State of Ukraine

NPR has learned that mediators have quietly given Hamas a proposal to hand over all its weapons to ensure Gaza's reconstruction. And Iran has imposed a near-total internet blackout as the war with the U.S. and Israel rages on. Some Iranians are sending voice memos to share a glimpse of what life is like inside the country.To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Unmanned drones are cheaper than missiles, easy to mass-produce, can travel long distances, and strike with precision. For all these reasons they are reshaping conflicts around the globe. We hear from NPR correspondents about how drones are changing the nature of war and the balance of power in Ukraine, Sudan and Mexico.To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Israel says it has killed two top Iranian leaders in airstrikes, dealing another blow to Iran's remaining leadership. One of the men was believed to be directing the current war effort, and these deaths come after Israel killed Iran's supreme leader on the first day of the war. We hear more about who was killed and what this might mean for Iran.And over a million Lebanese have been displaced since Israel intensified its campaign against the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah in southern Lebanon. We meet some of the displaced.To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Ever since the U.S. and Israel launched a war on Iran, oil prices have been on a rollercoaster but overall have been trending higher. An increase in the price of oil has world-wide consequences with winners and losers. To get a snapshot of where things stand, we hear from three reporters around the world— in Russia, Germany and Taiwan.To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Understanding exactly what is happening inside Iran is difficult. The government rarely gives visas to western journalists and closely monitors those that do enter the country. The internet is closely controlled by the regime. For the past two weeks, since the U.S. and Israel began their war in Iran, a writer in Tehran has been sharing entries from her diary with NPR about this war. We hear some of her writings which offer an intimate look at her life under bombardment.To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Five months ago, President Trump declared ceasefire in Gaza, having negotiated a deal that includes phased Israeli withdrawal from the territory and Hamas disarmament. But that was before the U.S. and Israel launched a war in Iran taking the Trump administration's attention away from the Palestinian territory. We go to Gaza and find it's still cutoff from the outside world and gains towards a durable peace have been paused or reversed.To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

In southern Lebanon, Hezbollah militants backed by Iran have been firing rockets at Israel in retaliation for Israel's war in Iran. And Israel has been firing back hard. Almost 700 thousand Lebanese have been displaced, mostly fleeing Israel's strikes.We go to both sides of this renewed conflict. In northern Israel daily rockets are keeping people on edge but also defiant. In Lebanon, Hezbollah's wide popularity has been eroded by the fighting.To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Russia's so-called “special military operation” in Ukraine recently passed the four year mark. And over that time it has become the deadliest conflict on the European continent since World War II. Over 1.5 million people are dead, injured or missing, according to western governments and think tanks. Our correspondent in Moscow tries to answer one of the most persistent and difficult questions of this war: do Russians support it?To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

As we enter the second week of U.S. combat operations in Iran, NPR's Leila Fadel considers the similarities and differences with the last time the United States waded into war in the region, in Iraq in 2003. Leila covered that war as well and talks to some experts about what lessons can be drawn.To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

A week ago, the U.S. and Israel began airstrikes on Iran, killing the regime's leader and starting a war that has now threatens to to expand throughout the Middle East. Iran struck back, firing missiles and drones at Israel, but also at U.S. allies including Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.Meanwhile, Hezbollah militants in Lebanon fired rockets at Israel, and Israel has now conducted attacks in a Beirut suburb believed to be a militant stronghold. Thousands have been displaced. And the U.S. and Israel have continued and intensified their bombing campaign in Iran. We get an update from four NPR correspondents in the region in Beirut, Dubai, Tel Aviv and Eastern Turkey.To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

A panel of clerics in Iran are meeting to decide on the next leader of the fundamentalist regime after Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in recent airstrikes. After nearly 40 years of his rule, the choice could either cement hardline continuity under his son or usher in a fundamentally transformed regime. We hear about likely candidates.And as Iranians are attacking American bases in the Middle East with drones, the government of Ukraine is offering its expertise. They say more than 57 thousand of the same type of drones have been used against them in the last four years.To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

