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Lottie Tipady Bishop
The telegraph.
Veneesha Rainey
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Henry Bodkin
I'm Henry Bodkin and this is Iran. The Latest It's Friday 31st July 2026, the 20th day of this latest round of fighting between the US and Iran. In today's episode, Hamas has agreed to a peace deal that will see the Iran backed group disarm and Israel withdraw from Gaza. Meanwhile, Israel and the US Consider a land blockade on Iran. Plus, Saudi Arabia is reported to be drawing up plans for a land offensive against the Houthis in Yemen. Well today I'm joined from Washington D.C. by the Telegraph's acting US news editor Lottie Tipady Bishop to discuss it all. A short time ago, the United States military began major combat operations in Iran.
Lottie Tipady Bishop
Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in the attacks.
Henry Bodkin
For the first time ever, the US Navy used a surface sea drone in combat to strike Iranian targets. The strait are almost completely closed again.
Lottie Tipady Bishop
Does anyone really think that someone can tell President Trump what to do?
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Henry Bodkin
Okay, let's start with the latest in the Middle East. Overnight, Iran has retaliated to US Strikes on Thursday, particularly the attack on Kashmir Island. The IRGC said it was a brutal attack on a residential home. In response last night they targeted a US Base in Kuwait. The army there said it targeted fighter aircraft shelters. That's the IRGC raid targeted fighter aircraft shelters, satellite communication systems and equipment storage facilities at the Ahmad Aj Al Jaber air base in Kuwait. Kuwait's military said it has engaged and destroyed drones fired into Kuwaiti airspace today. In a statement, the country's Defense Ministry spokesman blamed Iranian aggression, as he said, as he put it, for the attacks, which he said targeted vital military installations. Falling debris caused some material damage, but there were no casualties, the spokesman said. The IRGC also said they struck two tankers under US Air escort in the Strait of Hormuz. In a statement carried by Iran's semi official Fars news agency, the IRGC said that in the early hours of today, two rogue tankers under the mistaken belief they could pass into the Strait of Hormuz under the air escort of the child killing US military disregarded our warnings and proceeded along an unsafe and illegal path, whereupon they were struck and brought to a halt. That's all a quote from the irgc. It added that four other tankers swiftly changed course and returned to their previous location. There have been no new reports of US strikes on Iran overnight. However, the US CENTCOM have said they continue to enforce the naval blockade in the strait. In a statement on X, they said as of 30th of July, CENTCOM forces have redirected 24 commercial vessels disabled to and boarded to to ensure full compliance. Over in Iraq, a drone attack has targeted a camp belonging to an Iranian Kurdish opposition group located east of Iraq's Erbil, according to local security sour. However, it is not yet known who conducted the attack so diplomacy. The main news headline on that front has been the deal reached between Hamas and the Trump backed Board of Peace to disarm and for Israel to withdraw its forces from Gaza. This was announced very late last night. Early this morning, Trump said on social media the agreement will be carried out in a carefully structured in carefully structured phases as disarmament is completed. He said Israeli forces will withdraw and the International Stabilization Force will work with a new Palestinian police force to take responsibility for Gaza being safe for its residents and its neighbors. Senior Hamas officials have reportedly agreed to the plan, but the question of whether the group disarms before or after Israel's withdrawal from Gaza has already emerged as a point of contention. I've been reporting on this this morning. Some people have already seen this as a car crash wa to happen. Others are much more optimistic and say it's a question of language. In comments to Reuters, Ghazi Hamad from Hamas said the terror group will hand over its weapons to the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza, a new body established by the Board of Peace to oversee the day to day affairs of the Palestinian territory. He said disarmament will be contingent on the withdrawal of Israeli troops and that ncag, that's the administration body and international force, must enter Gaza and dismantle Israeli backed militias. What does the deal include? Well Hamas. There are lots of details yet to come out. I've seen parts of the text and it provides definitely a roadmap and a framework, but lots of specifics that still need to be agreed. But what we think is that Hamas weapons will be stored, possibly in Gaza, under the oversight and this part's crucial of the Palestinian led force set up under Mr. Trump's original stored peace plan for the enclave. Hamas's police, we believe, will be the first to have hand over their weapons to the transitional body, with the militant group's heavy weapons coming later in return for Israeli troops withdrawing from the territory. Personal weapons, that's kind of rifles, light machine guns, handguns, that kind of thing will be handed over last, along with weapons held by the militias, the clans, basically the other armed groups in Gaza that are not Hamas, some of which are backed by Israel. Trump has held the deal as a major milestone in the implementation of the Trump 20 point plan, but Hamas said it would not take a single step towards disarmament until the Israeli military had left Gaza. An official also insisted that the plan only involved inventorying and storing weapons under Palestinian oversight, rather than handing them over to Israel. Egypt, which helped broke the agreement, described the agreement as a roadmap. Israel has not yet commented on the agreement publicly, but a US Official said Israel was very skeptical about Hamas complying. And that's a view that appears to have been confirmed on Friday by various Israeli officials briefing the Hebrew press, saying things like, we don't like the shape of the deal, we have reservations, that kind of thing. Just hours after the announcement of the disarmament deal, Reuters reported that several Palestinians were wounded in an Israeli strike in Gaza this morning. So, Lottie, there'd been some talk warming up about this for a couple of days, but I think it's fair to say that it still came as quite a bombshell when it dropped late last night, that there is apparently finally a deal from Hamas to disarm. There's lots of conflicting views over here in the Middle east, but what's the mood in D.C. about this?
