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- [00:04]
Sophia Yan
The telegraph.
- [00:10]
Progressive Insurance Announcer
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- [00:29]
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- [01:04]
Sophia Yan
They may take these threats and think very carefully about what it would mean not to comply with Trump. But again, this is a regime that does not want to be seen as backing down. Especially not at this point. Especially not after they downed an American military plane a short time ago.
- [01:22]
Donald Trump
The United States military began major combat operations in Iran today.
- [01:29]
Sophia Yan
President Trump says Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in the attacks.
- [01:39]
Donald Trump
The Pentagon is weighing a takeover of
- [01:41]
Progressive Insurance Announcer
that island as a way to force
- [01:43]
Sophia Yan
the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.
- [01:46]
Venetia Rainey
Does anyone really think that someone can tell President Trump what to do? Come on. I'm Venetia Rainey.
- [01:54]
Sophia Yan
And I'm Sophia Yan. This is Iran. The Latest It's Tuesday, April 7, 2026.
- [02:01]
Venetia Rainey
It's the 39th day of the war. Iran is holding its breath after Trump threatened to take out the entire country if Iran doesn't do a deal. On Sunday, he issued an expletive laden post. And if you're listening with families, I am about to swear Tuesday will be power plant day and bridge day all wrapped up in one in Iran. There will be nothing like it. Open the fucking straight you crazy bastards, or you'll all be living in hell. Just watch. Praise be to Allah. President Donald J. Trump. And I think it's important to just cite that word for word because this is the President of America that we're talking about. He posted that on Truth Social on Sunday. The deadline has since shifted on that to tonight, 8pm EST midnight GMT. He's claimed in a press conference yesterday that we'll be getting into more later in this podcast that Iranian people are willing to suffer the consequences if it helps secure their freedom. All of this comes after a US strike on Iran's B1 bridge last week. This was a major bridge, it only been recently constructed and it connect connected the city of Karaj to the capital Tehran caused around 13 deaths, according to local authorities. U.S. officials said the bridge was bombed because it was used to transport material for Iranian military drones. But of course it also has an important civilian use and that's something that we'll be looking at more later in this podcast. With the threat to bomb all of Iran's remaining major bridges, peace talks aimed at ending the conflict collapsed on Friday with reports that negotiators in Pakistan had just hit a dead end. There are frantic efforts to sort something out. Today we hear J.D. vance is involved. What's going to happen with this specific threat? What could Trump achieve by bombing all of that infrastructure and would it be a war crime as some have suggested? We're going to get into all of that in the second half of this episode, so we're just going to leave that there for now and we're going to roll through the rest of the updates because we have been off for a few days and just want to catch you up. So today in Iran, Israel has been threatening to bomb railways the Israeli Defense Forces posted on X. For the sake of your security, we kindly request that from this moment until 9:00pm Iran time, you refrain from using and traveling by train throughout Iran. There's an Internet blackout in Iran, the longest ever in its history, so questions over who exactly gets to see that warning. Yesterday we heard that the IRGC's intelligence chief was killed in a dawn strike by Israel. Major General Majid Khademi. He was one of the top three leaders of the Revolutionary Guards, according to Israel. And he was actually only appointed last year in June after his predecessor and deputy were killed in an airstrike during that 12 day war we saw last year with Israel. Earlier today, a synagogue in the center of Tehran was heavily damaged by a US Israeli projectile, according to Iranian state media, and then also bombed over the weekend. Across Iran, a petrochemical facility facility that produced nitric acid reportedly used in explosives and materials for developing ballistic missiles. The Shahid Beheshdi University, one of the country's leading academic institutions. Iran's largest petrochemical complex, which serves the south PAS gas field, you may remember, that was one that was bombed and led to major issues with Qatar A couple of weeks ago, it's the world's largest natural gas reserve. A Red Crescent aid warehouse was bombed in Iran's Bahesha Province. And just across Iran, the death toll now is at least 2,000 people, according to the Iranian Health Ministry. That includes 240 women and 212 children. One final thing, on Iran, we obviously covered the rescue of these two airmen who were in an F15 fighter jet that was downed last Friday. We covered that extensively on yesterday's podcast, so do go back and listen to that. I spoke to Jack Murphy, who's ex US Special Forces and broke the story of the second airman being rescued alive. There has been a lot of misinformation around this effort. We've seen Iranian sources trying to claim that this was a raid on its uranium stockpile gone wrong. We've seen people trying to claim that there was a dead pilot. And I saw some reporting around China emphasizing the really high value of the kit that's been lost in this operation. As we go over in yesterday's episode, quite a few planes were destroyed by the US as well as by Iran over the course of the weekend. Sophia, I wonder if you've got any thoughts before we crack on with the rest of the updates about this entire operation and who gets to claim it as a sort of propaganda win? Because we're starting to see these narrow narratives take shape around what happened.
