There is every likelihood that Iran is continuing to pursue its interests and its strategies relentlessly, and the American negotiators are growing frustrated at dealing with experienced national security professionals whose political leadership are fairly relaxed about being bombed by the Americans. Or it could be that the American side want an oil price spike so that they can sell spot Brent above a hundred bucks a barrel.

Iran is a genuinely significant player in a genuinely significant theatre in World War 3.0, but I feel self-conscious about talking about it in the same terms. I want you to hold in your mind everything I’ve said to this point, particularly about Iran’s interests, its understanding of its interests and the way that plays into their policies, and what that means for their regional and global allies, partners and adversaries.

Then I wonder whether there are people who have only been engaging with this podcast for a few weeks, who haven’t gone back and listened to everything. There are people who only hear this on YouTube as 1min shorts. I’ve got to get a little bit comfortable with repeating myself.

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