Lottie Tipady Bishop
I mean, you're so right about it being a bit of a bombshell. I think that it had been reported by Axios that it might happen. And then I literally was walking out of the office and I looked at my phone and I saw Trump's truth and I was like, oh, it's literally just happened. I think it's come at quite a good time for him. It's something that he can tout as a bit of a win. While he's in the middle of his Iran sort of quicksand that he seems to be sinking further into every day. I thought it was quite interesting, and you mentioned it as well, what the Americans were briefing about Israel's skepticism. And I also thought that their language towards Israel was just quite pertinent. When they were saying things like, well, we've done our side of the deal, now Israel has to stick to theirs. It felt quite like kind of scolding. And I thought that was interesting, especially given all the reports that we've had this week of Trump's frustration with Netanyahu and about Netanyahu kind of maybe taking a bit of a step back or at least keeping his mouth shut when it comes to discussions on these kinds of things.
Henry Bodkin
Yeah, I mean, I think people weren't expecting people over here in Israel weren't expecting this to be particularly high up the agenda or to be discussed at all. And I think I'm right in saying that there's actually no confirmation that it was discussed between Trump and Netanyahu. But certainly, certainly the feeling is that this is a good time for the White House to really get things out of the Israelis, because while Trump is trading in the polls for his midterms, Netanyahu also could be doing a lot better in the polls for the elections coming up here. And there was all sorts of briefings earlier in the week that Netanyahu had been begging for a meeting with Trump for weeks and had basically been told by the Americans, don't come here empty handed. That is, you've got to come with some concessions, you've got to give us some stuff that we've been after. So I don't know to what extent it was talked about between the two men, but I think it's probably quite a good week for Trump to just say to the Israelis, look, this is happening, you're going to accept it. Whether it really does happen down the line, I'm sure we can discuss a bit later, because of all the technical ways that the Israelis could assist the process or otherwise is a different question.
Lottie Tipady Bishop
I also think it kind of, it's quite a good position for Trump and the White House to put themselves in. And I think it's interesting actually that JD Vance was also in that meeting because like, like you say it's a great time for Trump to go to Israel and be like, hey, I want all of these things, give them to me. It's also a really good time for the Americans to show that they can negotiate with, like, a hostile actor. I feel like in the language in the briefing last night that I was kind of seeing coming in, Hamas was very front and center of this. And it almost feels like perhaps I'm being a little bit too sceptical, but it does almost feel like if it doesn't work out, the Americans have put themselves in quite a good position to say, well, you know, it's the Israelis kind of holding things up. We said that they have to hold up their end of the bargain, and maybe they haven't.
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Henry Bodkin
And I think that's definitely, probably a PR consideration. But it's also really a genuine negotiating belief in the Americans is that they have to really push the Israelis along with this. And if you accept the view. It's a cynical view, but, hey, look, I'm sitting in Jerusalem. If you accept the view that certainly Netanyahu doesn't particularly want this peace process to go forward, he's quite happy with the IDF controlling a massive buffer zone between Hamas and the Israeli communities and the Gaza periphery, the kind of buffer zone they say that if they'd had on October 7, the massacre would never have happened. It's been a good year for the Israelis in the sense that Trump's attention has been taken off this completely with Iran. But obviously now it's back. And I think there's a feeling that they're really going to have to push the Israelis along on this because there's so many technical hurdles to get through. You've got to let Palestinian people out of Gaza to go and train as the new police force in order to come back in and be the new police force. That all takes Israeli consent, stuff like that.