- [06:07]
Sophia Yan
What's interesting, from the first moment that the news came out that there was that something of this scale had happened, it came from Iranian state media. From the very beginning, they were trying to seize the narrative for their own gains. This is something you expect in wartime. Wartime propaganda, of course, we know, is always meant to intimidate, to see doubt, to give sometimes false information for different reasons. In some cases, you want your opponent perhaps to think that they're doing very well, or in other cases, you want them to think that they're suffering terribly. And so from the very beginning you saw this with Iranian state media also putting out headlines about attacking the rescue, the search and rescue effort. In the very beginning, it was interesting because Iran has claimed many times in this war that they had shot down American planes. This time, of course, we learned as the news developed that that was indeed the case. And the rescue now means that the US has saved themselves temporarily. The worst case scenario would be if the Iranians had managed to find a surviving pilot, a hostage, a prisoner of war, and you can just kind of imagine what that would look like. That person would have been paraded on Iranian state media. You know, for the Americans, this would just be a pain point that perhaps they wouldn't be able to sustain for very long. So from the American perspective, thank goodness, that is the feeling from dc, From Washington, that they have found their two member crew, that they are both now safe. It's not good, of course, that this plane was shot down. I mean, this F15E, this is one of the most fearsome bits of kit that the American military has ever had. So that Iran could do this tells us something perhaps about their military prowess even five weeks into this war, that they're still going, right?
- [08:04]
Venetia Rainey
I mean, and that's one of the big unanswered questions that I still have, you know, a couple of days on. From all the reporting around this, we don't know what downed that jet. The Iranians claimed it was a new air defense system. When I spoke to Jack Murphy yesterday, he said he thought that was unlikely, but we just, we just don't know how they managed to bring it down. And the Americans haven't released details of that. Maybe they don't know themselves. So I think that will be an interesting one to watch for because as you say, it is very significant that they managed to bring down an American jet. The other thing that I think we don't know how many Iranians were killed in this process. I saw some reporting that suggested five people were killed during the rescue operations. We assume they were militants, we don't know. But there's obviously been a bit of a media blackout around all of that. And of course, no one can go to these sites to do any independent reporting. Any unanswered questions for you.
- [08:51]
Sophia Yan
The other issue to watch going forward is as much as we can understand how Iranians are reacting to this is important because for so long the US has said, even from the beginning of this war, that they wanted to push regime change. Of course Trump has flip flopped on this, but there was some thinking that with sustained bombing, with a sustained air campaign, that eventually the US Would be able to drive some sort of popular uprising. Now, again, we've talked on this podcast many times about why that hasn't happened, but it will be interesting to see how this particular incident of the downed plane and then the rescued pilots are played within the country and how the general public reacts. Will this be a, a point around which the regime can get the public to rally against the invading enemy? This is the way the US and the Israelis are portrayed at this point, because there was a push right away when that plane was downed on state media for civilians to go out and find them. I mean, this was a concerted message targeting the general public to join hands, to unite and to, to do something right, to go forth and find these potential hostages and prisoners of war. And whether or not that message continues to stick with the public will be an interesting one to watch.
- [10:13]
Venetia Rainey
Let's go to the Gulf. Sophia, what stories have you been looking at across there?
