Iran has pulled out of peace talks to end the war with the US, accusing Israel of breaking the ceasefire by ordering strikes on Beirut.

Roland Oliphant and Venetia Rainey discuss the latest news, which comes after a series of military escalations over the weekend, including more tit-for-tat bombing between the US and Iran in the Strait of Hormuz. Meanwhile in Lebanon, the Israeli army scored a symbolic and strategic victory by capturing Beaufort Castle as part of its expanding offensive in the country’s south, amid fierce fighting with Hezbollah.

Plus, how did Iran become a corrupt mafia state? Iranian journalists Yeganeh Torbati (New York Times) and Bozorgmehr Sharafedin (Iran International) have written a new book on the subject, Stolen Revolution, and join the show to explain why the war is likely to make things even worse.

Highlights

• Iran quits US talks after Israel orders Beirut strikes
• Plus: how Iran became a corrupt mafia state

CONTRIBUTORS:

Roland Oliphant, co-host and chief foreign affairs analyst @RolandOliphant

Venetia Rainey, co-host and executive producer @venetiarainey

Yeganeh Torbati, journalist and author of Stolen Revolution @yjtorbati

Bozorgmehr Sharafedin, journalist and author of Stolen Revolution @bozorgmehr

CONTENT REFERENCED:

Kasra Aarabi and Saeid Golkar: The West is ignoring the dangerous new partnership reshaping Iran from within

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/05/29/shadowy-new-hardline-alliance-reshaping-irans-regime/

Producer: Max Bower

Executive Producers: Venetia Rainey & Louisa Wells

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► EMAIL US: Contact the team on battlelines@telegraph.co.uk

► GET THE LATEST HEADLINES: Find all our latest Iran coverage here: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/iran-war/

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Donald Trump says the US is lifting its blockade of Iranian ports and boats in the Strait of Hormuz - does this mean a peace deal is imminent?

Plus, Iran famously has two militaries: a regular army, and the IRGC. But Tehran also has a third force: its network of foreign militias in Iraq, Lebanon and Yemen. They played a key role in the recent war - and no outsider knows them better than Elizabeth Tsurkov. In 2023, while on a research trip to Iraq, the Russian-Israeli PhD student was kidnapped for nearly three years by Kataib Hezbollah, the most powerful of Iran’s Iraqi proxy militias.

Still recovering from the ordeal, she takes Sophia Yan and Roland Oliphant inside the group - and why she was surprised to learn that many of her kidnappers were “idiots”. Plus, she explains how they sustain Iran’s shadow economy, dominate politics in their host counties, and double up as fronts for massive embezzlement schemes.

Highlights

• Donald Trump lifts US naval blockade on Iran
• Elizabeth Tsurkov on being kidnapped by “idiot” Iranian militias in Iraq

CONTRIBUTORS:

Sophia Yan, senior foreign correspondent, @sophia_yan

Roland Oliphant, co-host and chief foreign affairs analyst @RolandOliphant

Elizabeth Tsurkov, fellow at the New Lines Institute @LizHurra

CONTENT REFERENCED:

Elizabeth Tsurkov: I Was Kidnapped by Idiots

https://www.theatlantic.com/international/2026/01/kidnapped-baghdad/685470/

Producer: Peter Shevlin

Executive Producers: Venetia Rainey & Louisa Wells

► Sign up to our most popular newsletter, From the Editor. Look forward to receiving free-thinking comment and the day's biggest stories, every morning. telegraph.co.uk/fromtheeditor

► EMAIL US: Contact the team on battlelines@telegraph.co.uk

► GET THE LATEST HEADLINES: Find all our latest Iran coverage here: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/iran-war/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The United States has for the first time accused Iran of breaching the ceasefire, after Tehran fired a ballistic missile at Kuwait in response to the Americans hitting southern Iran.

Washington brushed off previous exchanges of fire as ceasefire compliant, so does the change in rhetoric herald a return to all-out war? The Telegraph’s Lottie Tiplady-Bishop explains why domestic developments in America means Donald Trump is more confident and feeling less pressure to secure a peace deal.

Plus, Alp Toker, the founder of Netblocks, explains what we learned from Iran’s record-setting Internet blackout and what it means for other authoritarian regimes around the world.

Highlights

• ‘Ceasefire violated’: US fury after Iran targets Kuwait base
• ‘The most intense game of chicken ever’

CONTRIBUTORS:

Roland Oliphant, co-host and chief foreign affairs analyst @RolandOliphant

Lottie Tiplady-Bishop, associate US News Editor @lottietipbishop

Alp Toker, Netblocks founder @atoker

CONTENT REFERENCED:

Trump: We’re not satisfied with Iran deal

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2026/05/27/iran-war-us-peace-deal-trump-strait-hormuz-latest-lebanon/

US military hits Iranian control centre in fresh strikes

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2026/05/28/us-military-strikes-southern-iran-peace-deal/

Terror and trauma under the world’s longest internet blackout

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2026/05/27/iran-relief-internet-restoration-weeks-war/

Producer: Peter Shevlin

Executive Producers: Venetia Rainey & Louisa Wells

► Sign up to our most popular newsletter, From the Editor. Look forward to receiving free-thinking comment and the day's biggest stories, every morning. telegraph.co.uk/fromtheeditor

► EMAIL US: Contact the team on battlelines@telegraph.co.uk

► GET THE LATEST HEADLINES: Find all our latest Iran coverage here: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/iran-war/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.