Hello and welcome to Background Briefing, available 24-7 at Background Briefing.org. I'm Ian Masterson.

Today we'll examine a number of stories and issues in the news.

We'll begin with the straight of Amos being closed after Trump and Iran's foreign minister

said it was completely open, suggesting the US is not talking to the right people

and that if anyone is in control of the Iranian government, it's the Revolutionary Guard

Corps. Joining us to assess whether

the war will resume when the ceasefire ends on Wednesday is Juan Cole, a professor of

Middle East and South Asian history at the University of Michigan. He's also the author

of the blog informed comment at wancoll.com and the author engaging the Muslim world, Muhammad

Prophet of Peace and the Clash of Empires and most recently Gaza yet stands. We will

discuss his latest articles at informed comment. Iran's straight of a muses open

but with conditions and South Korea Asia livid about Israeli role in fuel crisis.

Then, with Trump forcing Netanyahu's hand, saying Israel is, quote,

prohibited from bombing Lebanon, we'll look into domestic pressure on Israel's prime minister

from an overwhelming percentage of Israelis who want the Israeli defense forces to finish the job and wipe out

Hezbollah, which the Lebanese government appears unable to bring under control.

Joining us is Thanasi Kambanis, a senior fellow at the Century Foundation and Director of

the Center for International Research and Policy. Until recently, he worked as a journalist based in Lebanon, and his books

include a privilege to die, inside Hezbollah's legions, and their endless war against Israel,

once upon a revolution, an Egyptian story, and most recently, Shia power comes of age,

the transformation of Islamist politics in Iraq, 2003 to 2003. Then finally we'll

examine what can be done to remove an increasingly mentally ill Trump from office when the only

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