Lottie Tipady Bishop
And totally it really suits Trump for his base to believe that it's Israel kind of prodding along the conflicts, plural, in the Middle East. I mean, after their meeting, I think on Tuesday, Netanyahu's official spokesman put out an extraordinary statement that was literally he is not pressuring Trump to continue the war, I promise, which was interesting.
Henry Bodkin
Yeah, it's a very different. It's a very different mood music, isn't it? This Netanyahu visit? It's not about what can we get out of the Americans, because I think the Israelis have realized firstly, that their aspirations for this war are just nowhere near what they were before, that they're not probably. They're certainly not going to get the collapse of the Iranian regime and probably not the nuclear stuff either. So. And actually, it is quite damaging long term, perhaps, to Israel's image in the US to be seen to be flying to Washington and Persuading Trump to do things, you know, persuading the Americans to do things which end up to be unpopular. So they've, yeah, as you say, made a point of saying, you know, we just talk through the options this time. No, no big deal.
Lottie Tipady Bishop
Yeah. And nothing was decided on apparently, either, at least not from Netanyahu's end.
Henry Bodkin
So we'll bring you more on the, on the Gaza story as it develops. I know we've got some stories in the works that will be published online later today and in the newspaper tomorrow. So to Lebanon. Fighting continues. Local media reported massive explosions overnight in the southern parts of the country where Israeli forces say they have blasted an underground tunnel network belonging to Hezbollah. According to local reports, the explosions caused damage to some homes and windows to shatter. In a post on X, the IDF said it destroyed several key features in the underground tunnel network in the Beaufort Ridge area. It claimed that the tunnel network was serving as a central terror headquarters for Hezbollah's Badir unit in southern Lebanon, which was funded and planned by the Iranian terror regime. That's a quote. Over the past weeks, IDF forces have completed their hold on the Beaufort Ridge area while controlling and clearing the underground infrastructure and preparing them for destruction, they said. So it's quite an interesting backstory to this area. It's actually an old crusader fort and there's a huge tunnel network under it. And, and it's less so for rockets, the IDF say, but more for as a staging post for a potential ground invasion by Hezbollah of northern Israel. It's taken hundreds and hundreds of tons of explosives to get it ready for destruction, but the Americans didn't want them to because they thought that that might disrupt the extremely fragile pilot peace process that's going on. But after Hezbollah, we think, tried to destroy an armored bulldozer, it was unmanned, an IDF bulldozer a couple of nights ago. The Israelis have go. The explosion appears to have been absolutely ginormous. So moving over to the Iran blockade, Telegraph journalists Conor Stringer and Joe Barnes reported this morning that the US and Israel are considering a land blockade on Iran. Lottie, tell us about it.
Lottie Tipady Bishop
So I think this is quite interesting, right, because it centers on what I think is the number one question at the moment, which is, can Iran's economy outlast the US's dwindling weapons arsenal? And this kind of gets to the heart of it. I think the idea is that Israel and the US would kind of put pressure on Iran's trading partners and regional neighbors to block off the border and nothing would be able to get in or out, crucially, which would obviously put them in a really difficult position, especially considering the state of their economy at the moment.
Henry Bodkin
It seems like quite a tall order. I think a lot of those countries surrounding Iran are not natural allies with the US and so probably quite difficult to achieve.
Lottie Tipady Bishop
Yeah, definitely. I mean, I think they'd have more luck with some than others. Or at least Trump probably likes to think that he might at least be able to get Turkey and Pakistan to make some positive noises about it. Whether they actually would be willing to do it is another question. And I think it's. I mean, we have Seth MacFarland, a retired three star lieutenant general who spoke to us about it, who essentially said the same thing, that it would be extremely difficult, but also that isolating them economically is the way to do it, especially considering we're now in what month? 5 of the war? 6. I don't even know. And it's quite clear that striking them from the air isn't working.
Henry Bodkin
Yeah, well, I saw, I mean, Connor himself reported someone as saying that, you know, it's quite a bold idea, but maybe it's a red herring for.
Lottie Tipady Bishop
Yeah.
Henry Bodkin
You know, to distract the Iranians and while the Americans actually try something else, which I suppose could work, unless the IRGC has a Telegraph subscription and has read the story, in which case it's. It's a militarily flawed plan because they'll see it coming. But it does perhaps smack of a leadership that's running out of ideas.
