"Israel is in a situation of kind of spectacular military virtuosity, but also strategic impoverishment. You cannot kill everybody."
On today’s bank holiday bonus episode of Iran: the Latest, Venetia Rainey speaks to historian Simon Sebag-Montefiore to get a historian’s view of the US-Israel-Iran war. Simon argues that Donald Trump’s biggest mistake was not stopping after 2025’s Operation Midnight Hammer, and that Benjamin Netanyahu is leading his country into a potential intra-Jewish civil war.
Plus, why the Iranian regime is a Mahdist-praetorian oligarchy, how the geopolitical concept of "the Middle East" became obsolete, and which dictators from the region’s modern history haunt him.
Simon Sebag Montefiore’s new book, The Cauldron: The Making of the Modern Middle East, is out now.
Highlights
- Trump’s mistakes, Israel’s overreach and the end of the ‘Middle East’
- Historian and author Simon Sebag-Montefiore on the Iran war
CONTRIBUTORS:
Venetia Rainey, co-host and executive producer @venetiarainey
Simon Sebag-Montefiore, historian and author @simonmontefiore
WATCH US ON YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJnf_DDTfIVAif-vifC6F2aoPB8GIw6dk
CONTENT REFERENCED:
Simon Sebag Montefiore: Appeasing radical activists will make the West ungovernable
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/books/authors/simon-sebag-montefiore-the-cauldron-interview/
Simon Sebag Montefiore: Starmer’s foreign policy risks rewarding aggressive extremists
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/09/07/montefiore-starmers-foreign-policy-rewards-extremists/
Winner Best News and Analysis Podcast - Publisher Podcast Awards 2026
Nominated Podcast of the Year - Society of Editors News Podcasts Awards 2026
Nominated Best News, Politics and Current Affairs - British Podcast Awards 2026
The Telegraph, Winner Podcast Publisher of the Year 2026 - Publisher Podcast Awards 2026
Audio Producer: Joleen Goffin
Video Producer: Max Bower
Researcher and Social Producer: Anna Hindmarsh
Studio Operator: Andy Watson
Executive Producer: Venetia Rainey
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