Contributing Writers

It is the seventh day of the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran, and Israel is escalating attacks on Lebanon after ordering the entire population of southern Lebanon to flee. This comes as Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich threatened to turn areas of Lebanon into another Gaza in a video shared on social media Thursday. “The word on everyone’s mouths here is ethnic cleansing,” says Lylla Younes, an investigative journalist speaking with Democracy Now! from Beirut.

We speak with filmmaker Craig Renaud, the director of Armed Only with a Camera: The Life and Death of Brent Renaud, an HBO documentary about his brother, photojournalist Brent Renaud, who was killed by Russian soldiers in Ukraine in 2022. March 13 marks the fourth anniversary of Brent’s death, and the film is both a tribute to him and “a bigger story about all the journalists who were being killed,” says Craig.

We speak with filmmaker Craig Renaud, the director of Armed Only with a Camera: The Life and Death of Brent Renaud, an HBO documentary about his brother, photojournalist Brent Renaud, who was killed by Russian soldiers in Ukraine in 2022. March 13 marks the fourth anniversary of Brent’s death, and the film is both a tribute to him and “a bigger story about all the journalists who were being killed,” says Craig.

President Trump is hosting right-wing leaders from across Latin America in Miami for a summit discussing his so-called Shield of the Americas initiative. This comes as the U.S. deploys special forces to Ecuador and as Trump hints about regime change in Cuba. “This summit is … an opportunity for Trump to play out a moment of imperial fantasy in front of fans in South Florida,” says Jake Johnston, director of international research at the Center for Economic and Policy Research.

Kristi Noem has been ousted from her position as homeland security secretary after intensifying calls for her resignation. Noem’s tenure has been marked by allegations of corruption, deadly immigration raids and legal challenges. ProPublica reporter Justin Elliott has reported extensively on Noem’s tenure, including a $200 million ad campaign that may have been the inciting incident for her firing. “This did not go through the normal competitive process,” says Elliott.

It is the seventh day of the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran, and Israel is escalating attacks on Lebanon after ordering the entire population of southern Lebanon to flee. This comes as Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich threatened to turn areas of Lebanon into another Gaza in a video shared on social media Thursday. “The word on everyone’s mouths here is ethnic cleansing,” says Lylla Younes, an investigative journalist speaking with Democracy Now! from Beirut.

Brazilian director Kleber Mendonça Filho joins us to discuss his Oscar-nominated film, The Secret Agent, and the history that inspired it. The film is set in the northern Brazilian city of Recife in the 1970s, during the country’s U.S.-backed military dictatorship.

We speak with filmmaker Craig Renaud, the director of Armed Only with a Camera: The Life and Death of Brent Renaud, an HBO documentary about his brother, photojournalist Brent Renaud, who was killed by Russian soldiers in Ukraine in 2022. March 13 marks the fourth anniversary of Brent’s death, and the film is both a tribute to him and “a bigger story about all the journalists who were being killed,” says Craig.

Geeta Gandbhir has made history as the first woman to receive Oscar nominations for both Best Documentary Feature and Best Documentary Short in the same year. Her feature-length film, The Perfect Neighbor, looks at the case of Ajike Owens, a 35-year-old Black mother of four who was fatally shot in 2023 by her white neighbor. Her documentary short, The Devil Is Busy, chronicles a day on the frontlines in the battle for reproductive rights at a women’s healthcare clinic in Atlanta.

As the U.S. and Israel continue their bombardment of Iran and the conflict spreads throughout the region, we speak with two former U.S. government officials with experience in Middle East policy. Hala Rharrit is a career diplomat who resigned from the State Department in 2024 to protest the Biden administration’s Gaza policy, and Jasmine El-Gamal served as a Middle East adviser at the Pentagon during the Obama administration.

Brazilian director Kleber Mendonça Filho joins us to discuss his Oscar-nominated film, The Secret Agent, and the history that inspired it. The film is set in the northern Brazilian city of Recife in the 1970s, during the country’s U.S.-backed military dictatorship.

As Iranian missiles strike military, residential and economic targets in neighboring Gulf states, we speak to Al Jazeera’s senior political analyst Marwan Bishara in Doha, Qatar. Bishara says Iran’s targeting of U.S. allies in the region may be an Iranian calculation that there is “a cost to be paid for American interests” as Saudi Arabia, the UAE and other regional powers are forced to respond to an “Israeli war of choice.” Meanwhile, says Bishara, the U.S.

The U.S.-Israeli war on Iran is now in its fifth day. Following the assassination of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, Israel has made it clear that it intends to target any official successors. Observers also warn that Israel could soon deploy its “Dahiya doctrine,” a military strategy it first developed in Lebanon that involves carpet-bombing densely populated residential areas. Despite U.S.

After a strike on a girls’ elementary school in Minab, Iran, killed at least 175 people, nearly all young schoolchildren, online reports spread disinformation about the attack, including claims that the Iranian government itself had bombed the school. Journalist Nilo Tabrizy describes how outside reporters have been able to verify the attack despite Iran’s internet blackout and says attempts are still being made to confirm whether the strike is attributable to the U.S. or to Israel.

