Are we going to war with Iran?
Clockwise from top left: Scenes of daily life in Tehran this week — a shopkeeper, a woman on a scooter, and two women passing an mural on Enqelab-e-Eslami (Islamic Revolution) street in Tehran. Bottom left: Oman's Minister of Foreign Affairs Sayyid Badr bin Hamad Al Busaidi, right, holds a meeting with White House special envoy Steve Witkoff, center, and Jared Kushner, as part of the ongoing Iranian-American negotiations, in Geneva, Thursday, Feb. 26, 2026. Vahid Salemi/AP • Foreign Ministry of Oman
The Trump administration is continuing to ramp up pressure on Iran — with what’s said to be the biggest buildup of American naval power in the region in decades. Last summer, the president claimed a “spectacular military success” after bombing nuclear sites there, but last week, Trump’s Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, went on Fox News and said the country was “probably a week away from having industrial-grade, bomb-making material.”
What is the truth here? What is happening in Iran? Did the ayatollah really order the killing of more than 36,000 people? And ultimately, are we going to war with Iran?
Guests
Mateo Mohammad Farzaneh
Professor and Chair of History & Political Science, Northeastern Illinois University
Elahe Javadi
Associate Professor of Information Systems, Illinois State University
Nicholas Grossman
Assistant Professor of Political Science, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Senior Editor, Arc Digital
Author, “Drones and Terror: Asymmetric Warfare and the Threat to Global Security”