Lottie Tipady Bishop
I think. So I think, you know, sometimes I really question, and I'm in Washington and like speaking to these people and I don't really understand why they leak what they leak and why other things are kept secret. I mean, it's kind of linking back to last week when we had someone in the White House leaking that they were running out of weapons. Not really sure why they would want Iran to know this. I don't know if it's some kind of race against time thing with the economy that now that you have this coming out, but it seems that it's maybe a bit of a scattergun approach because you also have reports that Trump is like effing and blinding, privately saying that he's extremely frustrated because apparently he, he said that, that they were going to beat the out of Iran, which is, you know, interesting talk if you're saying that one day and then the next you're like, maybe we'll just squeeze them economically. I think that it's quite clear that the word that everyone's using in Washington is quagmire. And I think that is a really apt description of the situation that Trump is in. He really is struggling. He doesn't have that many places left to turn. I think probably that they are going to put out every single possible option and then continue to hit them with strikes. We I'm not sure if you saw it, but there was a report I think that we followed from the Wall Street Journal that Brad Cooper, who's an admiral, he's sort of like third in command between beneath Hegseth and Kane. He's very important, but he's not necessarily like completely within the White House and Washington. He is absolutely convinced that it just is going to take two more weeks. And I do wonder if that is actually what they're leaning towards. That seems to be like the overarching, most realistic plan of action to me.
Henry Bodkin
Okay, well, let's hope so, everyone, you know, all over in two weeks, get the boys home by Christmas, all that kind of thing.
Lottie Tipady Bishop
By the midterms?
Henry Bodkin
Yeah, by the midterms. That's more likely. Okay. So. Well, moving on to maritime sea routes and the issues around the Strait of Hormuz and of course, Bab el Mandeb. Tensions continue to simmer in both straits. Just 25 commodity vessels passed through the Bab el Mandeb Strait on Thursday. That's the Red Sea passage where Yemen gets very close to Africa and there's a narrow passage but very important for commercial shipping from Suez and so on. Traffic meanwhile, through the Strait of Hormuz remained low with only four vessels transiting. According to Kepler shipping data. Saudi Arabia has been reported to be preparing for a major military offensive against the Houthis by sea and possibly also by land in central Yemen. Yemeni sources believe in a move to break the chokehold on its oil exports through the southern Red Sea, Saudi forces have been seen withdrawing from the east of Yemen in what could be a preparation for a land offensive. At the same time, Riyadh is trying its hardest to organize a coalition to come up with a naval force to protect shipping from Houthi attacks in the Reb Sea and the Bab El Mandeb Strait. Saudi Arabia said on Thursday that it has set up a maritime defence alliance of 14 regional countries to secure navigation around the Bab Al Mandab Strait. In Cyprus, Cypriot authorities have arrested a man on suspicion of spying on a UK Military base on behalf of the Iranian Iranian military. London's Metropolitan police force said 44 year old Rashad Sultanov, a UK Azerbaijani national, is alleged to have conducted hostile surveillance of Raf Akrotiri and shared information with Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. This comes just a day after a drone attack on Egypt's Mediterranean port and a week after the IRGC threatened UK military bases such as RAF Fairford as, quote, legitimate targets for attacking. So, Lottie, one of the main talking points this week has been, as you alluded to earlier, the idea that the US Campaign, they're going to try and do it all in 14 days. A 14 day campaign of airstrikes that's going to aim to settle this once and for all. What do you know about it? And what is the mood music in terms of people's optimism or otherwise as to its success?
Lottie Tipady Bishop
So I think it's based on this idea that Trump has kind of repeated a few times that he thinks that Iran has about 20% of its missiles left. I don't know what these estimates are based on, and I mean, I'm not privy to the intelligence that they're getting, but I think that a lot of analysts would disagree and I'm not sure where those numbers are coming from. But if you do take that as a given, the White House appears to think that it will just take 10, I think it's 10 to 14 more days to get rid of them all, essentially. And it kind of brings us back to this number one issue that's at the heart of Trump and his war strategy, is that you have kind of the more warmongery side of things like Hegseth and Brad Cooper who are really up for it and think that this could work, and then the kind of more slightly diplomatic minded side of his cabinet who were going, well, you know, we have the midterms. Do we really want another two weeks of all out war? Because it would be a return to war. I don't know if they could do this with limited strikes. Is it a great look? Is it going to drive oil prices even further? I mean, at every single thing that I'm reading and listening to at the moment is that people are looking at the oil reserves and it's looking pretty bare. So I think it's the timing is the issue here.