- [10:17]
Sophia Yan
Iranian drone and missile attacks continue against the Gulf. Now there has been more use of cruise missiles, more than what Iran was firing before. And this is an interesting approach. Much like this incident with the downed American military plane. Iran is firing less, a less number, a smaller number every day of missiles, but they are getting more precise, they are getting better, it seems, at targeting what they want to hit. And now in the Gulf, you've started to see an expansion away from just going after military targets, but now really trying to strike energy assets. And this creates a lot of pain for the entire world. Just as the closure of the Strait of Hormuzz has been. So in Kuwait, a number of facilities for the Kuwait Petroleum Corporation has been targeted by Iranian drone attacks. It's led to fires and what the company itself has described as, quote, significant material losses. That includes an oil refinery that supplies 40% of the UK's imported jet fuel. So these are important assets for the uk, for Europe, for the rest of the world. There's also attacks against power and water desalination plants. This is affecting drinking water for the civilian population. Prime Minister Keir Starmer has said in response that Britain would deploy its rapid sentry air defense system to Kuwait to help protect British and Kuwaiti interests. So this is the level that we're now seeing, these attacks that Iran has lobbed over to the Gulf. They are pushing other countries to be more involved, certainly more involved than they perhaps would like to be at this point, but to protect their own interests. Separately, the UK's Royal Air Force said that it shot down multiple Iranian drones in the Gulf overnight. The Ministry of defense in the UK and their regular updates, they said that the UK has sent Typhoon and F35 fighter jets, that they're continuing these defensive missions over the Gulf. I want to mention Saudi Arabia. There's a key bridge. This is something that's just coming in that has been closed. It goes over the island of Bahrain and it's been shut down because there are apparent threats of a coming attack. And Saudi Arabia, you remember last week, was hit. There was a strike on the Prince Sultan Air Base and that destroyed a US Air Force E3 sentry. This aircraft is very key for early warning and surveillance. So the US Is perhaps not working at full capacity to detect incoming Iranian threats. That means Saudi Arabia may be more exposed than it would have otherwise been. Early this morning, the Saudis said that seven ballistic missiles from Iran had targeted the Eastern Province. Missile debris crashing into the ground near energy facilities. Officials have not given further details. But again, this goes at the whole picture of how the Gulf is suffering in this particular war.
- [13:06]
Venetia Rainey
I think it's really interesting to note there. We've had bridges and energy infrastructure. It's the same stuff that Trump is threatening to strike across Iran. And we've seen Iran striking those things. Energy infrastructure that is not bridges, yet Iran striking the same things across the Gulf. But it's interesting that they're now potentially threatening to strike a bridge between Saudi Arabia and Bahrain. Probably linked. We've seen so much tit for tat stuff throughout this war, and every escalation is met with another escalation.
- [13:34]
Sophia Yan
What's interesting, I mean, the tit for tat is a good point. What's interesting about this is that Iran is continuing with its attacks in a way that the impact is so broad. Hitting these energy assets, it creates a lot of damage. I mean, you're talking about oil and gas. You hit something like that, you're going to have a big fire. And this has happened already many times. It's very dangerous for the civilian population around. It's terrible for companies, they're losing money. It's terrible for consumers around the world because this means higher energy prices. We are all feeling that already. And this is essentially doing a fairly minimal amount and creating maximum damage in the sense that the proportion of what is done versus the consequence, it's not a one to one. Right. It's like a, the ratio of what Iran is doing is creating a much widespread consequential impact. And that's the whole point. We've seen Tehran do this from day one. They've gotten very good at this asymmetric, their version of asymmetrical warfare. And going forward, it's going to be much harder for Trump to sustain this campaign. We've talked before about these cracks that have formed in his MAGA base in the US over whether or not they support what he's doing. And the longer the energy crisis and the shipping crisis continues, the harder of a sell it becomes for his base
- [14:51]
Venetia Rainey
in the US and what's going on with the Strait of Hormuz? We're hearing about some ships getting through, some ships Getting turned around.