We speak with economist Michael Hudson, who details how President Trump opted to attack Iran despite progress at indirect U.S.-Iran negotiations. “The whole reason that America has attacked Iran has nothing to do with its getting an atom bomb,” but instead the aim was U.S. control of oil, says Hudson. The Trump administration may have been after the ability to “turn off the power” to countries that don’t follow U.S. foreign policy, he says.

Ofer Cassif, a member of leftist Hadash-Ta’al coalition in the Israeli Knesset, speaks with Democracy Now! from Israel about the war on Iran. As U.S. and Israeli officials claim that their military actions are against the regime, Cassif says their real goal is pursuing “imperialist interest” at the “expense of the peoples, including the people of Iran and the people of Israel​​.

Rami Khouri, Palestinian American journalist and distinguished public policy fellow at the American University of Beirut, speaks with Democracy Now! about the historical context of Western colonialism in the Middle East amid the war against Iran. Khouri says the U.S.-Israeli attack is the latest act “causing people across the world to look at the idea of … Western liberal democratic tradition as a hoax.

The U.S. is sending more troops and fighter jets to the Middle East as the regional war expands four days after the U.S. and Israel assassinated Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and struck sites across Iran. At least 787 people have died so far in Iran, according to local authorities. Iranian American journalist Negar Mortazavi says the feeling on the ground is of “horror and anxiety” and that U.S.

Cori Bush is running for Congress again. Bush previously served two terms as a Democratic congressmember for Missouri, until she was unseated in 2024 following a multimillion-dollar attack campaign run by pro-Israel groups. Bush, a community activist who participated in the 2014 Ferguson uprising over the police killing of Michael Brown, was an outspoken critic of Israel in Congress and introduced a resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza in October 2023.

The United States and Israel launched a devastating war against Iran on Saturday without approval by the U.S. Congress or support from the United Nations Security Council, making President Donald Trump’s attack illegal under both domestic and international law, says veteran war crimes prosecutor Reed Brody.
“The U.N. Charter is not ambiguous,” says Brody.

As we continue our coverage of the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran, we speak with Israeli analyst Ori Goldberg in Tel Aviv. He says “there is a broad embrace of this attack” among Israelis, bringing together the country’s liberal, right-wing, religious and settler groups.
“They all seem to agree, broadly and deeply, that this war is inevitable,” says Goldberg, who adds that nobody has articulated a clear strategic vision for the war.

As the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran enters its third day, dragging much of the Middle East into armed conflict, we speak with two Iranian American scholars about the situation.
“It’s quite a devastating attack on the infrastructure of the country, both in terms of the state infrastructure and civilian infrastructure,” says Golnar Nikpour, associate professor of modern Iranian history at Dartmouth College.

Cori Bush is running for Congress again. Bush previously served two terms as a Democratic congressmember for Missouri, until she was unseated in 2024 following a multimillion-dollar attack campaign run by pro-Israel groups. Bush, a community activist who participated in the 2014 Ferguson uprising over the police killing of Michael Brown, was an outspoken critic of Israel in Congress and introduced a resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza in October 2023.

The funeral for 56-year-old Nurul Amin Shah Alam, a disabled Rohingya refugee from Burma who was found dead after he was abandoned by Border Patrol agents miles away from his home, was held yesterday in Buffalo, New York. Local reporter J. Dale Shoemaker, who first reported on Shah Alam’s disappearance for the Buffalo news organization Investigative Post, explains what we know about the case.

Federal agents detained a Columbia University student early Thursday after Department of Homeland Security officers allegedly gained access to a university-owned residence by presenting a fake missing person poster of a 5-year-old. As news broke of the student, Ellie Aghayeva, and her detention, students and community members rallied en masse demanding her release and an end to immigration enforcement on campus.

As fallout from the Epstein files continues, we speak with investigative journalist Barry Levine, author of The Spider: Inside the Tangled Web of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell. Recordings of the House Oversight depositions of Bill and Hillary Clinton are set to be released today and tomorrow.

Cori Bush is running for Congress again. Bush previously served two terms as a Democratic congressmember for Missouri, until she was unseated in 2024 following a multimillion-dollar attack campaign run by pro-Israel groups. Bush, a community activist who participated in the 2014 Ferguson uprising over the police killing of Michael Brown, was an outspoken critic of Israel in Congress and introduced a resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza in October 2023.

The funeral for 56-year-old Nurul Amin Shah Alam, a disabled Rohingya refugee from Burma who was found dead after he was abandoned by Border Patrol agents miles away from his home, was held yesterday in Buffalo, New York. Local reporter J. Dale Shoemaker, who first reported on Shah Alam’s disappearance for the Buffalo news organization Investigative Post, explains what we know about the case.

Federal agents detained a Columbia University student early Thursday after Department of Homeland Security officers allegedly gained access to a university-owned residence by presenting a fake missing person poster of a 5-year-old. As news broke of the student, Ellie Aghayeva, and her detention, students and community members rallied en masse demanding her release and an end to immigration enforcement on campus.