Iran, Israel and the Middle East crisis explained
Radical with Amol Rajan
BBC
4.5 • 919 Ratings
🗓️ 3 October 2024
⏱️ 57 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In the week that Israel invaded Lebanon and Iran attacked Israel with missiles, Nick and Amol take a step back to ask how we got here.
They’re joined in the studio by Sir Simon Gass, one of the UK’s most experienced Iran watchers who was the UK ambassador to Tehran and political director at the Foreign Office.
How powerful is Iran? What might happen now both Hezbollah and Hamas appear to have been weakened? And what are his hopes and fears for the wider Middle East?
Plus, newsreader and Radio 4 continuity announcer Jane Steel drops in to share secrets from behind the scenes at Radio 4.
And finally, to celebrate the first anniversary of the podcast, we hear your Moments of the Year!
If you have a question you’d like Amol and Nick to answer, get in touch by sending us a message or voice note on WhatsApp to +44 330 123 4346 or send an email to today@bbc.co.uk.
To get Amol and Nick's take on the biggest stories of the week, with insights from behind the scenes at the UK's most influential radio news programme, subscribe to The Today Podcast on BBC Sounds so you don’t miss an episode.
You can also listen any time on your smart speaker by saying “Smart Speaker, ask BBC Sounds to play The Today Podcast.”
The Today Podcast is hosted by Amol Rajan and Nick Robinson, both presenters of BBC Radio 4’s Today programme. Amol was the BBC’s media editor for six years and is the former editor of the Independent, he’s also the current presenter of University Challenge. Nick was the BBC’s political editor for ten years before and was also ITV’s political editor.
The senior producer is Lewis Vickers, the producer is Hatty Nash, research and digital production from Joe Wilkinson. The editor is Louisa Lewis. The executive producer is Owenna Griffiths. Technical production from Mike Regaard.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | We get it. Life is busy. You want to keep up with the news, but there's just too much going on. |
| 0:06.9 | Which is where Newscast comes in. We do the work, and when you're ready to dig deeper into the day's news, you just pop us into your ears. |
| 0:14.8 | It does mean we have to put in the hard work, though. |
| 0:17.5 | Listen to Newscast every day on BBC Sounds. |
| 0:21.4 | BBC Sounds, music, radio, though. Listen to newscast every day on BBC Sounds. BBC Sounds, music, radio, podcasts. |
| 0:25.4 | The Middle East has erupted. |
| 0:27.5 | Israel is now war against Hamas in Gaza, in the south, and Hezbollah in Lebanon, in the north. |
| 0:34.9 | In response, Iran has attacked Israel, but there is now the very serious |
| 0:38.9 | prospect of a much more significant confrontation between those two countries and their respective |
| 0:44.7 | allies. This is a weekly podcast and what we are going to try to do today is to give you some |
| 0:50.5 | background, some context to what's going on that doesn't feel just like a response to events in the news before we do this recording, but hopefully we'll last some time so you can use it as a briefing to understand the wider implications of what's happening in this region. |
| 1:04.8 | So in this episode, we're going to look particularly at Iran's influence in the Middle East, how it uses groups like Hezbollah and Hamas to project power, and what might happen now that those proxies appear to have been badly weakened? Will it provoke a much wider regional war, or is there some sort of path to peace? Let's do it. |
| 1:43.3 | Welcome to the Today Podcast studio with Nick and me Amol. |
| 1:47.8 | Before we hear from Sir Simon Gass, one of the UK's most experienced Iran watchers, |
| 1:51.0 | someone who spent many, many, many years in international diplomacy. It's probably worth explaining just a little bit about Israel and Lebanon's very uneasy history |
| 1:56.4 | because they've both been here before. |
| 1:58.6 | Most recently, Nick, in 2006. |
| 2:00.7 | Why don't you tell us a little bit about 2006, Nick, |
| 2:02.4 | and then I'll just introduce some of the basic geography of Lebanon? |
| 2:05.9 | Well, for Israel, Lebanon has for not just years, but for decades, |
| 2:11.2 | been the place where its enemies gather. |
| 2:13.7 | So the reason there was a war back in 2006, an invasion by Israel, |
... |
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