The Debate

There's the plan – and then there are the unintended consequences. The United States talks diplomacy, then bombs Iran. It suggests the targeting of nuclear sites may have been a one-off, yet leaves the regime uncertain: is regime change the real objective? Following its most significant show of force since the invasion of Iraq, will Washington take ownership of what comes next? For now, the US asserts itself as the sole superpower capable of projecting force in a region where China appears reduced to the role of chief oil customer, and Russia remains preoccupied with Ukraine. And with Israel now striking Tehran's notorious Evin Prison, it's clear this goes far beyond nuclear ambitions. We look at the options left to a weakened Iran – and the consequences of toppling a militarised theocracy.

Produced by François Picard, Rebecca Gnignati, Guillaume Gougeon and Ilayda Habip.

For citizens still reeling from the crackdown on the 2022 “Women, Life, Freedom” movement, the focus now is on hunkering down as best they can. Nearly 700 people have been killed in Iran since last Friday, according to the human rights group HRANA, and citizens are bracing for more violence in scenes reminiscent of the Iran-Iraq War of the 1980s. How do those who defied the regime just a couple of years ago feel about this moment – and about those abroad who are cheerleading for regime change?

On that score, the command in Tehran is closely watching for signs of internal dissent. We'll look into reports of arrests, internet disruptions, calls to abandon WhatsApp, and reactions to Israel’s brief hacking of state television.

Meanwhile, Donald Trump uses the collective “we” – as in “we now have complete and total control of the skies over Iran” – but Israel’s Iron Dome has proven unable to stop missiles like the one that struck Beersheba’s hospital in the south of the country. If the United States is “all in,” it wouldn’t be the first time. Iran’s collective memory stretches well beyond the 1979 revolution – back to 1953, when a CIA-backed coup overthrew a democratically elected government in favor of reinstating the Shah.

 

Produced by Aline Bottin, Elisa Amiri, Ilayda Habip.

Donald Trump sold us a different kind of Pax Americana. The US-led global rules-based order was always about soft power backed by bulk military might. Trump's rules on Inauguration Day veered instead to the utilitarian: yes to the world’s top superpower staking imperial claims to parts of the planet deemed vital to national interests. Yes to coveting Greenland’s strategic minerals and Panama’s essential waterway. No to forever wars in places like Ukraine where the US pays while Europe reaps the benefits of curbing Vladimir Putin’s westward march.

So why now the sudden pull of the Middle East? The US president is weighing whether to go all-in with Israel’s pre-emptive war against Iran? One whose stated aims oscillate between nuclear deterrence and regime change. Why Iran and not Ukraine? And what conclusions can Europe draw from the evolution of warfare in 2025? Both Ukraine and Israel inflicting damage with spectacular operations that combine special ops in the field, drones and artificial intelligence. Sales reps are all smiles at the big Paris Air Show but how should cash-strapped states be buying for their militaries? Can an unmanned gizmo really inflict as much damage as a state-of-the-art fighter jet? If so, just how volatile a world we live in?

 

Produced by Rebecca Gnignati, Elisa Amiri, Ilayda Habip.

He says he wants "better than a ceasefire". Donald Trump has returned to the White House, leaving behind the rest of the G7 leaders in western Canada. After five days of war between Israel and Iran, the US president faces a stark choice: he can either approve bunker-busting bombs to target underground nuclear facilities or tell Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu it’s time to stop.

With air superiority over Tehran, Israel is doubling down on an operation that was in the works for decades. And while bombing raids have killed hundreds of Iranian civilians, the offensive has shown precision in assassinating top commanders. Among the latest is Major General Ali Shadmani, who'd only been in the job of Iran's top military commander for four days after the assassination of his predecessor. 

But just how degraded is the regime of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei? What are its options?

For now, the Iranians are still firing back, imposing far more casualties and damage than the usual rocket attacks from Gaza or south Lebanon. As for Israel's claim that it's reshaping the region, we put that to our panel.

Produced by Rebecca Gnignati, Aurore Laborie and Ilayda Habip. 

The threat had been repeated so often over so many years that it had started to ring hollow. Now, Israel's actually done it: striking Iran in a bid to destroy its capacity to build nuclear weapons. Tel Aviv sees a window of opportunity, and with Tehran's proxies in Syria, Lebanon and Gaza either gone or debilitated, the Israelis are also targeting the senior leadership around Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. So what’s the ultimate goal: military superiority or regime change?

Iran may be reeling but it’s still fighting back, successfully targeting Israel’s largest oil refinery in Haifa. Is a long war ahead? And with Israel lacking the kind of bunker-busting bombs that can reach the underground Fordo nuclear site, will the United States agree to finish the job that Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu started?

Since Friday, US President Donald Trump has sent mixed messages: warning Israel against targeting Iran’s supreme leader but cheering on the strikes; still billing himself as peacemaker while providing Israel with military intelligence. We ask about the only man who can end this unprecedented direct confrontation with a phone call.

Produced by Rebecca Gnignati, Aurore Laborie and Ilayda Habip. 

A death spiral in Gaza with no end in sight; a Middle East peace process that’s been moribund for years. What’s the point of talking solutions when not even a truce is in sight? In New York next week, France is slated to co-chair with Saudi Arabia what's officially billed as a "UN International Conference for the Peaceful Settlement of the Question of Palestine and the Implementation of the Two-State Solution".

Emmanuel Macron had strongly suggested he would recognise a Palestinian state at the event. Is that still the case? We ask about the pressure on the French president to dial it back. With the US silent as Israel pounds Gaza and expands illegal Jewish settlements in the West Bank, what does recognising Palestinian statehood change in practice?

Watch more'The two-state solution is going to happen': Israel’s Olmert and ex-Palestinian FM Qudwa

On Thursday, Paris will host a springboard event for New York. We hear from civil society participants at a conference hosted by the Paris Peace Forum. How to find common ground to proposals that can win over a population where positions have hardened for so long?

Produced by Rebecca Gnignati, Aurore Laborie and Ilayda Habip. 

How to stop our needless overconsumption of cheaper and cheaper clothes that pollute the planet? France's Senate has just passed a bill to curb advertising and tax pollution of fast fashion, with lawmakers even talking up the distinction of ultra-fast fashion: garments made in a hurry – increasingly using polyester and other polluting plastics – that are shipped at warp speed by plane and fall apart after only a few washes.   

But has the fast fashion bill been partially stripped bare? The new version seems to include a carve-out for European giants that peddle cheap clothes, with the focus mostly now on China. 

Europeans, like the Trump administration, are in fact working to close the tax loophole on the kind of small parcels that go out by the millions from small garment factories in China. And while the likes of Shein and Temu enrol big names to lobby on their behalf, including a former European commissioner and a former interior minister of Emmanuel Macron, we ask who's winning the hearts and minds of consumers in this battle over an industry that represents up to 10 percent of humanity's carbon footprint.  

Produced by Rebecca Gnignati, Aurore Laborie and Ilayda Habip.

The United States Marine Corps, the country's main foreign expedition force, has been deployed to Los Angeles – this on top of the US president enrolling the National Guard in a show of force against pockets of violent protest against the arrest of undocumented immigrants at their place of work.

It's a fight that Donald Trump wanted to pick for a long time, going over the head of the Democratic governor of California just days before another first: a US president staging a military parade in Washington on his birthday. In his first term, Trump's Republican Party was the party of states' rights, regularly accusing the federal government of overreach. How did it all change so fast?

A nation with a determined far right that's up against a splintered mainstream sounds a lot like the situation in France, where the next presidential election is in two years' time. As Marine Le Pen's party harks back to its trademark anti-immigrant rhetoric – a topic where a majority of US citizens back Trump – what lessons can be drawn from the seemingly fast-changing form of democracy in America?

Produced by François Picard, Maya Yataghene, Juliette Laffont, Ilayda Habip, Alessandro Xenos.

Overheated and overfished: an SOS for oceans under duress is being sent from a UN summit in Nice. But try telling that to those who advocate deep-sea drilling for precious metals. In a world hungry for the minerals that power our batteries and connect our computers, the United States but also China, India, Japan, Norway and more are seriously studying whether science fiction can become reality.

We ask about the actual feasibility of deep-sea mining and the competing narratives at play, what with the US boycotting the United Nations Oceans Conference in Nice and a paltry 32 nations so far ratifying the UN’s High Seas Treaty. How to protect the two-thirds of our planet’s surface that belong to both everyone and no one?

Watch moreNorway lured by deep-sea mining for rare metals

On that score, there's no need to drill when you hit rock bottom. Even areas protected on paper remain vulnerable to large fishing trawlers that literally rake the seabed, killing both fish and plant life essential for our planet. What can be done before it's too late?

Watch moreKenyan fishermen under pressure as foreign trawlers threaten waters

Produced by François Picard, Andrew Hilliar, Juliette Laffont, Ilayda Habip.

What have learned? What have we enacted in the six years since Christchurch and the far-right fanatic who livestreamed his own mass shooting in a New Zealand mosque?

Here in France, outrage is growing over the 53-year-old man who posted five times to Facebook before and after killing his Tunisian neighbour and who also targeted two Kurdish asylum seekers. Posts included a call to "go get them wherever they are" and to vote for Marine Le Pen's National Rally. It was enough for it be treated as a terror case and for the conservative right-wing interior minister to make the trip to the French Riviera town of Puget-sur-Argens.

How much of the blame for the real-life attack goes to the virtual world? As US tech platforms downsize fact-checking and content moderation on their sites, the European Union finds itself in a bind. Its Digital Services Act needs enforcement and reinforcement, say anti-racism advocates. 

But the bloc is also locked in wide-ranging trade negotiations with a United States whose vice president clearly states that Europe's biggest challenge is "the threat within" of a supposed assault on free speech and censorship of MAGA-world ideas.

Does Europe have what it takes to define and defend the free exchange of ideas, while preventing the phones in our pockets from becoming bullhorns for hate?

Produced by Rebecca Gnignati, Aurore Laborie and Ilayda Habip.