Netanyahu’s rivals try to outdo him over Iran
FT News Briefing
Forhecz Topher
4.4 • 1.3K Ratings
🗓️ 24 March 2026
⏱️ 11 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Sources tell the FT that Pakistan is positioning itself as the lead mediator trying to broker an end to the US’s and Israel’s war against Iran, and the US ambassador to the EU says the bloc must implement its trade deal with the US or risk losing its “favourable” access to liquefied natural gas shipments from American exporters. Plus, carmakers are panic buying aluminium because of the Middle East conflict, and some Israeli opposition parties are being surprisingly hawkish on Iran.
Mentioned in this podcast:
Pakistan steps up as go-between in Trump’s Iran crisis
US warns EU to pass trade deal or risk losing ‘favourable’ access to LNG
Carmakers rush to secure aluminium as Middle East war hits supply
Benjamin Netanyahu’s rivals compete to outdo him over Iran
Note: The FT does not use generative AI to voice its podcasts
Today’s FT News Briefing was hosted and edited by Marc Filippino, and produced by Victoria Craig and Sonja Hutson. Our show was mixed by Kelly Garry. Additional help from Gavin Kallmann. Our executive producer is Topher Forhecz. Cheryl Brumley is the FT’s Global Head of Audio. The show’s theme music is by Metaphor Music.
Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Good morning from the Financial Times. Today is Tuesday, March 24th, and this is your FT News briefing. |
| 0:08.6 | An unlikely country is acting as lead mediator between the U.S. and Iran. And the wartime energy crisis is now |
| 0:15.6 | leverage for EU-US trade negotiations. Plus a few of Israel's opposition parties see an opportunity in the war in Iran. |
| 0:23.9 | There's no debate at all among the Jewish Israeli parties about whether or not the war is justified. |
| 0:28.9 | The debate is about how best to wage it. |
| 0:31.5 | I'm Mark Filipino, and here's the news you need to start your day. |
| 0:46.9 | Pakistan is taking the lead to try and broker an end to the war in the Middle East. |
| 0:53.1 | The nation has pitched its capital, Islamabad, as a possible venue for talks as early as this week, it would involve senior figures from the Trump |
| 0:55.5 | administration and Iran. That's according to two officials familiar with the discussions who said |
| 1:00.4 | initial talks took place on Sunday. A day later, U.S. President Donald Trump posted on social media that he |
| 1:06.4 | was delaying his threat to, quote, obliterate Iran's power plants after, quote, very good and productive |
| 1:12.5 | conversations with Tehran. Now, Iran's foreign ministry denied there had been any direct negotiations |
| 1:17.6 | with the U.S. since the start of the war, but said that some regional states were involved in mediation |
| 1:23.1 | efforts. Even still, markets breathed a sigh of relief after Trump's post. The price of Brent crude |
| 1:29.2 | dropped more than 10 percent to trade around $100 a barrel. U.S. stocks shot up and the S&P 500 |
| 1:34.8 | ended Monday up a little bit more than 1%. |
| 1:37.3 | The war in Iran has severely disrupted global energy trading. |
| 1:47.8 | Now, the U.S. is trying to use that as leverage as it finalizes a trade deal with the European Union. |
| 1:53.7 | U.S. President Trump's ambassador to the bloc has warned that the agreement must be passed without amendments. |
| 2:00.0 | And if it's not, the EU will risk losing |
| 2:02.3 | favorable access to liquefied natural gas shipments. Henry Foy, the FD's Brussels Bureau Chief, |
| 2:07.9 | joins me now to talk about that. Hey, Henry. Hi, Mark. So for this story, Henry, you spoke to |
... |
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