Iran: The Latest

President Donald Trump needs more than $65bn in urgent funding for the Pentagon as a result of the Iran war, a stark reminder of the cost to America’s military. Amid a munitions crunch, the defense industrial base is being told to go faster - and the US’ adversaries are taking note.
In today’s episode of Iran: The Latest, Venetia Rainey sits down with Dana Stroul, former US Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for the Middle East and now director of research at the Washington Institute.
She delivers a blunt assessment of the conflict's fallout, why lopsided sanctions relief has handed Tehran an economic windfall, and how the war has severely strained America’s Gulf alliances. Plus, they discuss new reports that an advanced Iranian "jellyfish" drone formation successfully brought down a US F-15 fighter jet back in April.

CONTRIBUTORS:
Venetia Rainey, co-host and executive producer @venetiarainey
Dana Stroul, former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense Middle East and research director Washington Institute @dstroul

WATCH US ON YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJnf_DDTfIVAif-vifC6F2aoPB8GIw6dk

CONTENT REFERENCED:
Iran was using ‘jellyfish’ swarm of drones, reports downed F-15 pilot
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/us/news/2026/06/23/f-15-pilot-shot-down-over-iran-saw-jellyfish-swarm-of-drone/

Dana Stroul: How the Iran War Will Transform America’s Military Role
https://www.foreignaffairs.com/iran/middle-east-power-paradox-dana-stroul

Producer: Max Bower and Rachel Porter
Executive Producers: Venetia Rainey & Louisa Wells
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► GET THE LATEST HEADLINES: Find all our latest Iran coverage here: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/iran-war/

Highlights
US facing weapons shortage - can Trump fix it?
Did Iran down a US fighter jet with a secret new drone weapon?

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The war in Lebanon between Israel and Hezbollah remains a major sticking point in US-Iran peace talks - but Donald Trump has a controversial solution.

At the G7 summit, he said he wants Syria to militarily intervene in their neighbour and disarm the Iranian proxy by force. Sophia Yan is joined by Ahmad Sharawi, senior research analyst at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies to discuss why Damascus has flatly rejected the plan. From the dark history of Syria’s occupation of Lebanon to the potential for a proxy war between Turkey and Israel, he outlines how such a move could seriously backfire.

Plus, the latest news from the region including the row over Iran letting in nuclear inspectors from the IAEA and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio's high-stakes warnings on the Strait of Hormuz.

CONTRIBUTORS:
Sophia Yan, senior foreign correspondent @sophia_yan
Ahmad Sharawi, senior research analyst FDD @AhmadA_Sharawi

Producer: Max Bower and Rachel Porter
Executive Producers: Venetia Rainey & Louisa Wells
► Sign up to our most popular newsletter, From the Editor. Look forward to receiving free-thinking comment and the day's biggest stories, every morning. telegraph.co.uk/fromtheeditor
► EMAIL US: Contact the team on battlelines@telegraph.co.uk
► GET THE LATEST HEADLINES: Find all our latest Iran coverage here: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/iran-war/

Highlights
‘Creative but wrong’: Trump’s plan for Syria to attack Hezbollah
Plus, a row over Iran letting in nuclear inspectors from the IAEA

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Iran has unveiled a plan to impose stealth fees on the Strait of Hormuz, using an insurance loophole to keep exacting tolls out of the key waterway post-war.

Telegraph senior foreign correspondent Adrian Blomfield joins Roland Oliphant to break down how the conflict has permanently disrupted the global balance of power, from disrupting the US pivot to Asia to breaking US-Israeli ties.

Plus, they take a moment to consider how the past four months will reverberate in the years to come and ask: what would Herodotus, the first historian of a Persian war, make of it all?

