Hello and welcome to Battleground with me, Patrick Bishop and Roger Morehouse.

Once again, all eyes are on the Gulf this week with little attention to spare

for the Ukraine conflict. But as we very well know, Roger, the two events are intimately

connected. And what happens in Trump and Israel's war with Iran has already and will continue

to impact very significantly on the shape of things in Ukraine and particularly Russia.

There were initial assessments that the Iran war would be good for Putin.

Well, they seemed to be wide of the mark with increased public unrest

and rumors of assassination plots and coups multiplying.

This year's annual Second World War victory parade on May the 9th will be a

very muted affair, it seems. We'll come on to all that later, but first let's start talking

about Iran. Now, the situation in the Gulf changes almost by the hour, so listeners will have to

bear with us if what we're talking about now turns out not to be the case by the time you hear this.

But at the time of recording, it seems that it's Trump, not the Mullers, who have blinked first,

and that the man who's repeatedly claimed victory and bragged that Tehran is begging for a deal

is now ready to accept an outcome that could only be

interpreted, I think, as a massive humiliation for him and for America.

Yeah, that's right, Patrick.

And, of course, this could all go up in a puff of smoke, as you say, as soon as the situation

changes, or, of course, Trump changes changes his mind as he tends to do.

But for the moment, it certainly seems that the Americans have lost all appetite for further military action,

and they will in the long run be prepared to sign off on a deal that would at very best restore the status quo ante.

Steady U-turn seems to be in progress with the announcement early this week that Project

...