'Why wasn’t the UK ready for Iran war?' Michael Clarke answers your questions
This Is Why
Sky News
4.0 • 552 Ratings
🗓️ 18 March 2026
⏱️ 20 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Should the US have predicted there would be a siege at the Strait of Hormuz? Why wasn’t the UK better prepared for this conflict?
This Is Why has been asking for your questions about the Iran war and in this special episode they are about to be answered.
From the delay in the departure of HMS Dragon, to whether Donald Trump would now be less likely to offer the UK military support – this wide-ranging episode is shaped by your messages.
Who is on hand to respond to them? It’s Sky’s military analyst Professor Michael Clarke.
Have you got a question for a future episode of This Is Why? Email the show - why@sky.uk
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Sky News, the full story first. |
| 0:11.6 | Professor Michael Clark is here to answer your questions about Iran, our military, |
| 0:16.4 | and everything else defence-related. |
| 0:18.1 | But you might not like some of his answers, and this is why. |
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