Highlights
Iran’s secret plan to keep control of the Strait of Hormuz
How Trump’s greatest foreign policy failure reshaped the world

WATCH US ON YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJnf_DDTfIVAif-vifC6F2aoPB8GIw6dk

CONTRIBUTORS:
Roland Oliphant, co-host and chief foreign affairs analyst @RolandOliphant
Adrian Blomfield, senior foreign correspondent @adrianblomfield

CONTENT REFERENCED:
How Trump’s greatest foreign policy failure has reshaped the world
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2026/06/22/trumps-greatest-foreign-policy-failure-reshaped-world/

Has the US-Israel relationship changed forever?
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2026/06/20/has-the-us-israel-relationship-changed-forever/

Producers: Max Bower and Elliot Lampitt
Executive Producers: Venetia Rainey & Louisa Wells

► Sign up to our most popular newsletter, From the Editor. Look forward to receiving free-thinking comment and the day's biggest stories, every morning. telegraph.co.uk/fromtheeditor
► EMAIL US: Contact the team on battlelines@telegraph.co.uk
► GET THE LATEST HEADLINES: Find all our latest Iran coverage here: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/iran-war/
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As Vice President JD Vance and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi lock down a 60-day roadmap to end the war, Tehran has walked away with immediate waivers on its oil and petrochemical exports. Venetia Rainey and Roland Oliphant go behind the scenes at the high-stakes negotiations in Switzerland, including nuclear negotiations and the rumors of an Iranian walkout.

Meanwhile, the fallout from Washington’s fury with his closest European allies over their Iran war “betrayal” has ramped up after Donald Trump publicly rebuked Italy’s Giorgia Meloni over her refusal to help him. They also analyse the resignation of British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and how his indecision over allowing the US to use UK bases to strike Iran was indicative of his premiership’s failings.

Plus, how the Iranian football team’s gritty 0-0 World Cup draw against Belgium turned into a propaganda stunt for the regime to invoke the ghosts of the schoolchildren killed in Minab at the start of the war.

Highlights

US and Iran set up Hormuz crisis hotline as oil sanctions lifted
How Trump lost his final European allies, from Meloni to Starmer

WATCH US ON YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJnf_DDTfIVAif-vifC6F2aoPB8GIw6dk

CONTRIBUTORS:
Venetia Rainey, co-host and executive producer @venetiarainey
Roland Oliphant, co-host and chief foreign affairs analyst @RolandOliphant

CONTENT REFERENCED:
Iranian leader criticises his negotiators in secret letters
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2026/06/22/iran-us-war-mojtaba-khamenei-mahmoud-nabavian-middle-east/

Inside the Hezbollah tunnels where peace will be made or broken
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2026/06/21/inside-hezbollah-tunnels-where-peace-will-be-made/

Trump tears into Meloni over G7 picture row
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2026/06/20/donald-trump-berates-giorgia-meloni-g7-picture-row/

Producer: Max Bower
Executive Producers: Venetia Rainey & Louisa Wells

► Sign up to our most popular newsletter, From the Editor. Look forward to receiving free-thinking comment and the day's biggest stories, every morning. telegraph.co.uk/fromtheeditor
► EMAIL US: Contact the team on battlelines@telegraph.co.uk
► GET THE LATEST HEADLINES: Find all our latest Iran coverage here: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/iran-war/

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Is Donald Trump’s US-Iran peace deal already falling apart?

Less than a day after the historic MoU was signed to end the war, fighting has been ongoing in Lebanon, with Hezbollah killing four Israeli soldiers and Benjamin Netanyahu unleashing a punishing wave of air strikes across southern Lebanon. A new ceasefire has today been agreed - but can it hold?

Sophia Yan and Venetia Rainey discuss the latest news and the significance of US Vice President JD Vance’s stark warning to Israel to “wake up and smell reality”.

Plus, New York Times journalist Yeganeh Torbati, co-author of Stolen Revolution, joins to discuss why Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei is distancing himself from Trump's deal, and how the IRGC is using this diplomatic breathing room to prepare for a potential resumption of the war down the line.

Highlights

US forces Israel into Hezbollah ceasefire after stark warning
Is Donald Trump’s US-Iran peace deal already falling apart?

CONTRIBUTORS:
Sophia Yan, senior foreign correspondent, @sophia_yan
Yeganeh Torbati, NYT journalist and co-author Stolen Revolution @yjtorbati

Producer: Max Bower
Executive Producers: Louisa Wells & Venetia Rainey

WATCH US ON YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJnf_DDTfIVAif-vifC6F2aoPB8GIw6dk

CONTENT REFERENCED:
Vance tells Israel: You can’t kill your way out of problems
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/us/news/2026/06/18/jd-vance-israel-friends/

Stolen Revolution: Betrayal & Hope in Modern Iran
https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/457807/stolen-revolution-by-torbati-bozorgmehr-sharafedin-and-yeganeh/9780241744017
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