This week, we look at the recent Israeli surprise attack, and the Iranian response that rained down on Israeli cities.

The war started on 13 June with surprise attack launched by Israel, attacking high profile military and nuclear figures, as well as nuclear and military sites across the country.

Iran responded with a wave of drones and missiles, some of which got through.

We've seen outbreaks of violence between the two countries before, but this round was far more costly for each nation.

Why did Israel decide to launch a surprise attack? How were Iran able to inflict damage to Israel? Who was targeted by Israel and what impact do the killings have? What's the state of the Iranian nuclear deal? And can a new deal be reached?

Joining us to untangle the Israeli decision making is Mairav Zonszein (@MairavZ), Senior Israel analyst for the International Crisis Group (@CrisisGroup). And to understand the Iranian position, we speak with Alex Vatanka (@AlexVatanka), Senior Fellow at the Middle East Institute (@MiddleEastInst), with a particular focus on Iran.

This podcast is written and produced by Hugo Goodridge (@hugogoodridge).

Theme music by Omar al-Fil with additional music from Audio Network.

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