trying to be the mediator here. One of the relatively few countries that have decent relations with both the US and with Iran. It shares a border with Iran. So Pakistan's foreign minister has hosted some other countries from the region who are involved. Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Egypt, but not the US And Iran. So at this stage, it seems like best we can tell, Pakistan is passing messages. You know, if the US Puts out a plan, Pakistan will pass it on to the Iranians and vice versa. But no direct talks and no sign of those direct talks. And I think that speaks to how far apart the sides are. Both sides seem to be putting out maximalist demands. The US Calling for Iran to basically completely dismantle its nuclear program, for its air force and navy and missile production to be completely torn apart. Iran, we don't know precisely what they're asking, but they want guarantees that they won't be hit, that every six months the US and or Israel won't be striking them. In a sense, they want an assurance that the regime will stay in place. So they're talking about things that the other side may not be willing to give right now. And there's no sign that we're talking about direct talks between the US And Iran.
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Mary Louise Kelly
So one more to you, Greg, before we Open it up to everybody's questions. But one more for me, which is the super basic off ramp. Do you see any insight? We're now a month and counting into this war. The US had initially said and there were different estimates, but we were getting signals that the US Was maybe looking at a six week commitment. We're now at five.
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Greg Myre
Yeah, I think there was more possibility of that early in the war. It looked like President Trump was in control of the narrative and could stop when he wanted to. Maybe he would accomplish some things, maybe not others, but it looked like he could make that decision. With the Strait of Hormuz closed, it really looks like it's gotten more difficult to find a way out of this, that this is a problem that didn't exist when this war began a little over a month ago. The president made some interesting comments on social media today saying that other countries referring to Europe or others need to worry about opening the Strait of Hormuz, not America's problem. And it sort of raises the possibility. Is he laying the groundwork for a possibility that the US Is not going to pursue a military option to reopen the Strait? Very hard to tell. You know, aside from the day to day operation that we're seeing, might he escalate or de escalate? Those are the two basic options he talks about both simultaneously and today he's talking about, hey, talks are still going. Maybe we don't need to open the Strait.
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Mary Louise Kelly
So many tea leaves to read. Okay, we're going to take a break. When we come back, the Q and A portion of our event. We're answering your questions about our work covering the national security beat and events in Iran and more right after this. This message comes from Warby Parker. Prescription eyewear that's expertly crafted and unexpectedly affordable. Glasses designed in house from premium materials starting at just $95, including prescription lenses. Stop by a Warby Parker store near you.
- [10:21]
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Mary Louise Kelly
All right, we're back. Greg Myhre, if you were strapped in, we're gonna open up the Q and A portion of this episode with one from our Sources and Methods mailbox. Because quite a few have been writing us and quite a few have been writing us about the Strait of Hormuz. Jeffrey asks, explain to me how the US Is helpless to prevent Iran from mining the Strait of Hormuz. Another this is from Frank. The US did not seem ready for Iran's blocking of the strait. Alberto also writing saying, if the US and the international community have long known how vulnerable the Strait of Hormuz is, why hasn't there been a more effective effort to reduce Iran's ability to disrupt it? Greg I think the short answer is it's really hard to reduce Iran's ability to disrupt it. But flesh that out a little bit.
- [11:48]
Greg Myre
Yeah, sure, sure. I'll try to give a teeny tiny history lesson here. 1980-88, Iran and Iraq fought this tremendously brutal war. Around a million people overall were killed. Toward the end of that war, the US Got involved with escorting some oil tankers from Kuwait in and out of the Gulf. Compared to today, that was a relatively easy process. You had to worry about some mines in the Gulf, the occasional missile. Iraq mistakenly hit a US ship and killed more than 30 US sailors with a missile. So even then, obviously not risk free by any means, but a limited number of threats. And then the 90, the first Gulf War, which I covered, that first Gulf War when the US Pushed Iraqi troops out of Kuwait, that led to another disruption in the Gulf. So the problem was very, very clear. In fact, the US has had a naval presence in the Gulf dating back, I believe, to the 1950s. And around the mid-90s, the Fifth Fleet of the US Navy was established formally in Bahrain. So it's been there and for the reason of keeping the Strait and the Gulf open. And it's really almost nothing short of a miracle that for more than three decades now, oil has flowed freely in and out of the Gulf, despite all the turmoil, all the upheavals. What has changed is I think, just the weaponry. Iran's missiles and their drones, much more effective. They can fire them from much longer range right now, and there's a lot
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Mary Louise Kelly
of them, and they're expendable because they're cheap.
