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

► 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/

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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/

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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.

Iran appears increasingly confident that it will secure a favourable end to the war with the US.

From demanding $24bn in frozen assets to publishing what they say is a draft peace deal to restoring the Internet after nearly 90 days, Tehran seems to feel victory both at home and abroad is within its grasp. Foreign correspondent Akhtar Makoii joins Roland Oliphant and Venetia Rainey to discuss the latest news from inside Iran, as well as the significance of one of the country’s biggest exports: pistachios.

Plus, as Israel launches a deadly new phase in its campaign against Hezbollah, UNIFIL spokesperson Kandice Ardiel joins from Beirut to share her insights on what it’s like working as a peacekeeper in southern Lebanon caught between the two longtime enemies.

Highlights

• Iran demands $24bn to sign US peace deal - will Trump accept?
• 'They think the war is over': Why Iran is restoring internet access

CONTRIBUTORS:

Venetia Rainey, co-host and executive producer @venetiarainey

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

Akhtar Makoii, foreign correspondent @akhtar_makoii

Kandice Ardiel, UNIFIL spokesperson @hikandice

CONTENT REFERENCED:

Iran will sign peace deal only if US releases $24bn of frozen assets

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2026/05/26/iran-peace-deal-us-release-24bn-frozen-assets/

The $24bn cost of Trump’s capitulation on Iran

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/us/news/2026/05/26/trump-us-iran-capitulation/

Akhtar Makoii: Iran’s hardliners are sabotaging their own government’s peace talks

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2026/05/26/iran-hardliners-sabotaging-peace-talks/

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 US says it has bombed Iranian mine-laying ships in the Strait of Hormuz and a missile launch site in southern Iran. Tehran says it has downed American drones. Is the war about to restart?

Former Royal Navy officer Tom Sharpe explains what we know about the latest tit-for-tat military activity today and why the timing is unusual. He also gives an inside look at the threat posed by Iran’s newly deployed “ship-smashing” Ghadir mini-submarines, known as the “dolphins of the Persian Gulf”.

Plus, Venetia Rainey and Sophia Yan discuss why the signs suggest peace talks are set to continue for now. While Chief foreign affairs commentator David Blair analyses what Donald Trump could get out of a deal - and why he’s making more and more concessions to the Iranian regime each passing week, including over its nuclear programme.

Highlights

• Clashes in Hormuz as US ‘blows up’ Iranian mine-laying ships
• Why Donald Trump is chasing a ‘quick and incomplete deal’

CONTRIBUTORS:

Venetia Rainey, co-host and executive producer @venetiarainey

Sophia Yan, co-host and senior foreign correspondent @sophia_yan

David Blair, chief foreign affairs commentator @davidblairdt

Tom Sharpe, ex-Royal Navy officer @TomSharpe134

CONTENT REFERENCED:

US strikes on Iran threaten fragile ceasefire

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2026/05/26/us-strikes-on-iran-threaten-fragile-ceasefire-war/

David Blair: Trump’s latest gambit on Iran is a smokescreen

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/05/26/trump-latest-gambit-iran-smokescreen/

Tom Sharpe: Iran’s ship-smasher mini subs are loose in Hormuz. I’ve been up against them before

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/05/18/iran-irin-irgcn-mini-submarines-torpedoes-strait-hormuz/

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.

In this special bank holiday episode, we’re taking a break from looking at the US-Iran war and focusing instead on tanks.

Since it first appeared on the Somme battlefield, the tank has dominated and defined modern warfare. It has been such a successful concept that its distinctive silhouette - two tracks, a turret and a gun - has barely changed in a hundred years. But can it survive in the century of the drone? Or will the venerable tank go the way of the armoured knight before it?

Hamish de Bretton Gordon, a former commander of the Royal Tank Regiment and the author of a new book on the subject, Tank Command, takes Roland Oliphant through the history of armoured warfare. They discuss why the tank has long been the ultimate instrument of battlefield shock action from World War 1 to the Arab-Israeli war to Ukraine today. Hamish argues that in 100 years from now, armies will still be fielding - and fighting against - tanks.

Plus, Hamish shares what it’s like to command a Challenger, his ultimate "petrol-head" tank from history, and the definitive Hollywood film every enthusiast needs to watch.

Highlights

• Why the lessons of tank development are still hugely relevant today
• What it’s like to command a Challenger

CONTRIBUTORS:

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

Hamish de Bretton-Gordon, former tank commander @HamishDBG

CONTENT REFERENCED:

Hamish de Bretton-Gordon’s new book Tank Command is out June 4: https://linktr.ee/TankCommand

Producer: Max Bower

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.

With Iran peace talks deadlocked, US military attention appears to be turning to another longtime enemy: Cuba.

This week, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio declared Cuba a threat to US security. Indictments have been issued against its elderly former president Raúl Castro. Claims about a Cuban drone stockpile aimed at the US have been leaked to the press. The USS Nimitz aircraft carrier has been deployed to the Caribbean. A blockade has been in place for months, leading to mass blackouts.

Carlos Solar, RUSI’s senior research fellow for Latin American security, joins Roland Oliphant to examine whether the United States is creating a pretext for an attack on Cuba. They discuss why things are escalating in the Caribbean and what an attack on the country might look like. Plus, how it is all connected to the war in Iran.

Highlights

• First Venezuela, then Iran. Is Cuba next on Trump’s hit list?
• How the Iran war is pushing Cuba’s regime over the edge

CONTRIBUTORS:

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

Carlos Solar, RUSI Latin American Security senior fellow @CSolar

CONTENT REFERENCED:

Trump: deploying aircraft carrier to Caribbean is not meant to intimidate Cuba

Rubio: Cuba is a national security threat

Cuba is dark, desperate and still deluded

Producer: Max Bower

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.

Oil flows will not return to normal until the second half of next year - even if the Strait of Hormuz opens now.

That’s the grim prognosis of the UAE’s most senior oil executive. But even if it does open, Iran is implementing a system of tolls that will have long-term implications, both in the Middle East and further afield. International economic editor Hans van Leeuwen tells Roland Oliphant how the ongoing crisis in the Strait of Hormuz is transforming shipping all over the world.

Hans also looks at why India’s leader Narendra Modi is in Europe at the moment trying to drum up deals amid fears the Iran war could impact his country’s superpower trajectory.

Meanwhile, Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu clash over whether to restart active hostilities, Pakistan’s army chief heads to Tehran to coax the regime towards a peace deal, and Iran says it will not give up its Uranium.

Highlights

• How Iran’s Strait of Hormuz toll could spread worldwide
• Why the Iran war is throwing India off its superpower trajectory

CONTRIBUTORS:

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

Hans van Leeuwen, international economics editor @hansvan333

CONTENT REFERENCED:

How Trump trampled on Modi’s dream of an Indian superpower

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2026/05/20/how-trump-trampled-on-modis-dream-of-an-indian-superpower/

Iran weaponised world trade and others are following suit

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2026/05/19/iran-weaponised-world-trade-and-others-are-following-suit/

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.