Since Israel launched air strikes on Iran last Friday, the two states have traded missiles with mounting casualties on both sides.

Iranian military leaders have been killed as have some of its nuclear scientists but the country’s citizens have borne the brunt of the air attacks.

Israel has said its rationale for the middle-of-the-night attack that sparked the war was its need to ensure, for its own protection, that Iran’s nuclear programme is halted.

How close Iran is to actually having a nuclear bomb is unclear but for Israel to obliterate entirely the nuclear threat it needs the US to join the war, to send its “bunker buster” mega bomb to destroy the Fordo uranium enrichment facility buried deep in the mountains.

But if the US does enter the war, what will that mean for the region? And what is Donald Trump’s position on entering the war?

Is there any chance that Iran, whose military capabilities have been weakened, will surrender?

Faraz Gergez, Professor of International Relations at the London School of Economics and Political Science. He is the author of several books on the Middle East including The Great Betrayal: The Struggle for Freedom and Democracy in the Middle East.

Presented by Bernice Harrison. Produced by Declan Conlon.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On Monday, preparatory works began at the former site of the mother and baby institution in Tuam, Co Galway in advance of the long-awaited excavation to identify the remains of nearly 800 infants.

The excavation, which is due to start in mid-July, takes place 11 years after research by local historian Catherine Corless found 796 children had died at the institution run by the Bon Secours religious order between 1925-1961.

How long will the excavation take, what does it expect to find and what will happen to the remains of the infants uncovered at the former mother and baby home?

Irish Times reporter Órla Ryan reflects on the decade since the Tuam revelations and the latest steps in bringing closure to family members still seeking answers.

Presented by Sorcha Pollak. Produced by Suzanne Brennan.

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