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Greg Myre
Yeah, These drones are 20 to $50,000. Iran has thousands of them. So it's like trying to worry about mosquitoes at a swamp. There are perhaps 2,000 ships stranded on either side of the Strait of Hormuz, and 100 a day would normally pass through there. So the US has maybe 20 ships in the region that have other tasks, they're doing other things. But even if the US Were to escort them, it would be very hard to escort them and they'd be very vulnerable to these drones and missile.
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Mary Louise Kelly
Ok. At the Zoom Q and A for our audience, we have a ton of questions coming in. Thank you. A few to do with the role of US Allies. Greg, Ben, for example, why are Spain and Italy denying airspace to the US Military? I will chime in and add at why aren't allies heeding President Trump's call? He says, come help us. Come if you want the straits cured, which is in everyone's interest. Pitch in.
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Greg Myre
Yeah. President Trump has tariffed, insulted, demeaned US Allies ever since he well, you could go back to his first term, but certainly in this term as worse. And he did not try to build a coalition before launching this operation. And so you're seeing these countries that don't feel that they were included, didn't want to be part of this war, placing restrictions on the US you can't use our airspace. We don't want to get involved. You know, even the countries in the Gulf which didn't want this war to begin. So this is what happens when you start a war unilaterally and don't have a coalition in place. You can't expect everybody to chip in.
- [15:01]
Mary Louise Kelly
Yeah. Here's another question from one of our Zoom guests today. This is Jerome, who asks, is there a political party in Iran that opposes the current religious regime? We don't seem to hear about it. We got a few questions along this line about civilian opposition to the Iranian regime, where it is. Why aren't we hearing from it? I mean, I will take one swing at that, which is just to say there is deep anger against the regime in Iran. I have heard that. I've been there. I've witnessed it and heard it from person after person who we interviewed on the streets in Iran, in Isfahan and Tehran. They have elections, obviously, and you always watch to try to figure out is the more moderate or more progressive candidate, what prevailing, what could that mean? But I don't think it's been possible before and I don't think it's possible now for anyone to openly oppose the regime. From what we can glimpse from the outside and from what longtime Iran watchers seem to concur, it's still the establishment in charge, Greg. It is the clerics and particularly the IRGC that seems to be running the show.
- [16:14]
Greg Myre
Yeah, absolutely. There's no organized opposition there. There is a media. You'll see some articles mildly critical, but anybody deeply opposed to the regime is either in prison or left the country. And you see the diaspora in the US or elsewhere. But yes, you can't actively oppose the regime inside Iran.
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Mary Louise Kelly
Yeah, just one more point, which is among his many recent comments. President Trump has asserted that the US Is dealing with a, and I'm quoting, new and more reasonable regime in Iran. We don't know who they're dealing with. He's not naming names. Again, it's entirely by one hopes that that is true. But it is also entirely possible that the leaders are more hardline now than before. I'm thinking of Mujtaba Khamenei, the son of the previous ayatollah, who we're told is the supreme leader, although we haven't seen or heard directly from him. But I remember Greg, our colleague in the Gulf Aobatraoui, was making the point the other day. His father, his mother, his son, his wife were killed in the airstrikes at the start of this war. Without apologizing in any way for a regime that has treated many of its citizens terribly, it's hard to think that someone who has just endured that is going to sit down and want to negotiate in any kind of diplomatic way
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Greg Myre
with the U.S. oh, absolutely. And just all the people that have replaced those who have been killed or ousted in some form, they were part and parcel of the regime for decades. They were deputies, the number two person, number three person, or they got moved sideways. It's hard to imagine they don't hold many of the same positions. They're certainly less experienced. I mean, even the former supreme leader kind of took their nuclear program up to the threshold but didn't go across it. But now you've got a group of leaders who are fighting very aggressively in the middle of a war who don't have that experience as much or to the same degree of dealing with the outside world. And could certainly make arguments like, well, going up to the threshold of a nuclear weapon brought all this attention to us and got us attacked and we don't have a weapon. So why should we go to the threshold? Why shouldn't we cross the threshold in the future?
