Iran: The Latest

Battle Lines is now Iran: The Latest! Roland and Venetia are going to be covering the new conflict every day for the weeks to come, bringing you the best of The Telegraph’s reporting from around the world and exclusive interviews with world-class experts in military strategy, diplomacy, and the Middle East.

On today’s episode, Venetia and Roland look at America’s devastating attacks on Iran’s official Navy and the possibility of Saudi Arabia joining the war.

The Telegraph’s foreign reporter Akhtar Makoii shares his insights from speaking to people inside Iran about how ordinary people are now facing threats from both American bombs and the regime, who are out in force on the streets.

Maya Gebeily, Reuters’ bureau chief in Beirut, discusses the state of Hezbollah and the mood on the ground in Lebanon after Israel announced it is invading.

Plus, The Telegraph's US Correspondent Connor Stringer talks about his exclusive phone call with Donald Trump in the midst of the Iran war and why the president thinks Keir Starmer is “disappointing”.

Read Connor Stringer's exclusive chat with Trump: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/us/news/2026/03/02/exclusive-trump-very-disappointed-in-starmer-over-iran/

Read Akhtar Makoii’s interviews with people inside Iran: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2026/03/02/iran-war-tehran-live-in-fear-us-bombs-whats-left-regime/

Read Akhtar Makoii’s rundown of Khamenei’s possible successors: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2026/03/03/the-four-men-who-could-save-or-destroy-iran/

Producer: Peter Shevlin
Executive Producer: Louisa Wells

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Iran's leader Ayatollah Khamenei was killed in an Israeli and US strike on Saturday morning, kicking off a major war that has since expanded to the entire Middle East.

On day three of the conflict, Venetia and Roland run through the big updates, including the UK’s involvement, the ongoing death toll and how Iran is striking back on key targets in the region.

They also talk to former Israeli intelligence official and Iran expert Danny Citrinowicz about how poorly defined the war's goals are and why we aren't seeing any cracks in the regime yet.

Plus, The Telegraph’s David Blair on the significance of Khamenei's assassination and Trump's conflicting messaging.

Read Iran war, day three: Everything you need to know: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2026/03/02/iran-war-day-three-everything-you-need-to-know/

Read David Blair on why Trump’s incoherence on Iran maximises the risk of failure: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/02/28/trump-is-taking-a-monumental-risk-on-iran/

Read Roland Oliphant on the eight-month plot that led to Trump’s attack on Iran: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2026/02/28/donald-trump-attack-iran-israel-how-it-came-to-this/

Producer: Peter Shevlin
Executive Producer: Louisa Wells

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The US and Israel have launched what President Donald Trump has described as "major combat operations" to try to bring about the end of the Iranian regime.

In this bonus episode, Roland and Venetia look at what we know so far - from Trump’s speech to strikes across the Middle East - and what might happen next, while Henry Bodkin, The Telegraph’s Jerusalem correspondent, reports from on the ground in Israel amid air raid sirens around the country.

Plus, Roland speaks to Jonathan Hackett, a 20-year US Marine Corps veteran and special operations capabilities specialist, as well as the author of Iran's Shadow Weapons: Covert Action, Intelligence Operations and Unconventional Warfare. Their conversation - which was recorded shortly before the attack began - covers how Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was offered an escape route but refused to take it, the state of the IRGC and why regime change in Iran will be so difficult.

Producer: Peter Shevlin
Executive Producer: Louisa Wells

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For sixty years Washington and Havana have been having a geopolitical tango fuelled by obsession and ideology. The island nation of Cuba has been a socialist splinter in the finger of the Florida coastline, its regime infecting the region.

Now, with the toppling of Nicolás Maduro and Venezuelan oil tightly controlled by the US, Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel could be next. To get into the finer details of the US’s new found dominance in the Caribbean, Venetia is joined by The Telegraph’s foreign reporter, Lily Shanagher.

Plus, former national security advisor John Bolton, voices the need for regime change in Venezuela, Iran and Cuba. Coining the phrase ‘Troika of Tyranny' in 2018, Bolton has had Cuba in his sights for many years as a rogue state. So what should happen next in the region? John Bolton lays bare the truth about Trump’s decision making and the need for swift action.

Producer: Peter Shevlin
Executive Producer: Louisa Wells

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Drugs and gangs have created an explosion in HIV cases in Fiji.

This week on Battle Lines: Global Health Security, Arthur Scott-Geddes is joined by Sarah Newey, The Telegraph’s correspondent in Bangkok who recently travelled to Fiji, and Dr Jason Mitchell, the head of the country’s HIV task force.

On the archipelago known as the gateway to the Pacific, Chinese triads, Mexican cartels, and Australian biker gangs are all involved in a booming methamphetamine trade.

The result is that an island paradise is now home to the fastest-growing HIV epidemic on earth.

Read Sarah’s dispatch from Fiji:
The island paradise with the world’s fastest growing HIV epidemic
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/science-and-disease/fiji-island-paradise-with-the-worlds-fastest-growing-HIV-epidemic/

Producer: Sophie O'Sullivan
Executive Producer: Louisa Wells
Studio Operator: Meghan Searle

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