No good options: how Iran will respond

<p>After America’s strikes intended to destroy Iran’s nuclear programme, one question is <a href="https://www.economist.com/middle-east-and-africa/2025/06/22/trumps-iran-attack-was-ferocious-but-has-it-actually-worked" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">whether they succeeded</a>. Another is how Iran will respond; all of its options <a href="https://www.economist.com/middle-east-and-africa/2025/06/22/trump-smashes-iran-and-gambles-the-regime-will-now-capitulate?utm_campaign=a.io&utm_medium=audio.podcast.np&utm_source=theintelligence&utm_content=discovery.content.anonymous.tr_shownotes_na-na_article&utm_term=sa.listeners" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">are bad ones</a>. In the West people have been shedding religion for decades, but that secularist shift now seems <a href="https://www.economist.com/international/2025/06/12/the-west-has-stopped-losing-its-religion?utm_campaign=a.io&utm_medium=audio.podcast.np&utm_source=theintelligence&utm_content=discovery.content.anonymous.tr_shownotes_na-na_article&utm_term=sa.listeners" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">to be slowing</a>. And what is driving <a href="https://www.economist.com/britain/2025/06/12/inverted-commas-are-falling-out-of-fashion?utm_campaign=a.io&utm_medium=audio.podcast.np&utm_source=theintelligence&utm_content=discovery.content.anonymous.tr_shownotes_na-na_article&utm_term=sa.listeners" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">the decline</a> of inverted commas (aka “quotation marks”).</p><br><p><em>Get a world of insights by </em><a href="https://subscribenow.economist.com/podcasts-plus" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>subscribing to Economist Podcasts+</em></a><em>. For more information about how to access Economist Podcasts+, please visit our </em><a href="https://myaccount.economist.com/s/article/What-is-Economist-Podcasts" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>FAQs page</em></a><em> or watch </em><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gczo71bg1uY" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>our video</em></a><em> explaining how to link your account.</em></p><br><p>Runtime: 22 min</p><br><p><br></p> <hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>