- [18:34]
Mary Louise Kelly
Several questions coming in live on Zoom about Israel's role in all of this. Israel, of course, started this war along with the U.S. it was an Israeli strike that took out the supreme leader on day one of this war. Two questions that I will bundle for you, Greg, from Chris, asking do we know if Israel is involved in any of the indirect negotiations with Iran? I don't know the answer to that. Maybe you do. Also, Julia asking is there a reason why Israel is attacking Lebanon concurrently with attacking Iran alongside the US So questions about Lebanon and this whole second front, speaking of the war widening and is Israel engaged in any kind of indirect talks?
- [19:17]
Greg Myre
I don't think Israel is. I can't prove that. I don't have evidence. But Iran's been willing to deal at least indirectly with the US in talks. They've never been willing to deal with Israel in any way that we're aware of. So I think highly unlikely in that case. Lebanon. Yeah, there are really two separate wars going on, the US And Israel against Iran and then Israel against Lebanon and Hezbollah in particular. And again, I really think it's important to almost step back a little bit. Trace this to the Hamas attack out of Gaza on Israel on October 7, 2023. That's when the shackles really came off. And we've just seen this expansion of the war. Israel going against Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen got involved. We've seen several rounds before this with attacks on Iran. So this is all part of really something just exploded at that moment and it's still playing itself out.
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Mary Louise Kelly
All right, speaking of other players in all of this, we have questions both to our Sources and Methods mailbox and from our Zoom guests asking about the role of Ukraine and how everything happening with Iran is affecting the war in Ukraine. We have Holly, who has joined the live Zoom and written you report that Zelensky, Zelensky has visited several Middle east countries regarding drone technology. What are the chances that Russia is brought into this wider conflict?
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Greg Myre
Well, again, as we mentioned, Russia may well be providing some sort of intelligence to help Iran target number one. So that's certainly possible. Russia and Iran have been sharing drone technology throughout four years ago when Russia's full scale invasion in Ukraine, Russia was buying drones shahed drones from Iran and using them. Russia couldn't get enough of them. So it bought the technology and has started making its own version of those Iranian drones and is using them. So that's why Ukraine is very good at protecting against those kind of drones based on Iranian technology. So there was already a.
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Mary Louise Kelly
So interesting. Sorry to jump on you, but just, you know, we have for four years and counting now seen Ukraine as a recipient of military aid and money and like we gotta help Ukraine fight their war. President Zelensky very much trying to turn the tables and say, hey, we can Help you? We are the provider. We have a huge role to play here.
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Greg Myre
So over the weekend he was in Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Qatar. Ukraine is already providing more than 200 drone specialists to help those countries combat these drones. And Zelenskyy is clearly making the pitch. We'll give you whatever we can in terms of people, in terms of drone interceptors. Can you help fund our war against Russia? What can you do to help us? It might be joint production of these drone interceptors. It might be just money that Ukraine could use and desperately needs. So there is a real melding here. And Zelensky, who has been so savvy and so quick off the mark as we saw four years ago, is still doing that. He was really the first big prominent leader from outside the region, I think, who's got right in the middle of it and is making a pitch.
- [22:39]
Mary Louise Kelly
Here is a question from Robert. Robert is on our zoom call. Hi Robert. He asks, is the Iran conflict legal pursuant to our Constitution? Doesn't Congress need to approve Trump starting a war? This is a big one.