- [14:59]
Sophia Yan
Yeah, some ships are going through. A lot of countries have been trying to negotiate for passage. Malaysia, as of today, has said that one of seven commercial vessels that have been stranded has been allowed to pass and is now heading toward its destination. Two Qatari vessels that reportedly had permission to transit through the strait were turned around this morning. Now, this is one of the biggest points of leverage that Iran continues to have. This is partly why the Trump wants to push for some sort of settlement and for talks, because as I said earlier, this is one of these pain points. The consequence of this is so widespread. Now, the UN Security Council is set to vote later today during New York daytime on a resolution put forward by the Bahrainis on Iran's threats to the Strait of Hormuz. This is coming via diplomatic sources to Ajan's front press. The latest draft demands that Iran ends its attacks on commercial vessels and to halt, quote, any attempt to impede transit, passage or freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz. So this is very much clearly directed at trying to allow commercial shipping to go through because, again, it's already creating such a ripple effect around the globe.
- [16:13]
Venetia Rainey
I saw that the, the executive director of the International Energy Agency, Fateh Barol, who we've quoted a few times on this podcast, he said that the Iranian oil and gas crisis is now expected to be more serious than the ones in 1973, 1979 and 2002 put together. Previously, it was the two. One in the 70s combined. So this is, this is, it's just snowballing. It's getting more and more significant, isn't it? There's one final story that I know you wanted to flag from Iraq.
- [16:41]
Sophia Yan
Well, there's an American journalist, freelance journalist, Shelley Kittleson. She was kidnapped about a week ago in Baghdad and is believed to be alive. This is coming from Iraqi security officials who've spoken to the Washington Post. Representatives of Katab Hezbollah, one of Iran's militias in Iraq, has made clear that they are willing to negotiate. They would like several detained militia members to be released in exchange for freeing Shelley. And so this is an ongoing campaign. A lot of journalist groups and press freedom organizations are speaking out and trying to bring more attention to the situation. She is an American civilian who's suffering from the consequences of this war. And you look at the response that the US Government had for these downed pilots, and then you look at how they've handled the Shelley situation. I mean, it's just a very different, you know, we're looking at military versus civilian, of course, It's a different approach, but this is the human toll. Yet another reminder of how high that is when we've got these conflicts going.
- [17:48]
Venetia Rainey
And I think that press freedom point is something worth quickly picking up on. Both of us are journalists. You're for. I'm a former foreign correspondent. You're a serving foreign correspondent. Being able to go to these places and report independently is invaluable. And what we're seeing now in Iraq, it's becoming very dangerous to report. In the Gulf, you can barely report freely. There's so many restrictions on what you can film. People don't want to speak to you. They're very nervous about talking about the negative impacts of the war. Of course, in Iran, we have almost no independent reporters on the ground. I think CNN managed to get someone early on in the war, but they were heavily minded. In Lebanon, you know, we've had reporters being targeted by the Israeli authorities. Very difficult to go down into that southern Lebanon stretch where the Israeli troops are moving into. So, you know, all round we have a conflict spread across a region where it's actually quite difficult to report independently.
- [18:38]
Sophia Yan
Yeah, I think this is one of the most striking things about this war. First, covering conflict, there's always high physical risk. That goes without saying. But on top of that, as you said, there is a lot of censorship. There's a lot of local authorities. They're putting a lot of restrictions on what journalists can and cannot report. They're even putting restrictions on the civilian population. And this is a case in Iraq, too. I mean, you mentioned some of these rules in the Gulf. Well, they apply essentially in Iraq too. There are rules punishable by legal action for. For people. They can't send, for instance, videos of attacks or incoming projectiles to media outlets. Journalists also have been warned against publishing that sort of material and specific details of attacks. On top of all that, we've got propaganda from different sides of the war. There's misinformation, there's disinformation, there's AI. There are a lot of videos and photos going up online. I have to say that covering this war has been unprecedented in terms of trying to field what is real and what is not. Because there have been attacks too, that Western militaries haven't commented on. And when these local authorities are restricting what can or cannot be reported publicly, it gets to be pretty hairy. It's pretty dicey.
- [19:56]
Venetia Rainey
Let's go to Lebanon now, where the death toll has passed. The 2006 war. Israeli attacks on Lebanon. Since the start of this war on March 2 have killed more than 1,400 people, including 126 children, and have displaced more than a million. That's according to Lebanese authorities. That death toll still is not as bad as the 2023-2024 war, which killed more, but it is rapidly escalating. We had an Israeli airstrike on southern Lebanon's Kfar Hatta village killed at least seven people over the weekend, including a four year old girl, according to Lebanon's state run national news agency. We've also seen videos circulating of mass demolitions of homes in southern Lebanese villages. They started doing some of this in 2024, but they're now expanding that sort of action. We've had explicit references to repeating what they did in Gaza in southern Lebanon. So basically creating a sort of flattened, empty buffer zone that is causing significant problems on the ground in Lebanon. The southern Lebanon is largely Shiite and Hezbollah is largely supported and consists of Shiite Muslims. But there are a lot of Christians in southern Lebanon as well, some of whom support Hezbollah, some of whom don't. We're hearing from A senior Israeli military official told the Telegraph that the IDF is going to send a humanitarian convoy to a Christian village in Lebanon following a request from its residents. They say that they're not part of the conflict between the Israeli ar Hezbollah and have requested aid from the Israeli authorities. Over the weekend. A prominent Lebanese Forces party official Lebanese Forces is one of the Christian parties in Lebanon. He was killed along with his wife by an Israeli airstrike on a village, Ain Sada, a mountain village east of Beirut. All of this stuff is really heightening sectarian tensions in Lebanon. And most of our listeners will be aware that Lebanon had a massive sectarian civil war for about 15 years. I lived in Lebanon for four years and so I still follow a lot of Lebanese journalists and people from all sort of different walk life on social media. And I'm seeing a lot of anger around this idea that this implicit idea that the Christians are innocent in Lebanon and that all Shiites are guilty by association with Hezbollah. These sorts of things. An aid convoy to a Christian village, bombing Shiite places and saying that it's fine to demolish the whole village. These sorts of things are liable to really aggravate sectarian attentions on the ground in Lebanon. And I think the risk of civil unrest if this sort of military campaign continues for a long time, those just grow bigger and bigger. Sophia, what have you been watching in Israel?
- [22:24]
Sophia Yan
An Iranian missile attack on a residential building in Haifa killed at least four people that Includes an elderly Israeli couple and the first Filipino to die in this war. About 30,000 Filipinos live and work in Israel. Most of them are caregivers, domestic workers, cleaners. And it's a reminder again of the widening death toll and the human impact of this war.
- [22:51]
Venetia Rainey
And then just finally, there's something breaking on your patch in Istanbul. A gunfight outside the Israeli consulate. What do we know at the time of recording? We're about lunchtime on. On Tuesday.
- [23:01]
Sophia Yan
Yeah. So a gunfight erupted outside a building, a high rise building in a very popular neighborhood on the European side of Istanbul. This building houses the Israeli Consulate. Two assailants are dead. One police officer is wounded. A third assailant has been captured. This is what Turkish media have now put out. The Turkish government has said that the they are launching an investigation. No further details are clear just yet. The motivation or any information about the identity of the attackers. Also not yet disclosed by the authorities. The area around the building right now is sealed off. But this is a very popular business district on the European side of Istanbul. There are a lot of people who live and work around there. And Turkey in particular has tried really very hard not to get involved. They've had a few incidents of Iranian missiles coming through Turkish airspace, possibly trying to strike this joint US Turkish air base along the southern coast of Turkey. This is along the Mediterranean. But Turkey does not want to be embroiled in this particular conflict because it is obviously very, very difficult. The consequences are many fold. And in fact, they've actually been one of the parties subject to trying to negotiate between the US And Iran. They would like to see cooler heads prevail. And so this particular incident coming at this time is not going to be one that keeps Turkish authorities feeling calm and at ease. This is the opposite of that.