New details are emerging about the bombing of a girls' school in southeastern Iran that killed 165 people, many of them students, according to Iran state media. The Pentagon says it is investigating what happened. Meanwhile satellite images suggest it could have been a precision airstrike. NPR was the first to report on the new images, and we hear more about what they reveal.And as the U.S. strikes on Iran continue, more Iranians are fleeing the war. We go to the border with Turkey to hear from those who have left Iran.To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Days after Israeli and U.S. air strikes killed Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Israel said it had targeted the building where top Iranian clerics would meet to choose his successor. Israel's Prime Minister says the goal of this war is to get rid of the religious regime that has ruled Iran for almost half a century. Many of the possible successors to Iran's have been killed in the attacks, leading to questions to what and who might come next. We hear from NPR correspondents covering the White House and the Middle East.And in announcing the U.S. attacks on Iran, President Trump called on Iranian security forces to defect and for Iranians to take over the government. We hear from people inside Iran to gauge the possibility of that happening.To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

The U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran continue. Meanwhile Iran is retaliating, firing missiles Israel, but also U.S. allies in the Gulf like Bahrain, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and even air bases Cyprus, threatening to expand the conflict. And the Hezbollah militia in Lebanon entered the fight, launching its first attacks on Israel in more than a year.We get an update on developments throughout the Middle East. And we hear the voices of people experiencing the war. In Iran, there are mixed emotions for some. In Israel, the familiar feeling of needing to rush to shelters as they are under Iranian missile fire.To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

In an attack the Pentagon has called “Operation Epic Fury”, the United States along with Israel launched a major strike on Iran bombing sites in Tehran and other cities. In announcing the operation on social media, President Trump said the Iranian regime's activities endanger the United States. We'll hear details about the strike and analysis about what this action could mean for the Iranian regime and the Iranian people.To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Cambodia and neighboring Laos have become centers for stealing money via bogus investment opportunities, romance scams and other online cons. The U.S. Treasury Department says Americans were scammed for $10 billion dollars in 2024 alone and the worldwide estimate is four times that. Many countries have had enough. We hear about the consequences being forced on the scammers.To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

It is a war for control over some of the world's richest mineral reserves and the violence is heightened by long-standing ethnic and political tensions. In the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, government forces and local militia groups are fighting M23 rebels backed by neighboring Rwanda.This is one of the wars President Trump repeatedly claims to have ended. But though a U.S.-brokered peace deal was signed, the fighting hasn't stopped. We go behind the government front lines for a glimpse of the conflict.To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

According to the Gaza peace plan President Trump negotiated between Israel and Hamas, Palestinians will not be displaced from the territory. This is a pivot from Trump's earlier position that Palestinians should leave and move to other countries. But powerful people in Israel's government don't like this change. We go to Israel's parliament, where those who say Israel should stay in Gaza are making their case.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

It has been four years since Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, starting a war the Kremlin believed would end in a matter of days with Ukraine capitulating. Now after years of death and destruction, the war grinds on with no end in sight as U.S.-sponsored peace talks appear to be at an impasse. NPR has correspondents in both Kyiv and Moscow and we hear from them about how both countries view the conflict now.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

In Mexico, chaos erupts after a major drug cartel leader is killed in a military raid. Armed men set fire to banks, businesses and vehicles in retaliation. We get the latest from Mexico.And we meet the one of the last newspaper hawkers in Paris, who has just been given a knighthood.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

According to the 20-point peace plan for Gaza brokered by President Trump, “No one will be forced to leave Gaza, and those who wish to leave will be free to do so and free to return.” But while a border crossing between Egypt and Gaza has technically reopened, few people have been allowed to use it so far. We go to Gaza to meet some of the few people who have been able to return and they report a harrowing and uncertain ordeal.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

President Trump announced billions of dollars to rebuild Gaza at the meeting of his newly created organization in Washington, D.C. Foreign policy experts try to define Trump's vision of international affairs.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Israel's military says it's planning a new barrier along the eastern border of the occupied Palestinian territory of the West Bank. Palestinian farmers and shepherds say existing walls and the construction of Jewish settlements are keeping them from reaching and working their fields.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Kyiv residents venture onto the city's frozen Dnipro River for a favorite past-time of ice fishing. The activity is a much-needed respite in Ukraine as the Russian invasion enters a fifth year.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

In Old Cairo, shoppers prepare for the holy month of Ramadan, a time of fasting and prayer. In Beijing, the Lunar New Year brings the Year of the Fire Horse, which represents action and risk-taking, but many people say they just want stability in this sluggish economy.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

The Washington Post laid off most of its foreign correspondents, including some of the last American and Western journalists working in authoritarian countries.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

NATO launches the mission in response to Russian and Chinese ambitions in the high North, and to President Trump's threat of a US takeover of Greenland. Japan's last pair of giant pandas returns to China. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Syria's Jewish community fled the country's repressive Assad regime. Now, a new government is encouraging their return by giving back ownership of synagogues and other property. Jane Arraf is there as one Jewish group turns the key on a synagogue's door in the northern city of Aleppo.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Cuba hasn't received an oil shipment since December. The shortage has grounded air travel, and disrupted food production, hospitals and schools. Venezuelans stage open demonstrations in the streets that only weeks ago could have meant jail time.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Cuba is in economic crisis. Its ally, Venezuela, is no longer sending oil, and the Trump administration is applying pressure. Life for Cubans is hard, but if they express their opinions they can get in a lot of trouble. So they've found other ways to tell you what they think, and a single phrase is doing a lot of the work. Our correspondent in Havana tells us what it is.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

As the Winter Olympics get underway in Milan and across the Italian Alps, our correspondent looks back at a bold pledge made by the organizers: that these games would be sustainable. They said they would slash the event's carbon footprint and protect sensitive mountain ecosystems. Environmental groups say that's not what is happening.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Ever since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, experts say Russia has stepped up its hybrid war on Western Europe. Attacks on critical infrastructure or using drones to shutdown airports are meant to undermine support for Ukraine. We go to Poland to see one such attack.And in Kyiv, Ukrainians are getting through Russian attacks that have shut down the power grid in the coldest months by holding dance parties on ice.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

The United States has been conducting military operations in Syria for more than a decade. Their mission has been to attack ISIS militants and to protect Syrian oil fields. With ISIS weakened and a new government in Syria, the U.S. may pull out the troops it has stationed in Syria. But doing so might hurt some U.S. allies. We hear from NPR reporters who cover the Pentagon and the Middle East about what the move could mean.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

While there has been political turmoil in the U.S. over the latest release of photos and emails in the “Epstein files”, the consequences in the U.K. have been more concrete. There, a prince had already been stripped of his title over his connections to the late accused sex trafficker. Now a member of the House of Lords has been forced to step down. We get the latest from London.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Protests in Iran have been ongoing for over a month and according to one human rights group, over 6000 people have died. As the internet blackout begins to lift, we're learning more about what has happened. Our correspondent brings us the experiences of three Iranian women.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

While debate rages in the U.S. about the merits and risks of Artificial Intelligence in schools, in China, it's a state-mandated part of the school curriculum. Authorities there want to create a pool of AI-savvy professionals. But like in the U.S., some parents have mixed emotions about how and when their kids use A.I. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

President Trump approaches Middle East peacemaking as a business deal. In today's episode we go to Israel and the Palestinian territory of the West Bank to hear about the different ways that those economies are being affected by war, and what that means for the peace process going forward.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

In the past year, President Trump has often threatened or turned to military force. Yet he likes to present himself as a peacemaker, and that includes his new plan for a global Board of Peace. We hear from two NPR correspondents about what the Board of Peace could be.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Despite dozens of lethal U.S. strikes on suspected drug-smuggling boats in the Caribbean and Pacific, figures show drug flows to the U.S. continue to rise and coastal communities in countries like Colombia are paying the price.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

In Israel, families whose sons have died in the war in Gaza have the option of having sperm samples retrieved for future offspring. Many have agreed to the procedure. That has raised complicated questions of what can and should be done with this genetic material. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Dollars are trickling back into Venezuela, they're the proceeds from the oil seized and by the U.S. That is helping to stabilize runaway prices in Venezuela—at least on paper. But for ordinary shoppers in Caracas, market prices remain dizzying, and families still struggle to make ends meet.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

The booming population along coastal corridor from the cities Lagos to Abidjan has the potential to be a bustling West African economic engine, tied together by a long-promised superhighway that could slash travel time and supercharge trade. But the task of harnessing that potential has barely been met. We travel along a section of the road to understand why.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy