Could Iran’s new leader be worse than the old one? On the 10th day of the US-Israeli war with Iran, Roland looks at why IRGC-favourite Mojtaba Khamenei has been chosen as the new supreme leader to take over from his assassinated father and what it means for the regime.

Plus, Venetia gets a view from the Gulf about the growing oil crisis, fears over dwindling interceptor missile stocks and how the war is dragging in countries there.

CONTRIBUTORS:

Venetia Rainey, co-host @venetiarainey

Roland Oliphant, Chief Foreign Affairs Commentator and co-host @RolandOliphant

Sascha Bruchmann, IISS Research Fellow for Defence and Military Analysis

CONTENT REFERENCED:

David Blair: New supreme leader shows folly of Trump’s war

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2026/03/09/new-iran-supreme-leader-folly-trump-iran-war/

Iran has already made its first big miscalculation of the war

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/03/09/iran-first-big-miscalculation-war/

Iran war, day ten: Everything you need to know

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2026/03/09/iran-war-day-ten-everything-you-need-to-know/

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Executive Producer: Louisa Wells

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It’s the seventh day of the US-Israeli war with Iran and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has said America is about to dramatically increase the amount of firepower over the country as the military campaign moves into the next phase.

On today’s episode, Venetia takes a step back and looks at what has been achieved so far over one week of war. She is joined by Col. Simon Diggins, a former British Army Officer who has served in the Middle East, and Matthew Savill, director of military sciences at the Royal United Services Institute.

They discuss how much progress America has made with its stated objectives, whether Iran is running out of missiles or holding them back, the Shahed drone problem, what’s left of the Iranian navy and why regime change still seems a distant prospect for now.

Plus, two arguments for and against the UK becoming militarily involved - is it Keir Starmer’s moral duty or does Britain have nothing relevant to offer?

Read Iran war, day seven: Everything you need to know: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2026/03/06/iran-war-day-seven-everything-you-need-to-know/

Read Trump to use British bases for ‘surge’ in Iran attacks: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2026/03/06/trump-to-use-british-bases-for-surge-in-iran-attacks/

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On the sixth day of the US-Israeli war with Iran, the Strait of Hormuz is remains effectively closed to shipping, despite the US Navy crippling Iran’s surface fleet - including by torpedoing a Frigate off Sri Lanka. 

On today’s episode of Iran: the Latest, Roland Oliphant speaks to former Royal Navy commander Tom Sharpe about how Western militaries have prepared for years for a big war with Iran; why Iranian maritime forces are equally well prepared; and the cruel necessities of submarine warfare.

And Nicholas Hopton, a former British ambassador to Iran, explains the three conditions necessary for a regime collapse - and why none of them have yet been met. 

Read: The US submarine which torpedoed the Iranian frigate will soon be flying the Jolly Roger, by Tom Sharpe: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/03/05/us-submarine-torpedo-iranian-warship-jolly-roger/

Read: Will America betray the Kurds again? by Owen Matthews: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/03/05/will-america-betray-kurds-again/

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In the wake of an attack on a British military base in Cyprus, the UK has said it will send an extra warship to the region. Does this make Britain militarily involved in America and Israel’s war against Iran? Or was that already true after Prime Minister Keir Starmer allowed Donald Trump to use British bases? Venetia and Roland discuss Europe’s growing involvement in the conflict and the countries that are resisting. 

Iranian-British journalist Nazenin Ansari talks about why she is pro-regime change but doesn’t want this war, the brutality of the IRGC, and how Khamenei’s son Mojtaba would be just more of the same if picked as his successor. 

Plus, senior foreign correspondent Sophia Yan sends a dispatch from the Turkish-Iranian border where she has been speaking to fleeing Iranians, and Dr Hanan Balkhy, WHO’s Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean, explains how the UN’s health body prepared for the conflict. 

Read Sophia Yan’s analysis of why China is unfazed by the war: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2026/03/04/why-china-is-unfazed-by-donald-trump-epic-fury/

Read Tom Cotterill on why this could be the Royal Navy’s biggest humiliation: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/03/03/is-this-the-royal-navys-biggest-humiliation/

Read our visual journalism deep dive on how Trump sank the Iranian navy: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2026/03/03/how-trump-sank-iranian-navy/

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Battle Lines is now Iran: The Latest! Roland and Venetia are going to be covering the new conflict every day for the weeks to come, bringing you the best of The Telegraph’s reporting from around the world and exclusive interviews with world-class experts in military strategy, diplomacy, and the Middle East.

On today’s episode, Venetia and Roland look at America’s devastating attacks on Iran’s official Navy and the possibility of Saudi Arabia joining the war. 

The Telegraph’s foreign reporter Akhtar Makoii shares his insights from speaking to people inside Iran about how ordinary people are now facing threats from both American bombs and the regime, who are out in force on the streets. 

Maya Gebeily, Reuters’ bureau chief in Beirut, discusses the state of Hezbollah and the mood on the ground in Lebanon after Israel announced it is invading. 

Plus, The Telegraph's US Correspondent Connor Stringer talks about his exclusive phone call with Donald Trump in the midst of the Iran war and why the president thinks Keir Starmer is “disappointing”.  

Read Connor Stringer's exclusive chat with Trump: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/us/news/2026/03/02/exclusive-trump-very-disappointed-in-starmer-over-iran/

Read Akhtar Makoii’s interviews with people inside Iran: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2026/03/02/iran-war-tehran-live-in-fear-us-bombs-whats-left-regime/

Read Akhtar Makoii’s rundown of Khamenei’s possible successors: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2026/03/03/the-four-men-who-could-save-or-destroy-iran/

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Iran's leader Ayatollah Khamenei was killed in an Israeli and US strike on Saturday morning, kicking off a major war that has since expanded to the entire Middle East.

On day three of the conflict, Venetia and Roland run through the big updates, including the UK’s involvement, the ongoing death toll and how Iran is striking back on key targets in the region. 

They also talk to former Israeli intelligence official and Iran expert Danny Citrinowicz about how poorly defined the war's goals are and why we aren't seeing any cracks in the regime yet.

Plus, The Telegraph’s David Blair on the significance of Khamenei's assassination and Trump's conflicting messaging.

Read Iran war, day three: Everything you need to know: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2026/03/02/iran-war-day-three-everything-you-need-to-know/

Read David Blair on why Trump’s incoherence on Iran maximises the risk of failure: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/02/28/trump-is-taking-a-monumental-risk-on-iran/

Read Roland Oliphant on the eight-month plot that led to Trump’s attack on Iran: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2026/02/28/donald-trump-attack-iran-israel-how-it-came-to-this/

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The US and Israel have launched what President Donald Trump has described as "major combat operations" to try to bring about the end of the Iranian regime.

In this bonus episode, Roland and Venetia look at what we know so far - from Trump’s speech to strikes across the Middle East - and what might happen next, while Henry Bodkin, The Telegraph’s Jerusalem correspondent, reports from on the ground in Israel amid air raid sirens around the country.

Plus, Roland speaks to Jonathan Hackett, a 20-year US Marine Corps veteran and special operations capabilities specialist, as well as the author of Iran's Shadow Weapons: Covert Action, Intelligence Operations and Unconventional Warfare. Their conversation - which was recorded shortly before the attack began - covers how Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was offered an escape route but refused to take it, the state of the IRGC and why regime change in Iran will be so difficult.

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For sixty years Washington and Havana have been having a geopolitical tango fuelled by obsession and ideology. The island nation of Cuba has been a socialist splinter in the finger of the Florida coastline, its regime infecting the region. 

Now, with the toppling of Nicolás Maduro and Venezuelan oil tightly controlled by the US, Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel could be next. To get into the finer details of the US’s new found dominance in the Caribbean, Venetia is joined by The Telegraph’s foreign reporter, Lily Shanagher.

Plus, former national security advisor John Bolton, voices the need for regime change in Venezuela, Iran and Cuba. Coining the phrase ‘Troika of Tyranny' in 2018, Bolton has had Cuba in his sights for many years as a rogue state. So what should happen next in the region? John Bolton lays bare the truth about Trump’s decision making and the need for swift action.

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Drugs and gangs have created an explosion in HIV cases in Fiji.

This week on Battle Lines: Global Health Security, Arthur Scott-Geddes is joined by Sarah Newey, The Telegraph’s correspondent in Bangkok who recently travelled to Fiji, and Dr Jason Mitchell, the head of the country’s HIV task force.

On the archipelago known as the gateway to the Pacific, Chinese triads, Mexican cartels, and Australian biker gangs are all involved in a booming methamphetamine trade.

The result is that an island paradise is now home to the fastest-growing HIV epidemic on earth.

Read Sarah’s dispatch from Fiji:

The island paradise with the world’s fastest growing HIV epidemic

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/science-and-disease/fiji-island-paradise-with-the-worlds-fastest-growing-HIV-epidemic/

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Studio Operator: Meghan Searle

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The British Indian Ocean Territory, AKA the Chagos Islands is home to the American super-base of Diego Garcia. Located on the largest island in the archipelago and home to the joint UK/US military base since the 1970s.

The Chagos handover to Mauritius has been controversial from the outset and shifting signals from Donald Trump have left the Starmer government open to a political backlash.

Has the special relationship turned toxic over these islands? And should the sovereignty transfer be stopped? To discuss, Roland turns to Ben Judah who has worked for the previous foreign secretary and Chief Foreign Affairs Commentator, David Blair. 

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