04/19/2026: Iran's HEU, One Mother's Story, Wild Concerto

President Trump has threatened to take - or make a deal for - whatever is left of the regime's highly enriched uranium stockpile - a key component to building nuclear weapons. HEU removal operations can be high stakes and dangerous, but the U.S. has successfully done it before in 1994 – safely removing 600 kilograms of weapons grade uranium from Kazakhstan after the fall of the Soviet Union. Correspondent Cecilia Vega reports on the covert operation, code named Project Sapphire, and if it could be the blueprint for how to get HEU out of Iran. Rachel Goldberg-Polin’s son Hersh was taken hostage by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023. On his 328th day in captivity, Hersh was executed in a tunnel in Gaza. Now, Rachel Goldberg-Polin is trying to figure out how to live after losing her child. Anderson Cooper interviews Goldberg-Polin about Hersh and her grief, and speaks with Or Levy, a released hostage who was in captivity with Hersh, and credits him with helping to save his life. Acclaimed drummer of The Police Stewart Copeland and celebrated British naturalist Martyn Stewart have created Wild Concerto, a pioneering album that mixes authentic animal sounds with original music. It’s based on Stewart’s unparalleled audio archive of the world’s wild inhabitants. Correspondent Bill Whitaker joins the pair at the iconic Abbey Road Studios as Copeland and Stewart give Mother Nature’s orchestra the star treatment. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices