Quite right!: Trump's plan in Iran explained
Best of the Spectator
The Spectator
4.3 • 826 Ratings
🗓️ 4 March 2026
⏱️ 27 minutes
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Summary
If you would like to hear this week's episode in full, search 'Quite right!' wherever you are listening now.
This week: Michael and Maddie debate the escalating crisis in Iran and ask whether Donald Trump truly has a strategy – and whether Keir Starmer has one at all.
They examine what Trump’s strikes are meant to achieve, whether regime change in Tehran is the real objective and why parts of the American right are uneasy about Israel’s influence over US foreign policy.
Turning to Westminster, they assess Britain’s response. Has Starmer struck the right balance between caution and credibility – or has the crisis exposed the limits of Britain’s military strength and global influence?
Finally, they review Rachel Reeves’s Spring Statement. With growth forecasts under scrutiny and public spending pressures mounting, is the Labour party sticking to a credible economic plan – or relying on economic crystal balls?
Produced by Oscar Edmondson.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello, this is Madeline Grant, host of Quite Right alongside Michael Gove. |
| 0:04.3 | If you want to hear the latest episode of Quite Right in full, then you can do so on its dedicated podcast channel. |
| 0:10.1 | Just search Quite Right wherever you are listening now. |
| 0:13.1 | Listeners on the best of Spectator playlist can enjoy a section of our discussions, |
| 0:17.0 | but for the full thing, please seek out the Quite Right channel. |
| 0:20.3 | While you're there, click the follow button to never miss an episode. |
| 0:23.4 | And why not give us a rating and review? |
| 0:25.4 | It really helps us out. |
| 0:26.9 | Happy listening. |
| 0:31.5 | Hello and welcome to Quite Right with me, Michael Gove, editor of The Spectator. |
| 0:38.0 | And me, Madeline Grant, assistant editor and parliamentary sketchwriter. |
| 0:41.4 | And this week, Maddie and I will be disagreeing on the war in Iran |
| 0:45.2 | and will also be considering Rachel Reeves' spring forecast. |
| 0:49.4 | Was it all just Crystal Balls? |
| 0:53.9 | There's only one story dominating the news this week, which is obviously the US strike on Iran, |
| 0:59.7 | which killed the supreme leader Ayatollah Khomeini. |
| 1:03.1 | And now we're seeing counter strikes from Iran to various countries in the region. |
| 1:07.3 | So an extraordinary amount has changed even in a very short space of time. |
| 1:11.0 | What is your initial reaction to what we've seen? |
| 1:13.4 | Well, I am cautiously optimistic. And I know that for many listeners, yet another American |
| 1:22.2 | intervention in the Middle East will bring back all sorts of feelings of deja vu all over again. The sense that you have |
| 1:30.0 | a reckless Republican president unleashing hell on the tyrant because they fear that they're |
... |
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