Henry Bodkin
Yeah, I mean, if they're really, really trying to go for it in a short period of time, then the obvious thought for me here sitting in Jerusalem is you might as well ask the Israelis to contribute as well. Because, you know, why not rope in a country that's got up to 200 warplanes to throw at it as well? I mean, you know, from my point of view, Here, the reporting on. I mean, as in the reporting from the authorities, both from the Israelis and from the US on that success with hunting down ballistic missiles, launches, killing off ballistic missile stocks on the grounds, it's just been completely wild. I mean, in the first or second week of the war, they were spouting figures like, we've got 85% of them. Then the following week it was like, we've got 80% of them. And, I mean, the whole thing unraveled. They just. I think. I think they don't know what they've got. And I think, as we've reported on the podcast before, there's this distinction between shutting down a launch site by collapsing the tunnel, because you can easily do that, but that's not the same as actually killing off the launch site, because the IRGC just gets some diggers and open up the tunnel complex again, and there's lots and lots of warheads and launches underneath. So, yeah, it's an issue which I think the US and the Israelis don't have a lot of trust on.
Lottie Tipady Bishop
What we do know as well, you're right. They just clearly have no idea about how many of their missiles they've taken out. Is we do know that the US is running out of defenses, and we're seeing that because US bases are being hit at quite a more regular rate than they were previously. And I think we discussed on the podcast last week that the barracks were being hit and things like that, which for a country like the us, it seems quite extreme in the middle of a ceasefire.
Henry Bodkin
Absolutely, Yeah. I mean, U.S. troops were killed, weren't they? Was it last week or the week before in Jordan at the big.
Lottie Tipady Bishop
I think it was two Fridays ago.
Henry Bodkin
Yeah. I mean, I was actually in Amman earlier this week, and they've had, by Jordanian standards, a bit of public dissent, an open letter that was signed by hundreds of academics. I mean, a lot of these people are quite leftist, quite Islamist. But for Jordan, which doesn't have a culture of free speech at all, that was quite shocking. And it was. They were calling to kick the Americans out, which is, of course, what the IRGC is always saying to these Middle east countries. It's not. You just get the Americans off your soil. And, yeah, I mean, the Iranians seem to have upped their game in terms of being able to attack these targets. Their rocketry is more sophisticated. And combined with that, yes, the Americans seem to be running short, and that's why they're sustaining these casualties. I just wanted to ask you one more thing, Lottie. I had a slightly off the wall conversation, but with a very senior, actually British officer who was passing through the Middle east in the last month. And he said that he still wouldn't rule out a full land invasion, a full American land invasion of Iran at some point, maybe not in the next few weeks, but at some point in the next year. And his thesis was that that is the only way to persuade the Iranians to open up the strait, to persuade the Iranians that the Americans mean business is to amass a force of troops. And we're talking first Gulf War levels of troops, hundreds of thousands to amass them in the region to show that you mean business. And of course, once they're there, it gets a lot closer to actually using it. And that's the full kind of Vietnam, full on war scenario. He described it as a slightly off the wall scenario, but he actually thought it was more probable than people are giving credit for. And I just wonder whether there's any appetite at all in the US for that. Any, any voices calling for even limited ground incursions, ground invasions around the strait, or if that's just completely off the table.
Lottie Tipady Bishop
I think it probably is on the table. It might be in quite a far away, hard to reach corner of the table, but I'm sure it's being discussed. I think it is. It's the nuclear option and I don't think it would happen until after the midterms because it is the antithesis of what Trump campaigned on and it would cause so much fallout politically within his cabinet. I mean, J.D. vance would have to resign, presumably. It also, I'm like, pretty sure would involve congressional approval. So that would complicate things further. But I agree, I think that it's certainly an option and I could imagine that somebody like Pete Hegseth is probably more into that than someone like J.D. vance.
Henry Bodkin
So, Lottie, politically, the war seems to be becoming quite toxic for Trump. He's now at record low approval ratings with Republicans. What's the view on the Hill about how he's doing with the midterms coming up?
