badlands podcast by borzou daragahi

Thursday, March 19, 2026, Istanbul Some big war news today. Iran shot at and struck a US F-35 stealth fiigher. The damaged plane managed to land in the Gulf. Iran also fired a barrage of missiles at Israel’s refinery in Haifa, in response to the Israeli strikes on the South Pars refinery on Wednesday. At least one managed to hit the offshore facility. All of this contradicts repeated US and Israel...

Wednesday, March 16, 2026, Istanbul The US and Israeli forces struck Iran’s main natural gas refinery at the South Pars on Wednesday in a major escalation of the war. Iran has vowed retalation against energy infrastructure in the Arabian Peninsula. It listed a number of sites it intends to target, and by late evening local time, had struck the Ras Laffen facility in Qatar, which produces a quarter...

Tuesday, March 17, 2026, Istanbul One million people have been displaced by the Israli invasion of southern Lebanon. This puts enormous pressure on the fragile government in Beirut, where missiles struck near the country’s only international airport. Meanwhile, Israel claims it killed or tried to kill Iran’s Supreme National Security Council secretary Ali Larijani, a longtime Tehran regime fixture...

Thursday, March 13, 2026, Istanbul In the last day or so Iran’s pro-Revolutonary Guard Tasnim news agency issued a statement meant to strike fear across the US tech sector. It was a list of US-based companies that it said could be subject to attack. They included high-tech companies that are the darlings of Wall Street: Google, Microsoft, Palantir, IBM, Nvidia, Amazon, and Oracle. Why would Iran t...

Wednesday, March 11, 2026, Istanbul I was interviewed today by India’s SEN television about the impact of the war on the world economy (video above). High petrol and jet fuel prices forcing Americans to cancel road trips and vacations this summer is the least of our concerns. Think about rising costs for petrochemical and fertilizers exported through the Persian Gulf jacking up prices of everythin...

Tuesday, March 10, 2026, Istanbul Sudan’s conflict has been described as one of the worst outbreaks of political violence over the last quarter century. At least 150,000 people, overwhelmingly civilians have been killed. Cities and towns lie ruins. Observers have repeatedly described the bloodshed as genocide. The Los Angeles Times ’ foreign correspondent Nabih Bulos recently returned from a rare...

Monday, March 9, 2026, Istanbul We don’t know a lot about Mujataba Khamenei, the son of Iran’s former leader, Ali Khamenei, who was killed in a US and Israeli airstrike on Feb. 28. What we do know is pretty ominous. We know that he lost his wife, mother, and son in that same airstrike that killed his father. We know that within Iran’s constellation of political factions he has long been known as a...

Monday, March 9, 2026, Istanbul The war worsened over the weekend, with airstrikes on key Iranian infrastracture and retaliation attacks on US military targets and water treatment facilities. Israel and the US have superior capabilities but also have much more ambitious goals. To assess the state of the conflict I spoke with Hamidreza Azizi , a scholar at Germany’s Institute for International and...

Sunday, March 8, 2026, Istanbul He doesn’t have the religious credentials to be an ayatollah or much of a track record on anything. Unlike his prolific father, Mujtaba Khamenei is not known for his writings, teachings, or speeches. All we really know about the younger Khamenei is that he just lost his father and wife in Israeli airstrikes on the capital. I spoke to the UK’s LBC radio about what it...

Saturday, Mar 7, 2026, Istanbul Israeli airstrikes drove thousands of Lebanese living south of the Litani River toward the north and those in the south Beirut Hezbollah stronghold into the streets. What’s Israel’s goal, and what impact will it have on fragile Lebanon. I discuss in an interview National Public Radio. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or...

Friday, March 6, 2026, Istanbul Tehran woke up to apocalyptic scenes unlike any previous day in the conflict on Friday morning The US and Israel are promising to hit Iran even harder. This is catnip to the regime’s hardliners, who have been preparing for this battle their whole lives, I told Rose Aguilar of KALW in a lengthy chat during which we touched upon the horrendous tragedies of the war as...

