Welcome to The Times of Israel's Lazar Focus. Each Friday, join host diplomatic correspondent Lazar Berman for a deep dive into what's behind the news that spins the globe.

The war in Iran has reached a new, somewhat odd, phase. After hammering the Islamic Republic for four weeks, US President Donald Trump dropped a bombshell announcement this week -- that he was in talks with Tehran over an end to the war.

Iran initially denied the talks, then acknowledged that there were contacts, and released a series of demands for the war to end.

Now, the US and Israel continue to strike Iran, the Strait of Hormuz remains closed, and Trump talks about Iran talks.

Raz Zimmt, Iran expert at the Institute for National Security Studies, joins Lazar to make sense of what is happening inside Iran, and where the war might go from here.

He explains who is running Iran, and why the country is moving in an even more hardline direction. Zimmt argues that Iran's motivation for building a nuclear weapon has gone up drastically, and Ali Khamenei's fatwa against one is no longer in place now that he is dead.

The regime shows no signs of cracking, Zimmt argues, though its military industries and capabilities have been badly degraded.

If talks with the US fail, he says, the war seems headed for further escalation. That may come in the form of an invasion of Kharg Island, which Zimmt says is the wrong way to force Iran to open the Strait of Hormuz.

Lazar Focus can be found on all podcast platforms. This episode was produced by Gabriella Jacobs and video edited by Yitzhak Ledee.

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