Missing peace: will Israel imperil Iran deal?
The Intelligence from The Economist
The Economist
4.5 • 3.7K Ratings
🗓️ 24 June 2026
⏱️ 22 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Our correspondent joins an embed in Lebanon, where Israel claims that Hizbullah’s continued strength justifies its campaign. If Israel’s goals diverge from America’s, how does this affect peace talks over the Iran conflict? The impact of the oncoming “Godzilla" El Niño. And why Japan’s popular princess will never take the throne.
Guests and host:
- Anshel Pfeffer, Israel correspondent
- Catherine Brahic, environment editor
- Moeka Iida, East Asia correspondent
- Rosie Blau, co-host of “The Intelligence”
- Jason Palmer, co-host of “The Intelligence”
Topics covered:
- Lebanon, Hizbullah, IDF, Majdal Zoun
- El Niño, climate change, famine
- Japan, Naruhito, Aiko, Princess Toshi
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The Economist |
| 0:02.0 | Hello and welcome to the intelligence from The Economist. |
| 0:13.0 | I'm Rosie Bloor. |
| 0:14.0 | And I'm Jason Palmer. |
| 0:19.0 | Today on the show, a Wappa El Nino and why Japan's popular princess will never take the throne. |
| 0:31.5 | First up, though. |
| 0:47.1 | It's been four days since peace talks between America and Iran began. |
| 0:52.8 | These came after the two countries signed a memorandum of understanding last week. |
| 0:59.6 | In theory, the deal ends the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, unfreezes Iranian assets, |
| 1:06.1 | and begins a 60-day period of negotiations over the future of Iran's uranium stockpile. |
| 1:11.6 | At Iran's insistence, it also includes a commitment to a ceasefire in Lebanon, between Israel and Hezbollah and Iran-backed Shia militia. |
| 1:16.6 | The question now is whether that conflict could undermine the prospect of long-term peace in the Middle East. |
| 1:23.6 | The village of Majdil-Zun, seven kilometres north of Israel's border with Lebanon, is deserted. |
| 1:32.9 | Anshilfeffer is our Israel correspondent. |
| 1:36.3 | It's a Shia village. It has been empty now for a while, and even though it was very dark there there you could see that many of the buildings have |
| 1:44.9 | been destroyed by Israeli airstrikes. There's no electricity but there was lighting an Israeli |
| 1:50.6 | command post and in the underground location where we were taken. |
| 1:57.3 | Unsure, you say you were taken to an underground location. just explain what it is that you saw where you went |
| 2:03.3 | around about 30 metres under the centre of the village there's this long and very wide tunnel |
| 2:11.5 | which from what we were shown there was used as a factory or an assembly line for building killer drones. |
| 2:20.5 | I've been in quite a few tunnels over the last two and a half years under Lebanon and under the Gaza |
| 2:26.0 | strip. I think this was certainly the widest, most well-constructed tunnel I've seen in these wars so far. |
... |
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