- [24:39]
Venetia Rainey
Interesting. And then just before we wrap, a few other stories from around the world that we want to mention, so I spotted something from North Korea. We get these periodic briefings by South Korea's National Intelligence Service to the country's lawmakers. And they have reported today or perhaps yesterday that North Korea is distancing itself from Iran. These are former allies, part of the sort of axis of Iran, Russia, North Korea, according to South Korea's national intelligence. They say that Pyongyang has not condemned the US And Israeli attacks, attacks on Iran, has not issued public condolences after Khamenei's death, has not sent a congratulatory message to Khamenei's son Mojtaba after he succeeded him, and that they believe the South Korean intelligence, that North Korea is trying to forge a slightly closer relationship with the U.S. i think that's a really interesting development and one to keep an eye on. And then just finally and this one's from last week, so it's old, but I think it is worth flagging. Pete Hegseth fought Stout, the Army's top general. He asked General Randy George to step down as army chief of staff, a position that he was expected to hold for more than another representatives for. Hegseth said that he wanted to go in another direction with the position. Hegseth has replaced nearly every member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff since his appointment to the Department of Defence. And this I think just adds to this picture of the Pentagon in turmoil. A lot of conflicting ideas about which direction they should go with this Iran war, whether they should be putting boots on the ground, when's the right time to pull out. We're not privy obviously to those inside conversations, but I think you can tell if they're chief of the army is being kicked out. Must go right up to the top. Let's take a break now. Coming up afterwards, we're going to be discussing Trump's threat to obliterate Iran and what he could actually achieve.
- [26:26]
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Venetia Rainey
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- [27:50]
Sophia Yan
Welcome back to Iran. The latest. It's me, Sophia Yan with Venetia Rainey. In the second half of the episode today, we're going to take a close look at what Trump is saying now. He's given a deadline for 8pm this evening. This is Trump speaking at the White House.
- [28:05]
Donald Trump
Yesterday, the entire country could be taken out in one night and that night might be tomorrow night. I hope I don't have to do it. We have a plan because of the power of our military, where every bridge in Iran will be decimated by 12 o' clock tomorrow night. Where every power plant in Iran will be out of business, burning, exploding and never to be used again. I mean, complete demolition by 12 o' clock. And it'll happen over a period of four hours. If we wanted to, they would be willing to suffer that in order to have freedom. The Iranians have. We've had numerous intercepts. Please keep bombing. Bombs that are dropping near their homes. Homes. Please keep bombing. Do it. And these are people that are living where the bombs are exploding. And when we leave and we're not hitting those areas, they're saying, please come back, come back, come back.
- [29:05]
Venetia Rainey
So that was Trump speaking. We've had a response from the Iranian armed forces spokesman, Ibrahim Zolfikhari. He said if attacks on civilian targets are repeated, the subsequent phases of our offensive and retaliatory operations will be carried out much more crushingly and extensively and the enemy's losses and damages from persisting with this approach. Approach will be multiplied. So more fighting talk before we get to the possible implications of this threat if it does come to pass. Sophia, there have been peace talks underway for the last weeks, last few weeks, we think they've ramped up in recent days. What do you know?
- [29:38]
Sophia Yan
Well, Trump has given this ultimatum, but Iran has made clear that they are not going to agree to anything unless there is 100% a guarantee that they won't be attacked again. They have said this specifically and in a way they're looking at how Trump was handling Gaza. There were ceasefires, but then fighting began again. And so Tehran has rejected what the US has put forward. They put forward their own 10 point plan and they've done this through the help of Pakistan, who has become a key mediator between the US And Iran. Iranian state media is carrying these kinds of details. They've also put forward More threats in response to what Trump has said. And interestingly, Iran is calling for the civilian population to form human chains to protect its power plants. This is one of the targets that Trump has threatened to strike if Iran does not cave.
- [30:33]
Venetia Rainey
Iran's put forward a ten point peace plan. What's in that plan?
- [30:37]
Sophia Yan
The most important part of what Iran has proposed is that they are rejecting the idea of a temporary ceasefire. They have emphasized the need for a lasting end to the war, a guarantee that hostilities will end in the region. So this is not just an ask that the U. S and the Israelis stop hitting Iran, but that, that the entirety of the region that all these different theaters of war that have, that have sprung up will, Will see an end to fighting. This is interesting because it does seem as if Tehran is looking at Trump's past history, at how the US and the Israelis were handling Gaza. There have been a series of temporary ceasefires in the Gaza war. Again, fighting has started, conflict hasn't ended. And so there is an interest from the Iranian regime, it seems, to make sure that whatever is agreed to really, truly will be lasting. They've also asked for some sort of framework to ensure safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz. They're asking for sanctions to be lifted. These are the kinds of requests that you would expect out of Iran at this point.