Thursday, March 6, 2026, Istanbul The US is reportedly planning to use Kurdish rebels based in northern Iraq as a ground force to help bring down the regime. But geography and demography will prevent such a gambit from succeeding, and the plan may also drag Turkey into the fight. The only country that will benefit from such a move is Israel, which can exploit the ensuing chaos. This is a public ep...

The steps leading to the war actually began in June, when the Israel and the US bombed, Iran’s nuclear sites. That 12-day war removed visibility on the program and allowed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to begin making the case for an even bigger war. I discussed all this in a brief interview with Algeria’s English-language news channel. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this w...

Wednesday, March 3, 2026 The 2026 midterm elections promise to be one of the most momentous in recent US history. The vote is coming at a time of incredible change, risk, and opportunity in the US. President Donald Trump is threatening the very pillars of American democracy. The Republicans controlling the Senate, House, and the Supreme Court are rubber-stamping his policies. Opposition Democrats...

We’re still processing the shock of the US and Israeli war against Iran that began on Saturday morning. Hundreds of civlians have already died. Hundreds of targets have been hit by missiles, rockets, drones across the region. Following the assassination of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, protests have engulfed the world. I discussed the state of the war on Sunday with India’s News X. This is a public epis...

The US and Israeli war against Iran has begun. What are the implications for the region. Interview with newly launched SEN TV. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit borzou.substack.com/subscribe

(Video: I appeared as a guest today morning on India’s Southera Network , a newly launched digital first channel.) Thursday, February 26, 2026, Paris Iran and the US held another round of talks in Geneva today in an attempt to avert a war that neither of them want but both are preparing to fight. Iran said it had given the US the written proposal Washington had requested. The Iranian position is f...

The Ukraine war began four years ago this week. It has become a bloody war of attrition. Hundreds of thousands of people have been killed and continue to die, many of them Ukrainian civilians, including children. The conflict has also reshaped global politics and alliances. Russia describes the war as part of a broad conflict against an expansionist West. Ukraine and its allies see the war as a a...

The US has a vast armada of ships and planes amassed around Iran. The impressive array of hardware could destroy Iran, and potentially render it defenseless. But to what end? Will a US and Israeli war against Iran lead to democracy? Destroy its nuclear program? Make Americans safer? And what will be the ultimate consequences for the region and for Iran? These were some of the questions me and thre...

Ambassador Mike Huckabee said it was “fine” for Israel to control land between the Euphrates and the Nile rivers, as promised by God in the Bible. But his remark in an interview with Tucker Carlson was not received well in the Arab world. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit borzou.substack.com/subscribe

Few countries would accept the US terms. Even Venezuela didn’t. Cuba hasn’t. Vietnam didn’t. North Korea didn’t. Maybe a hundred years ago, US gunboat diplomacy would work. But countries are now intensely nationalistic. America is trying to humiliate Iran, and that’s not a formula for diplomatic success. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access t...

The US military and Iran are both getting ready for what could turn out to be a major conflict between the two countries. What’s bizarre is the lack of public discussion and the lack of any attempt to seek Congressional approval. America needs to wake up to the likelihood that war is coming. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episo...

US and Iranian negotiators gathered in Geneva on Tuesday for indirect talks meant to possibly avert a war. Iranian and US officials both sounded somewhat positive notes after the four hours of talks, but there are few signs that Tehran is ready to meet Washington’s Israeli-imposed conditions, especially the demand to put limits on its missile arstenal. Meanwhile both sides are preparing for an inc...

Just a few years ago Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates were not just partners but allies. That has pretty much ended. The two just fought a proxy war over control of South Yemen, with Riyadh coming out on top. Cinzia Bianco, fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations and an analyst at Gulf State Analytics, joins me to discuss the Saudi-UAE dustup, what it means for the US and Euro...

Europe played a huge role in the 2015 Iran nuclear deal. It’s now MIA on Iran diplomacy, as Middle East countries take the lead role in promoting diplomacy between the US and Iran. This could be a mistake that could backfire. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit borzou.substack.com/subscribe