Are we heading towards war with Iran?

If you'd ask me over the weekend, I might have said yes.

But then on Monday evening, Iran

attacked a US base in Qatar, and I started to get a lot less worried. Why? Because it was

little more than a symbolic attack. Nothing major was destroyed, and no one was hurt. Iran even

told the US that it was going to strike in advance.

As of right now, the situation allows Israel, Iran and the US to all claim some kind of victory.

The current ceasefire is nevertheless fragile, with Israel carrying out further attacks after

Donald Trump had announced the end of

hostilities himself on social media, which of course makes it official policy.

He was angry and instructed Israel, again, on social media, to turn their planes around in the sky.

Seemingly, they did so.

So right now, I think, we're probably not heading towards a major

war. But tomorrow, who knows? What stands between us and further escalation is, after all,

Trump, a famously erratic man. And pushing for escalation, perhaps after they've restocked their interceptor missiles,

will be the government of Israel, still in need of something, anything, to distract from their genocide in Gaza.

So to get a little more perspective on the whole thing, and to get out of the endless rush of

unpredictable events that I'm sure we've all been feeling.

I spoke to Eskanda Sadegh. He's an expert on Iran and its politics, and the author of

revolution and its discontents. We covered recent events, of course, but also the complex history

that explains how Israel and Iran became so totally opposed

when other states in the region have been much more willing to play ball with the Israelis.

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