- [31:49]
Venetia Rainey
I wonder if you think it's even likely that this frantic round of diplomacy to try and hit this deadline tonight is even likely to produce anything. Nothing has happened in the last few weeks. And we've got a great piece up on the website at the moment by our senior foreign correspondent, Adrian Blomfield, basically talking about how now any kind of peace deal is very unlikely. While both sides think and are telling the world that they're winning, we just don't have. The dynamics are not there for these two sides to sit down together and both make compromises to try and reach an end to this war.
- [32:21]
Sophia Yan
For the US Side, the crisis in the energy markets could have a real impact in how quickly Trump might want to push for an end. It is true that both sides are still hitting at each other and quite effectively, it seems. But Trump, you have to remember, was the President who promised no wars. He promised that the US Was not going to be in conflicts that never ended. There is a question of how long his usual support base will continue to be on side with Trump. As I said earlier, even at the beginning of the war, there were cracks in his MAGA base. People were already criticizing his actions. Now we're five weeks in there still doesn't really seem to be an end in sight. Is this move to try to set a deadline, to set this ultimatum, to engage in peace talks through intermediaries, is this just some way to keep critics calm? What is really important from a Washington perspective, really, is to get the Strait of Hormuz to be open. This would ease the pain in terms of energy, in terms of shipping, at least temporarily. On the other side of this, this is the absolute last thing that Iran wants. This is their main point of leverage. This is the one thing that they can do. It's even stronger than the missiles that they still have in stock. They're still firing, they're still attacking. They're sending these drones, these missiles to many different countries in the Middle East. But again, the Strait of Hormuz and the fact that they can control this, that they can block off access, this is to their advantage. And so even at this one point, they're not going to be able to agree. The US The Americans and the Iranians.
- [34:03]
Venetia Rainey
Well, I wonder if you think that. Let's get onto the substance of Trump's threat, that he's going to blow up all of the country's bridges, major bridges and power plants. That's the threat that he issued on Sunday in this expletive laden post that I referenced earlier in the podcast. And that's what he was talking about again yesterday in the White House. Some people have claimed that this would be a war crime. We had the European Council President Antonio Costa yesterday saying that any targeting of civilian infrastructure, energy facilities is illegal and unacceptable. This applies to Russia's war in Ukraine, and it applies everywhere. We've also had some Americans calling out these sorts of threats, probably the usual suspects in terms of critics of Trump. But for example, Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene, who's been very against the Iran war, said that the President has gone insane and accused everyone in the administration of being complicit. We had the top Senate Democrat, Chuck Schumer, saying that Trump is threatening possible war crimes and alienating allies. Our country deserves so much better. Also worth adding that the UK has said that it would refuse to allow Trump to use RAF bases to strike bridges and power plants if they did decide to go ahead with that plan. Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the US Must only be allowed to use the bases to strike sites, such as missile silos or storage depots that could be used to threaten British interests or its allies in the Gulf, and that targeting bridges does not fall under this definition. So any request by Washington to use Bases such as RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire that we've heard about or Diego Garcia, that would be denied. That's according to reporting in the Eye newspaper. If you bomb civilian infrastructure that is potentially a war crime will leave the lawyers to decide whether or not. The argument that we heard with the B1 bridge that was bombed last week is that it's dual use, that the Iranians were using it to transport elements, parts for drones. But of course, a lot of civilians will also be using these bridges. I wonder if you think that this threat to bomb these bridges and power plants is enough to force the Iranian regime to rethink its strategy in the Strait of Hormuz.
- [35:59]
Sophia Yan
This could be a psychological tactic. These big threats. Trump does take this tact, this, you know, his very strong language. This is 100% in his Emma know. This is one way to force Iran's hands to prevent this from happening. Because it is true, it seems that Iran didn't want this war to happen. They did try in January and February when talks were ongoing prior to the, to the conflict beginning. They were trying to find ways to make Trump happy. So they may take these three threats and think very carefully about what it would mean not to comply with Trump. But again, this is a regime that does not want to be seen as backing down, especially not at this point, especially not after they downed an American military plane. In some respects, they are at a high point in terms of physical prowess and in terms of actually fighting. They've got some support coming in from China. We can talk about that later on. But it is worth noting that if the U.S. the U.S. follows through, if Trump follows through on this threat, in addition to the debate around whether what the US Might do next, whether that's a war crime, you have to think about the massive humanitarian crisis that could ensue, that could unfold if all of that civilian infrastructure were targeted and were hit. You know, you're thinking power plants. Power plants. These support everything from hospitals to schools, also to military and slaves relations. But this could mean that the country of about 90 million people would be suffering quite acutely. And that itself is a very big consequence that the Americans will then have to contend with.
