Iran: The Latest

Iran’s direct strike on a cargo ship in the Strait of Hormuz has shattered US hopes of bypassing the IRGC with a covert new route. On today’s episode of Iran: the Latest, Venetia Rainey exposes how this tactical escalation threatens to derail the fragile 60-day peace roadmap.Plus, is Trump’s Iran deal better or worse than Obama’s? Former US lead negotiator Robert Malley joins the podcast to deliver his blunt assessment, including why it’s not as financially generous as some claim, how close Iran now is to going nuclear, and what to do with all that enriched uranium. HighlightsIran strikes ship in Strait of HormuzTrump vs. Obama: Who got the better Iran deal?CONTRIBUTORS:Venetia Rainey, co-host and executive producer @venetiaraineyRobert Malley, former JCPOA US negotiator and program director International Crisis Group @Rob_MalleyWATCH US ON YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJnf_DDTfIVAif-vifC6F2aoPB8GIw6dkCONTENT REFERENCED:Iran attacks cargo ship in Strait of Hormuzhttps://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2026/06/25/iran-attacks-cargo-ship-strait-of-hormuz/Israel suspected of cyber attack on Iranian bankshttps://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2026/06/23/israel-behind-cyber-attack-on-iranian-banks/The US-Iran war may have ended, but 6,000 miles away the death toll is risinghttps://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/terror-and-security/madagascar-fuel-food-shortages-iran-war-death-toll/Producer: Max Bower and Lucy DichmontExecutive 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/

The war in Lebanon between Israel and Hezbollah remains a major sticking point in US-Iran peace talks - but Donald Trump has a controversial solution. At the G7 summit, he said he wants Syria to militarily intervene in their neighbour and disarm the Iranian proxy by force. Sophia Yan is joined by Ahmad Sharawi, senior research analyst at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies to discuss why Damascus has flatly rejected the plan. From the dark history of Syria’s occupation of Lebanon to the potential for a proxy war between Turkey and Israel, he outlines how such a move could seriously backfire.Plus, the latest news from the region including the row over Iran letting in nuclear inspectors from the IAEA and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio's high-stakes warnings on the Strait of Hormuz.CONTRIBUTORS:Sophia Yan, senior foreign correspondent @sophia_yan Ahmad Sharawi, senior research analyst FDD @AhmadA_SharawiProducer: Max Bower and Rachel PorterExecutive 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/Highlights‘Creative but wrong’: Trump’s plan for Syria to attack HezbollahPlus, a row over Iran letting in nuclear inspectors from the IAEA

Iran has unveiled a plan to impose stealth fees on the Strait of Hormuz, using an insurance loophole to keep exacting tolls out of the key waterway post-war.  Telegraph senior foreign correspondent Adrian Blomfield joins Roland Oliphant to break down how the conflict has permanently disrupted the global balance of power, from disrupting the US pivot to Asia to breaking US-Israeli ties. Plus, they take a moment to consider how the past four months will reverberate in the years to come and ask: what would Herodotus, the first historian of a Persian war, make of it all? HighlightsIran’s secret plan to keep control of the Strait of HormuzHow Trump’s greatest foreign policy failure reshaped the worldWATCH US ON YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJnf_DDTfIVAif-vifC6F2aoPB8GIw6dkCONTRIBUTORS:Roland Oliphant, co-host and chief foreign affairs analyst @RolandOliphantAdrian Blomfield, senior foreign correspondent @adrianblomfield CONTENT REFERENCED:How Trump’s greatest foreign policy failure has reshaped the worldhttps://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2026/06/22/trumps-greatest-foreign-policy-failure-reshaped-world/ Has the US-Israel relationship changed forever?https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2026/06/20/has-the-us-israel-relationship-changed-forever/ Producers: Max Bower and Elliot LampittExecutive 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/

As Vice President JD Vance and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi lock down a 60-day roadmap to end the war, Tehran has walked away with immediate waivers on its oil and petrochemical exports. Venetia Rainey and Roland Oliphant go behind the scenes at the high-stakes negotiations in Switzerland, including nuclear negotiations and the rumors of an Iranian walkout.Meanwhile, the fallout from Washington’s fury with his closest European allies over their Iran war “betrayal” has ramped up after Donald Trump publicly rebuked Italy’s Giorgia Meloni over her refusal to help him. They also analyse the resignation of British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and how his indecision over allowing the US to use UK bases to strike Iran was indicative of his premiership’s failings.Plus, how the Iranian football team’s gritty 0-0 World Cup draw against Belgium turned into a propaganda stunt for the regime to invoke the ghosts of the schoolchildren killed in Minab at the start of the war.HighlightsUS and Iran set up Hormuz crisis hotline as oil sanctions liftedHow Trump lost his final European allies, from Meloni to StarmerWATCH US ON YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJnf_DDTfIVAif-vifC6F2aoPB8GIw6dkCONTRIBUTORS:Venetia Rainey, co-host and executive producer @venetiaraineyRoland Oliphant, co-host and chief foreign affairs analyst @RolandOliphantCONTENT REFERENCED:Iranian leader criticises his negotiators in secret lettershttps://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2026/06/22/iran-us-war-mojtaba-khamenei-mahmoud-nabavian-middle-east/Inside the Hezbollah tunnels where peace will be made or brokenhttps://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2026/06/21/inside-hezbollah-tunnels-where-peace-will-be-made/Trump tears into Meloni over G7 picture rowhttps://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2026/06/20/donald-trump-berates-giorgia-meloni-g7-picture-row/Producer: Max BowerExecutive 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/