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Greg Myre
Yeah. Robert, you are paying attention in civics. It is true Congress has the power to declare war. It has not done that formally since World War II. There gets all these kinds of hedges in the past 20, 20 years after the 911 attacks, they pass an authorization to use military force and then stopping short of formally declaring war. So yes, that is legally speaking, that's what's supposed to be done. And then of course there's the War Powers act, which dates to the 1970s. That gives the president some leeway to act if he feels there's an imminent threat. But he's supposed to notify Congress and it basically gives him 60 days. And after 60 days he needs authorization from Congress if he wants to continue. But all of these things have just really been pushed aside. We're more than 30 days in to this Iran war. There's really no sign that Congress, a Republican Congress, is going to hold President Trump to this sort of 60 day limit. President Trump is acting as he wants to.
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Mary Louise Kelly
All right, we have some really good sources and methods type questions coming in, circling around the idea of how we know what we know about what is happening, happening in Iran and specifically how spy agencies know what they know. Asking about sources and methods. Here's one from BP who wonders. It's remarkable that agencies can apparently pinpoint the movements of figures such as Nicolas Maduro, such as Ayatollah Khamenei, when they must be very cautious about surveillance. I would be very interested in hearing your team's thoughts on how intelligence services manage such tracking, a related question, Charlie, asking is it safe to assume that Israel has a substantial spy network in Iran? Yes, I will take that one. It is safe to assume. I mean, the targeting just in the first 24, 48 hours in this war was quite remarkable, Greg.
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Greg Myre
Absolutely. For Israel, their biggest threat is Iran. So for decades they have devoted resources. Mossad, their external intelligence agency, has been focused on Iran and they have infiltrated Iran to an extraordinary degree. We've seen attacks on nuclear scientists. We've seen them stealing secrets from the nuclear program and the military program. So this wasn't a one off. This is something that's been underway for decades. And again, it was extraordinary when Israel announced on day one that they had killed the supreme leader. As best we can tell, apparently the CIA picked up up some intelligence that there was going to be this big meeting, several big meetings on a Saturday morning, which is the Monday morning in Iran of senior military and political leaders. And that moved up the day for starting the war. So Israel, the US And Israel apparently shared that information and that allowed Israel to carry out an attack which clearly was devastating. Yeah.
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Mary Louise Kelly
All right, let's work in a few non Iran questions. Here is one from sources and Methods mailbox listener Varuna, who wrote after an episode we did with NPR's China correspondent Jennifer Pack. The question was how do journalists publish candid reporting on China while still being allowed to reside in China? Why aren't they more frequently targeted or accused of espionage by Chinese authorities? I will admit that I cheated. I saw this question come into our mailbox and thought I should ask Jennifer. She's the one who should answer that. So we did. And Jennifer wrote us back from Beijing this morning saying, oh yeah, authorities can interfere in all kinds of ways that she has often experienced Chinese officials popping up out of nowhere to assist with her story. And of course, the assistance usually means that whoever she was trying to interview is now terrified to speak to her. That they physically block journalists from recording, from filming. And it can escalate all the way to to getting a journalist booted out of the country. But she says China needs foreign media for legitimacy. And the quote she sent me was, you go to a lot of events, you'll hear Chinese officials listing how many journalists from other countries are there to cover it because they want to show that what China does matters to the rest of the world. I will add one note on that, which is reporting from some places with even more onerous conditions, like North Korea, where you were assigned a minder who is at your side before you've even hit baggage claim. They're at your side from passport control. They never leave your side. You cannot go where you want to go. You cannot speak to everybody you want to speak to. It's all, it's immensely challenging. You're mindful of it. You're mindful everybody you interview is potentially at risk and being very careful in what they say to you. But I also always think any window into a closed society or a country that's hard to report from, any window's better than no window. And you get to see and report firsthand. And it's just infinitely preferable to just relying on press releases and the photographs that the government chooses to put out there. Here's another one. This is from our Sources and Methods audience. Courtney wrote to us with a question about our Pentagon correspondent, our colleague Tom Bowman, noting that it has been a few months since Tom had to give up his Pentagon badge. How has reporting changed for him? What sources is he still able to access? I know, as you will, Greg, that Tom often on this podcast has talked about it's harder that he has to work more sources outside the Pentagon. So he is working more sources on Capitol Hill, for example, because those people sit on committees getting briefed by the Pentagon. He's working more sources in foreign embassies and asking them, what are you hearing from defense officials? What threads should I be pulling on here? I also, Greg, you cover my old beat, the intelligence beat, and I often smile a little bit with full solidarity for our Pentagon correspondent colleagues. But if you cover the CIA and the National Security Agency, we never had a badge to wander the building. You can't travel with those guys. When they travel, they never hold briefings. So they're kind of having to learn how to cover a beat the way you and I already have.