- [37:48]
Venetia Rainey
I guess it's that question of whether by bringing a country to its knees, you are making the regime more likely to fall. That's obviously the American and Israeli hope and argument. Or whether you're just inflicting a lot of suffering on Iranian people and emboldening hardline elements of the regime. Regime. That's what we've seen so far. That's not to say it couldn't change, but that is what we've seen so far. You mentioned China there. Tell us more about how China is supporting Iran in this conflict, because that's an interesting strand that we like to pull on when we can.
- [38:17]
Sophia Yan
China's put up some resistance at the un they have tried to seek some sort of resolution over the Strait of Hormuz crisis. China is the world's largest exporter, and so they are feeling the pain in this regard. They want to be able to send commercial Vess vessels through fairly reliably because this has an impact on their domestic economy. But the interesting thing that is going on between the two countries is that there are a number of sanctioned Iran flagged vessels that have come from China to Iran. And they've left a particular port in southern China which is home to some of the largest liquid chemical storage terminals in China. And this is important because some of these chemicals are used to make missile fuel. And so there are questions about how much Beijing is really supporting the Iranian regime at this point. These are chemicals that can be used for other purposes. But this particular one in question, sodium prochlorate, a precursor for producing solid fuel propellants for missiles. This is something that powers Iranian ballistic missiles.
- [39:28]
Venetia Rainey
And that's really interesting because we usually talk about things coming out of the Strait of hormones, exports from Iran or other Gulf countries. We don't talk much about stuff that's coming in from elsewhere in the world. So China has been exporting stuff and Iran has been importing stuff.
- [39:44]
Sophia Yan
Yeah. And it's important to note that these ships that the, these materials have been brought in on are they have an Iranian flank. So Iran is letting its own vessels pass through, carrying whatever it is that they might need. And it's been identified, this particular port in China, there have been shipments and on some of these same vessels that have come before carrying this chemical, sodium perchlorate. And this is China's way of operating. They are always supporting their partners in ways that cannot be 100% deemed to be lethal military aid. They're not sending the guns, they're not sending the air defense systems, they're not sending the missiles themselves, they're not sending that kind of kit, but they are sending things that Iran can use to make weapons.
- [40:33]
Venetia Rainey
That's really interesting, Sophia, thank you. Before we wrap this episode worth sharing, Trump's latest post on Truth Social, which takes all this rhetoric around what he's going to do to Iran if they don't strike a deal to an even higher level, if that's possible. He's written a whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again. I don't want that to happen, but it probably will. However, now that we have complete and total regime change where different, smarter and less radical localized minds prevail, maybe something revolutionarily wonderful can happen. Who knows? We will find out tonight. One of the most important moments in the long and complex history of the world. 47 years of extortion, corruption and death will finally end. God bless the great people of Iran. We'll leave you on that rather chilling note and we'll be back again tomorrow to pick up where we've left off. That's all for today's episode. Until then, goodbye.
- [41:24]
Sophia Yan
Until next time, time.
- [41:30]
Venetia Rainey
Around the Latest is an original podcast from the Telegraph, created by David Knowles and hosted by me, Venetia Rainey and Roland Oliphant. If you appreciated this podcast, please consider following around the latest on your preferred podcast app. And if you have a moment, leave us a review as it helps others find the show. To stay on top of all of our news, subscribe to the Telegraph, sign up to our Dispatchers newsletter, or listen to our sister podcast Ukraine. The Latest. We're still on the same email address battle linestelegraph.co.uk or you can contact us on X. You can find our handles in the show. Notes the producer is Max Bauer. The Executive Producer is Louisa Wells.
- [42:10]
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