Lottie Tipady Bishop
So I was reading a couple of days ago something that I thought was really interesting actually, that Trump has kind of given Republicans a little bit more grace to distance themselves from him ahead of the midterms than he normally ever would than is in his playbook. And I do kind of think that we are seeing that a little bit. He hasn't been hugely involved. I mean, in fairness, campaigning probably doesn't really kick off until September and then we might see him going to you know, battleground states and cheering people on. But yeah, it seems to me like he, he is aware, or at least, you know, maybe Susie, whiles his chief of staff is aware, that it's really becoming quite toxic. And if his party is going to have much luck at the midterms and then they need to be able to go and say, well, you know, I wasn't really involved in this. Something that is, is going to do them favors with that is how difficult it has been to get any kind of funding for the Iran war through Congress. It's just stalling at kind of every stage. But I think the, the issue that they will face, like you say, is there's something like roughly two thirds of people in various polls disapprove of Trump. And what that seems to be linking back to is the economy. I was reading that 49% of people think they're worse off now than they were a year ago, which again, is the opposite of what Trump campaigned on. And I think as long as the cost of living, especially energy prices remain high, or at least really unpredictable, that's going to be really, really bad luck for Trump at the midterms.
Henry Bodkin
Lottie, thank you so much for joining me on Iran the latest. That's all we've got time for today. We'll be back on Monday. Until then, goodbye.
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Henry Bodkin
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Date: July 31, 2026
Host: Henry Bodkin
Guest: Lottie Tipady Bishop (Acting US News Editor, The Telegraph, Washington D.C.)
This episode dives into a dramatic week in the US-Iran conflict, spotlighting key developments: Hamas’ surprise disarmament deal, US-Israeli considerations for a land blockade on Iran, intensifying fighting in Gaza and Lebanon, and Saudi Arabia’s moves against the Houthis in Yemen. With on-the-ground analysis and exclusive insights, Henry and Lottie unpack the shifting diplomatic landscape, the political fallout for President Trump ahead of US midterms, and the spiraling regional security crisis.
Timestamps: 01:12 – 07:55
Hamas Disarmament Agreement:
Renewed Conflict:
Diplomatic Fallout:
“It felt quite like kind of scolding… especially given all the reports we've had this week of Trump's frustration with Netanyahu…” — Lottie Tipady Bishop (08:24)
Timestamps: 08:06 – 11:29
US–Israel Dynamics:
Media and Political Spin:
Netanyahu’s Political Standing:
“Trump is trading in the polls for his midterms; Netanyahu also could be doing a lot better…” — Henry Bodkin (09:23)
Timestamps: 13:49 – 17:49
Lebanon Escalation:
Land Blockade on Iran:
“We have Seth MacFarland, a retired three star lieutenant general... isolating them economically is the way to do it... striking them from the air isn't working.” — Lottie Tipady Bishop (16:41)
Timestamps: 17:49 – 25:12
Military “Quagmire”:
Admiral Brad Cooper’s Prognosis:
Land Invasion Scenario:
“I think that it's quite clear that the word that everyone's using in Washington is quagmire. And I think that is a really apt description of the situation that Trump is in.” — Lottie Tipady Bishop (18:04)
“The whole thing unraveled. I think they don't know what they've got... it's not the same as actually killing off the launch site...” — Henry Bodkin (24:18)
Timestamps: 19:55 – 22:19
Maritime Disruption:
Maritime Defense Initiatives:
Timestamps: 28:39 – 30:40
Toxicity for Trump:
Public Sentiment:
“As long as the cost of living, especially energy prices, remain high... that's going to be really, really bad luck for Trump at the midterms.” — Lottie Tipady Bishop (30:29)
| Timestamp | Segment | |-----------|-------------------------------------------------------| | 01:12 | Headline recap — Hamas disarms, Iran conflict surge | | 03:32 | Peace roadmap: Phased disarmament & Israeli withdrawal| | 06:34 | Israel skeptical about Hamas agreement | | 08:06 | US reaction and political calculus | | 13:49 | Lebanon: Hezbollah’s tunnels and escalation | | 15:42 | Land blockade plan against Iran | | 17:49 | Frustration in White House, “quagmire” for Trump | | 19:55 | Maritime bottlenecks: Bab el Mandeb & Hormuz | | 21:04 | Saudi-led maritime defense alliance | | 25:12 | Discussion of possible US land invasion of Iran | | 28:39 | Trump’s approval collapse and GOP distancing |
This tightly packed episode captures the high-stakes drama and diplomatic intrigue swirling around the US-Iran conflict as summer 2026 unfolds. Key highlights include Hamas’ startling disarmament deal (with major loopholes), Israel’s skepticism, the US waving a potential land blockade on Iran, and deepening regional chaos from Lebanon to Yemen. The hosts probe the immense strain on President Trump—politically isolated, running short on military options, and battered by domestic fallout ahead of critical midterm elections. Throughout, the language is blunt, analytical, and laced with insiders’ skepticism, reflecting the rapidly shifting, unpredictable balance of power in the region.