- [29:37]
Greg Myre
I'm still waiting for that first CIA press conference. I don't think we're ever going to
- [29:41]
Mary Louise Kelly
ever to hand you a directory of here's everyone, here's their direct line.
- [29:46]
Greg Myre
Exactly. Just the one other quick note I'd notice is, yes, the behind the scenes kind of things. And happy to share that with our listeners and viewers. But what you can see, the Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth gave a briefing this morning. It was the first one in 12 days. In the middle of a very intense war, you would expect those every day. I remember at times when you'd get them twice a day, but, you know, once a day you would expect a briefing. And in the past Year, the first year of the Trump administration, there were almost no briefings. I mean, you could have, I think you probably could have counted all of the briefings on one hand. So even what is just happening publicly, let alone behind the scenes, has just changed dramatically.
- [30:32]
Mary Louise Kelly
All right, we have another question from the mailbox. This is from a listener who did not sign their name, but it was interesting, so I want to include it. This listener wrote to ask about U.S. policy toward Cuba. And the question I was wondering about the state of Cuba's defenses and ability to retaliate. Will we get a Trump resort in Havana? The context here, of course, Greg, is that President Trump sometime in the last week said he believes he will have the honor of taking Cuba. Cuba. I also flip this to our colleague Eder Peralta, who's been on the podcast, who is a terrific reporter, has reported from Cuba. And he wrote back and told me that when he interviews Cuban officials, they say the, this is the fight that they have been anticipating for more than seven decades. They say if the US Invades, there will be a fight and it won't be anything like Venezuela, I. E. Like they will, they will fight back and you're not going to. To take us down quite so easily. But he also qualifies. Speaking of Venezuela, remember that 32 Cuban troops were killed in Venezuela during the Maduro extraction, whereas US Troops left without a single loss.
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Greg Myre
So
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Mary Louise Kelly
this would be a challenge. Greg, what are you hearing?
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Greg Myre
Yeah, Cuba does not have a lot of defenses. Remember, the US Has a naval base in Cuba, Guantanamo Bay, right there. You literally have American forces in Cuba as we speak. And they've been there for decades. So that would not be the issue. I don't think it would be a major battle. But of course the question would be afterwards. And that's always the part, I think there's always so much discussion and so much debate about what the fight is going to be like, but not the aftermath. And would Cubans be receptive to a new leadership and one that is, is working with or appointed by the US And I just don't know the answer to that question.
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Mary Louise Kelly
All right, as we start to wind toward a close, I wanna bring us back to Iran. There are a number of questions coming in on the Zoom about how we report on Iran. Cause it's tough. This is from Firouzeh writing. I'm very disappointed that NPR doesn't report casualties in Iran and mostly focuses on US And Israeli statistics. Here's another one from one of our Zoom guests, Michael, asking what have been the primary challenges in reporting on the conflict in Iran. I have thoughts. Do you want to take a first swing at that, Greg?
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Greg Myre
Sure. We have reported on casualties in Iran. It's coming from Iranian officials, sometimes our human rights groups. And I believe the number of civilians reported killed in Iran is around 1500 somewhere around there.
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Mary Louise Kelly
So that is, they're trying to triangulate Iranian sources with, with NGOs and external international sources with, you know, common sense, whatever we can apply from the outside.