Is Donald Trump’s US-Iran peace deal already falling apart?Less than a day after the historic MoU was signed to end the war, fighting has been ongoing in Lebanon, with Hezbollah killing four Israeli soldiers and Benjamin Netanyahu unleashing a punishing wave of air strikes across southern Lebanon. A new ceasefire has today been agreed - but can it hold?Sophia Yan and Venetia Rainey discuss the latest news and the significance of US Vice President JD Vance’s stark warning to Israel to “wake up and smell reality”. Plus, New York Times journalist Yeganeh Torbati, co-author of Stolen Revolution, joins to discuss why Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei is distancing himself from Trump's deal, and how the IRGC is using this diplomatic breathing room to prepare for a potential resumption of the war down the line. HighlightsUS forces Israel into Hezbollah ceasefire after stark warningIs Donald Trump’s US-Iran peace deal already falling apart?CONTRIBUTORS:Sophia Yan, senior foreign correspondent, @sophia_yan Yeganeh Torbati, NYT journalist and co-author Stolen Revolution @yjtorbati Producer: Max BowerExecutive Producers: Louisa Wells & Venetia RaineyWATCH US ON YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJnf_DDTfIVAif-vifC6F2aoPB8GIw6dkCONTENT REFERENCED: Vance tells Israel: You can’t kill your way out of problemshttps://www.telegraph.co.uk/us/news/2026/06/18/jd-vance-israel-friends/Stolen Revolution: Betrayal & Hope in Modern Iranhttps://www.penguin.co.uk/books/457807/stolen-revolution-by-torbati-bozorgmehr-sharafedin-and-yeganeh/9780241744017

Donald Trump has signed a peace deal with Iran, but his critics are saying it’s a humiliation.Roland Oliphant and David Blair go through the US-Iran deal line by line and give each side a score, from $300bn in payments to Iran to the reopening Strait of Hormuz to a ban on nuclear weapons. Among those critical of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) is former vice president Mike Pence, who has called Trump an appeaser and accused him of handing a “lifeline” to the Iranian regime - is he right?Highlights4-2 to Tehran - the US-Iran peace deal guttedHow the MoU proves the US lost the warCONTRIBUTORS:Roland Oliphant, co-host and chief foreign affairs analyst @RolandOliphantDavid Blair, chief foreign affairs commentator @davidblairdtCONTENT REFERENCED:How Trump’s ‘Operation Epic Disaster’ turned the world against Americahttps://www.telegraph.co.uk/us/news/2026/06/18/iran-war-trump-us-credibility/David Blair: Trump’s extraordinary deal is a survival plan for Iranhttps://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/06/17/iran-deal-survival-plan-for-islamic-republic/Producer: Peter ShevlinExecutive 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/

As details of the US-Iran 14-point peace deal leaks, Trump and other world leaders at the G7 summit today are singing its praises - but is it any good?Venetia Rainey breaks down the proposed timeline in the Memorandum of Understanding that will see the war officially end, the Strait of Hormuz open up, sanctions on Iran lifted and something unspecified happen to Tehran’s enriched uranium. One country is particularly unhappy: Israel. So how will Benjamin Netanyahu respond? Global health security editor Paul Nuki joins from Tel Aviv to deliver a blunt realpolitik assessment on why Trump is trying to make Israel the lightning rod for the fallout from his unpopular war. CONTRIBUTORS:Venetia Rainey, co-Host and Executive Producer @venetiaraineyPaul Nuki, Global Health Security Editor @PaulNukiCONTENT REFERENCED:The 14-point Iran deal in full – and how it favours Tehranhttps://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2026/06/17/the-14-point-iran-deal-in-full-how-it-favours-tehran/War of broken promises leaves Israel weakened and despondenthttps://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2026/06/16/broken-promises-israel-weakened-iran-trump/IDF soldier ‘just wanted to kill’ my sonhttps://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2026/06/14/idf-soldier-just-wanted-to-kill-my-son/Producer: Peter ShevlinExecutive 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/HIGHLIGHTSWhy Trump is throwing Israel under the bus over Iran war‘Iran had its foot on the world’s throat. This deal is a way out’

It’s become the crux of the US-Iran peace deal: is the Strait of Hormuz open or closed, free or with tolls? Roland Oliphant speaks to Richard Meade, editor in chief of Lloyd’s List, explains the lingering uncertainties left from Donald Trump’s Middle East war keeping shipping executives up at night and placing ordinary sailors in danger. Plus: as JD Vance insists the deal is “good for the American people”, Roland looks at the latest news, including the UK and France saying they are ready to help protect freedom of navigation in Hormuz and the politicisation of shipping from Iran to Russia. HighlightsWhy Trump's peace deal hinges on the Strait of HormuzMini exodus' of ships as Vance insists peace deal is ‘good for US’Producer: Peter ShevlinExecutive 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/