New Documentary Investigates How U.S. and Israeli Strikes Impacted Iran’s Nuclear Program

The documentary is from FRONTLINE in collaboration with The Washington Post, Bellingcat and Evident Media

Strike on Iran: The Nuclear Question premieres on pbs.org/frontline and in the PBS App starting Dec. 16, 2025, at 7/6c, or on PBS stations (check local listings) and on FRONTLINE’s YouTube channel that night at 10/9c. It will also be available on the PBS Documentaries Prime Video Channel.

This past June, escalating tensions between Israel and Iran erupted into all-out war. Over the course of 12 days, Israel bombed targets related to Iran’s nuclear program and assassinated scientists, Iran launched retaliatory airstrikes on Israel, and the U.S. carried out airstrikes on key Iranian nuclear facilities.

What was the impact of this unprecedented Israel-U.S. bombing campaign on Iran’s nuclear program, what was the scale of destruction on the ground, and how were the strikes carried out?

FRONTLINE, The Washington Post, Bellingcat and Evident Media look for answers to those questions in an immersive new documentary that draws on both rare, on-the-ground access and in-depth forensic analysis. Strike on Iran: The Nuclear Question premieres Tuesday, December 16 on PBS stations (check local listings) and online.

From the producing team of Adam Desiderio and Sebastian Walker, who is also the correspondent, the documentary offers some of the most in-depth accounts of the destruction from inside Iran since the war. Those accounts were gathered during a tightly controlled but expansive visit to the country that included visits to the sites where Iranian scientists were assassinated, conversations with witnesses and family members of those killed, and interviews with regime officials.

To help go beyond government restrictions and reporting obstacles on the ground, Desiderio and Walker partnered with journalists from the Washington Post Visual Forensics team and Foreign Desk as well as nonprofit outlets Bellingcat and Evident Media, who analyzed satellite imagery, munitions data, Iranian social media and other open sources; and conducted additional interviews, including with senior Israeli military and intelligence officers.

The result is one of the most comprehensive and detailed views yet of how Iran’s top nuclear scientists were assassinated, and how Iran’s protected underground nuclear sites were penetrated by powerful U.S. bombs.

For the full story, watch Strike on Iran: The Nuclear Question. The documentary will be available to watch starting Dec. 16, 2025. Watch at 10/9c on FRONTLINE’s YouTube channel and on PBS stations (check local listings), or stream at pbs.org/frontline and in the PBS App starting at 10/9c. The documentary will also be available on the PBS Documentaries Prime Video Channel. Subscribe to FRONTLINE’s newsletter to get updates on events, podcasts and additional reporting related to Strike on Iran.

 

Credits

Strike on Iran is a FRONTLINE production with Mongoose Pictures in association with The Washington Post, Evident Media, and Bellingcat. It is written, produced and directed by Adam Desiderio and Sebastian Walker. The correspondent is Sebastian Walker. The reporters are Nilo Tabrizy, Jarrett Ley, Souad Mekhennet, Trevor Ball, Carlos Gonzales and Sebastian Vandermeersch. The senior producers are Dan Edge and Eamonn Matthews. The editor-in-chief and executive producer of FRONTLINE is Raney Aronson-Rath.

About FRONTLINE FRONTLINE, U.S. television’s longest running investigative documentary series, explores the issues of our times through powerful storytelling. FRONTLINE has won an Academy Award® as well as every major journalism and broadcasting award, including 110 Emmy Awards and 34 Peabody Awards. Visit pbs.org/frontline and follow us on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube to learn more. FRONTLINE is produced at GBH in Boston and is broadcast nationwide on PBS. Funding for FRONTLINE is provided through the support of PBS viewers and by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, with major support from Ford Foundation. Additional support for FRONTLINE is provided by the Abrams Foundation, Park Foundation, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Heising-Simons Foundation, and the FRONTLINE Trust, with major support from Jon and Jo Ann Hagler on behalf of the Jon L. Hagler Foundation, and additional support from Koo and Patricia Yuen.

About The Washington Post

The Washington Post is an award-winning media publisher dedicated to holding truth to power through impactful and consequential journalism. With the mission to connect, inform and enlighten, its trustworthy reporting, in-depth analysis and engaging opinions are consumed daily by people around the world.

About Bellingcat

Bellingcat is an independent investigative collective that specialises in open source investigations. Founded in 2014, it has won multiple awards and pioneered new open source research techniques that have brought matters of significant public interest around the world to light. Visit www.bellingcat.com to read more.

About Evident Media

Evident Media is an Emmy Award-winning nonprofit news organization producing documentaries and visual investigations. The organization launched in 2025 with a mission to make the truth evident through investigative visual journalism. Evident takes viewers on a journey of discovery, using evidence-based reporting to shed light on corruption, conflict, technology, and government abuse. Visit https://www.evidentmedia.org/ and follow Evident on Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, and Facebook to learn more.

Press Contacts: 

FRONTLINE | frontlinemedia@wgbh.org

The Washington Post | Postpr@washpost.com

Bellingcat | contact@bellingcat.com

Evident Media | info@evidentmedia.org