The World with Richard Engel and Yalda Hakim

In 2012, a former CIA analyst ran a war game between the US and Iran.
One of the first things he found was that Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz after America attacked. From there, his war game spiralled to a grisly end.
So why did the Trump administration expect a quick victory?
Fourteen years after the war game, Richard Engel sits down with Ken Pollack - the man behind the war game and now vice president for policy at the Middle East Institute to ask him exactly this.
Would Trump and his team have been given this information? Why did he press ahead?
The two also discuss the situation inside Iran as well as Israel's renewed strike on Lebanon, and ask the big question: where is this all going next?
You can email your questions to Richard and Yalda at [email protected]
You can also watch our podcasts on our YouTube channel here.

Will China ever produce an Elon Musk?
Kyle Chan, research fellow at the Brookings Institution and an expert on the AI race between the two superpowers thinks not.
He talks to Yalda about the new Cold War - the race for the best AI between China and America.
The two talk about Taiwan, Tehran and the different ways that each country approaches AI research and development. Could the Chinese government actually be holding progress back?
You can email your questions to Richard and Yalda at [email protected]
You can also watch our podcasts on our YouTube channel here.

Fully automated frontlines? Robots on the battlefield? Drones fighting drones?
The Ukraine war has been transformed from an old-fashioned trench war to a modern one in a matter of years. On this episode of the podcast, Richard talks to Professor Phillips O’Brien, a defence expert and head of international relations at St Andrews University - an expert on the Ukraine war.
He tells Richard how Ukraine's frontlines have developed with the use of tech and how Ukraine is now able to strike deep into the heart of Russia.
Four years into the war, has the tide now turned in Ukraine's favour? Professor O’Brien gives Richard his assessment.
Yalda also discusses Sky News' exclusive reporting in Minab, Iran. International affairs editor Dominic Waghorn is at the site of an alleged US strike on a primary school which left more than 150 people dead, most of them children, on the first day of the US-Israeli war on Iran.
You can watch Dom’s full report here
You can email your questions to Richard and Yalda at [email protected]
You can also watch our podcasts on our YouTube channel here.

A US President has not been to China since Donald Trump’s last trip nine years ago, so what will happen when Xi Jinping rolls out the red carpet for him again? Could there be progress made in Iran, Taiwan, or rare earth minerals?
Yalda tells Richard what her contacts in the region are making of the meeting and where the war in Iran might be heading.
Richard also details some of his reporting in the West Bank, in light of the New York Times investigation which alleges Israeli forces committed crimes against Palestinians. Some details of this story may be upsetting.
You can watch Richard’s full report from 2023 here.
And read Kristoff’s NYT piece here.
You can email your questions to Richard and Yalda at [email protected]
You can also watch our podcasts on our YouTube channel here.

More than eight weeks into the war in Iran, an unlikely country has emerged as the go-between for the two sides: Pakistan. How did General Asim Munir emerge as both the Trump and Iran whisperer?
Yalda explains to Richard how this came about and why India may feel sidelined.
Richard also tells Yalda about the fear of Israeli extremists felt by some members of Jerusalem's Christian community. He has spoken to religious leaders following the attack by a 36-year-old man on a nun.
A man has been arrested on suspicion of racially aggravated assault but not charged. The Israeli Foreign Ministry says: "This shameful act stands in direct contradiction to the values of respect, coexistence, and religious freedom upon which Israel is founded and to which it remains deeply committed".
You can email your questions to Richard and Yalda at [email protected]
You can also watch our podcasts on our YouTube channel here.