As the United States and Iran try to reach a lasting end to the war, a major hurdle has emerged: the volatile conflict in Lebanon. President Trump needs Israel to stop attacking Hezbollah there to get Iran to agree to a deal. The New York Times reporters Ronen Bergman and Mark Mazzetti discuss the growing tensions between the United States and Israel. Guest: * Ronen Bergman [https://www.nytimes.com/by/ronen-bergman], a staff writer for The New York Times Magazine based in Tel Aviv. * Mark Mazzetti [https://www.nytimes.com/by/mark-mazzetti], an investigative reporter for The New York Times based in Washington focusing on national security. Background reading:  * Analysis: The conflict in Lebanon has become one of the main obstacles [https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/19/world/middleeast/lebanon-us-iran-deal-ceasefire.html] to ending the American-Israeli war on Iran. * Vice President JD Vance lashed out at Israeli critics [https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/18/world/middleeast/vance-israel-critics-us-iran-deal.html] of a U.S.-Iran agreement. Photo: David Guttenfelder/The New York Times For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily [http://nytimes.com/thedaily?smid=pc-thedaily]. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.  Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts [http://nytimes.com/podcasts] or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher [https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher]. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com [https://pcm.adswizz.com] for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.