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Greg Myre
Right. And that gets to the point about the main problem of covering this war. We're not in Iran and that's where the war is taking place. I've been going to Ukraine frequently in the past few years and I've written some pieces on how Ukraine is the most documented war in history. And it seemed like we'd entered this new era simply because everybody's got a phone and is taking videos. And I remember in the past where it would be very hard to get information from a war zone. Now you can literally wake up in bed in Kyiv and you're just inundated with videos and reports and news, and it's sifting through this mountain of stuff and trying to figure out what's noise and what's important. Again, it feels like we'd entered some new era about our ability to cover these conflicts. But Iran feels like very much part of the past where we can't go in. I believe there's been CNN got a crew in for a few days and then left leave. So the Western media just hasn't been there to report. We've gotten much less information than usual from the Pentagon because this is an air war you can't really embed with troops. And US Troops aren't in Iran anyway. And Iran has cut off the Internet to its own citizens.
- [34:49]
Mary Louise Kelly
Right. So it is very hard for people there to get information out to the outside world. I will add by way of context, we're trying, you know, we're speaking to you from a show called Sources and Methods. We are desperately trying to work our sources to figure out what is happening in Iran and present as accurate and complete a view as we can. We have sent teams, for example, teams of reporters to the Iran's border with Turkey. Other colleagues have been at Iran's border with Iraq trying to interview people crossing out. And they're talking to everybody who will talk to them, report that people are shooting, still frightened, speaking to Western journalists coming out. Often they have family back at home who they're worried may be at risk. It's difficult really hard to get visas to go to Iran as American reporters even in better times, even when we're not in all out war. I have tried many times for many years, have succeeded twice, very briefly, five day visas both times. And when you're there, you can go some but not all the places you might want to go. You can speak to some but not all of the people you might want to speak to. So you know, you're getting a limited picture but you can still describe. Here's what a store looks like, here's what the streets look like, here's what the gas pumps look like. Here's what I can see driving from Tehran south to Isfahan on passing a highway exit sign that says Natanz. And you think there it is. I can't drive up and see it. But you're getting a sense of what the scale and scope and terrain challenges may be in terms of activities there. That's where I would leave that question to say. We're really trying and we'll keep bringing you as many voices as we can as we continue trying to communicate with people inside Iran and out. All right. With that I think we're going to wrap with this is a total change of gears. This is a note from our inbox. Not a question, but a suggestion that feels worth sharing. Listener Daniel Dan wrote to us. He is an editor of a food magazine. Wait for it. This is going to be relevant. Editor of a food magazine, Dan writes. I've been a longtime listener. I wanted to share an idea. If you ever have a quiet week or two in the NATSEC world, I would encourage you to consider Sauces and Methods, a segment on chefs with high end security clearances, which is the greatest idea ever. Dan, I would love, I would so love a to have a quiet week or two in the nutsec world. That would be nice. And I guess if we happen to have any listeners out there who work in the NSA or CIA canteens, drop us a line. We'd love to have you on. It'd be great to hear.
- [37:40]
Greg Myre
Great idea. I'd be totally useless for that.
- [37:43]
Mary Louise Kelly
You could be our taster in chief. Greg, you could have that honor. All right. That is the time that we have. Greg Myrey, thanks so much for a terrific sport and I learn something every single time I speak to you. Thanks.
- [37:54]
Greg Myre
My pleasure.
- [37:56]
Mary Louise Kelly
And thank you also to our sources and methods listeners for writing us us with so many thoughtful questions with your personal reactions to the show. Even if we didn't get to your question today, we're keeping it it is so helpful to know what's on your mind. It's helpful to know who you are, what you're curious about because it helps inform how we make assignments and what we talk about on on this podcast going forward. So thank you to all of the supporters who joined us here today. It is great to connect. It is great to tell you face to face how much your support matters. If you're listening. If you are not a supporter yet, it is really easy to sign up. You will get perks for all kinds of NPR podcasts like this one. You'll get invitations to special events. You'll get archive access. You'll get sponsor free listening and even bonus content from NPR podcasts, including Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me and Fresh Air and lots of other good ones. So join us today@plus.NPR.org and maybe we'll see you here again in our next zoom. Again, that is plus Fear not. We are back on Thursday with our regular roundup of the week's national security news. Until then, I'm Mary Louise Kelly. Thank you for listening to Sources and Methods from npr.
- [39:18]
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