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STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Here's a big question hanging over the U.S. and Israeli war in Iran. How long will the war last?
MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
That question is becoming urgent as the war begins to affect the global economy. Israel escalated the war over the weekend, bombing oil facilities. The disruption of shipments from multiple nations has sent the price of oil soaring, and Iran shows no sign of giving in after choosing a new supreme leader over the weekend. In a few minutes, we'll look at the U.S. strategy with a former deputy chief of U.S. Central Command. But first, let's focus on the Israeli side.
INSKEEP: A senior Israeli military official spoke with NPR's Daniel Estrin about how Israel views the prospects for ending the war. Hey there, Daniel.
DANIEL ESTRIN, BYLINE: Hi, Steve.
INSKEEP: OK. So what is the Israeli timeline?
ESTRIN: Israel is expecting that it needs about three weeks to achieve its goals in Iran. That's what a senior Israeli defense official told me this weekend. This person is in the military's operations directorate. He spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss Israel's military plans, but he says the goal is to decimate Iran's army, navy, military industries. And Israel also realizes that President Trump could just end the war at any point. So the U.S. is not giving a timeline on how it sees the war and how long it would take, but we do know that the U.S. has not been happy with Israel's targeting of the Iranian oil depots this weekend.
INSKEEP: Sounds like there's a little bit of daylight between the U.S. and Israel here.
ESTRIN: Sure.
INSKEEP: But why did Israel target Iran's oil facilities? Pretty dramatic.
ESTRIN: Yeah. Well, Israel said that Iran was using that oil to fuel Iranian missiles launched at Israel. But this is also civilian infrastructure we're talking about. U.S. officials have been displeased with the extent of the damage that Israel caused, you know, those skies that were blackened and the oily raindrops that dropped onto Tehran. So I heard from a person briefed on the matter not authorized to speak publicly that the U.S. was not pleased with the extent of that damage.
Even Senator Lindsey Graham, who's close to Prime Minister Netanyahu, tweeted publicly, Israel, be cautious about your targets because Iran's oil economy will be needed when Iran's regime collapses.
INSKEEP: Or Graham hopes it will collapse, although the Iranians seem to be showing what they would consider to be resolved by choosing a supreme leader with the same name as the old supreme leader.
ESTRIN: That's right. Iran has appointed Mojtaba Khamenei to be the new supreme leader. He's the son of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei who was killed by Israel on day one of the war, and the son is seen as even more hard-line than the father was. But Iran has sent a message as well this weekend that it can exact a painful price around the region, not just Israel. We saw Iran launch a missile with a dangerous cluster bomb warhead that hit an apartment building here in Tel Aviv, just a few minutes' drive from me in Tel Aviv, and attacks on oil facilities in the United Arab Emirates, in Saudi Arabia took place this weekend as well.
So we're seeing the Gulf get dragged into this conflict as well. They've been very hesitant to take part in the war, so we're going to have to see where that goes.
INSKEEP: OK. NPR's Daniel Estrin is in Tel Aviv. Appreciate your insights.
ESTRIN: You're welcome. Copyright © 2026 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information. Accuracy and availability of NPR transcripts may vary. Transcript text may be revised to correct errors or match updates to audio. Audio on npr.org may be edited after its original broadcast or publication. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record. Facebook Flipboard Email Read & Listen Home News Culture Music Podcasts & Shows Connect Newsletters Facebook Instagram Press Public Editor Corrections Transcripts Contact & Help About NPR Overview Diversity NPR Network Accessibility Ethics Finances Get Involved Support Public Radio Sponsor NPR NPR Careers NPR Shop NPR Extra Terms of Use Privacy Your Privacy Choices Text Only Sponsor Message Sponsor MessageBecome an NPR sponsor (function () { var loadPageJs = function () { (window.webpackJsonp=window.webpackJsonp||[]).push([[22],{1167:function(e,n,c){e.exports=c(323)},323:function(e,n,c){"use strict";c.p=NPR.serverVars.webpackPublicPath,Promise.all([c.e(1),c.e(2),c.e(3),c.e(4),c.e(84)]).then(function(e){c(3),c(1140),c(116),c(94),c(52),c(493),c(239),c(102),c(104),c(1141),c(143),c(1142),c(238),c(48),c(1143)}.bind(null,c)).catch(c.oe)}},[[1167,0]]]); }; if (document.readyState === 'complete') { loadPageJs(); } else { window.addEventListener('load', function load() { window.removeEventListener('load', load, false); loadPageJs(); }); } })();