The World with Richard Engel and Yalda Hakim

Communism, cigars and Cadillac cars. A beautiful island that has been the thorn in the side of the U.S government for 67 years. But what is it about this small island of approximately 10 million people and 90 miles off the coast of Florida that makes president after president so frustrated? Yalda has just been in Havana, interviewing the president who rarely gives interviews to foreign press. He t...

America has lost the war with Iran and suffered their biggest strategic defeat in history. That is according to Robert Kagan, a prominent foreign policy analyst and historian. He joins Richard on the podcast in this extra episode to talk about America’s position in the world following the start of the war in the Gulf. Why did Trump get involved? What next for Israel? Can the Gulf States still coun...

Do all roads in the Middle East lead to Lebanon? Journalist and historian Kim Ghattas thinks so. She argues that it is often the fate of small nations to be playgrounds rather than players. Iran, America and Israel all have interest in the country. It is also now central to the Memorandum of Understanding that exists between Iran and America. After months of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah a...

The US and Iran have agreed a framework for peace talks, but Israel is deeply unhappy with the direction of travel. With mixed messages from Donald Trump, growing scepticism in Israel and no guarantees the deal will hold, how fragile is this peace process? Yalda Hakim and Richard Engel unpack the deal, why Vice President JD Vance has become its public face and whether he is being set up to take th...

Four months of fighting between America and Iran has led to this: a one-and-a-half-page agreement. But what does it actually mean? The details are sparse, but the Strait of Hormuz will be reopened, the US blockade will end and in the next 60 days there will be negotiations over Iran’s nuclear programme. Trump says Iran can never have a nuclear weapon - will Iran agree? This week, Yalda is joined b...

LEDs were supposed to be one of the great environmental success stories: a revolutionary technology that uses a fraction of the energy of traditional light bulbs. But have they really saved the world? In our new podcast Stuff Matters, economics and data editor Ed Conway takes an object, cracks it open and reveals the world shaping forces hidden inside. Each episode follows a trail of ideas that st...

Why did President Zelenskyy write an open letter to Vladimir Putin? Why did Putin say he was rude? And why are ordinary Russians complaining about the price of cucumbers? In this episode of The World podcast, Yalda is joined by Sky’s Moscow correspondent Ivor Bennett to find out what it's like reporting from Russia. They talk about Zelenskyy’s open letter, Putin’s reaction, and what Russians are s...

In 2012, a former CIA analyst ran a war game between the US and Iran. One of the first things he found was that Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz after America attacked. From there, his war game spiralled to a grisly end. So why did the Trump administration expect a quick victory? Fourteen years after the war game, Richard Engel sits down with Ken Pollack - the man behind the war game and now vice...

Will China ever produce an Elon Musk? Kyle Chan, research fellow at the Brookings Institution and an expert on the AI race between the two superpowers thinks not. He talks to Yalda about the new Cold War - the race for the best AI between China and America. The two talk about Taiwan, Tehran and the different ways that each country approaches AI research and development. Could the Chinese governmen...

Fully automated frontlines? Robots on the battlefield? Drones fighting drones? The Ukraine war has been transformed from an old-fashioned trench war to a modern one in a matter of years. On this episode of the podcast, Richard talks to Professor Phillips O’Brien, a defence expert and head of international relations at St Andrews University - an expert on the Ukraine war. He tells Richard how Ukrai...

A US President has not been to China since Donald Trump’s last trip nine years ago, so what will happen when Xi Jinping rolls out the red carpet for him again? Could there be progress made in Iran, Taiwan, or rare earth minerals? Yalda tells Richard what her contacts in the region are making of the meeting and where the war in Iran might be heading. Richard also details some of his reporting in th...

More than eight weeks into the war in Iran, an unlikely country has emerged as the go-between for the two sides: Pakistan. How did General Asim Munir emerge as both the Trump and Iran whisperer? Yalda explains to Richard how this came about and why India may feel sidelined. Richard also tells Yalda about the fear of Israeli extremists felt by some members of Jerusalem's Christian community. He has...

On Saturday 25 April armed terrorists rode into the capital of Mali in West Africa. Al Qaeda affiliated jihadists now say they are going to launch a total siege of the capital – home to some four million people. Who are these jihadists? What do they want? And could Mali be about to fall? Yalda speaks to Yousra Elbagir, Sky’s Africa correspondent, about the growing threat of jihadism in West Africa...

With Trump saying the ceasefire with Iran is 'extended', how could this conflict end? And what are the long-term implications for the region, and who will dominate – Israel or Iran? Richard is joined by Hamidreza Azizi, an Iranian analyst and Visiting Fellow at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs in Berlin. He has spent much of his career in Iran, studying the regime, and t...

On Wednesday 8 April, more than 300 people were killed after Israel launched ‘100 strikes in 10 minutes’ in Lebanon during what is being dubbed ‘Black Wednesday’. What exactly unfolded that day? Yalda has spent time with those who witnessed the attacks and shares with Richard what they have been telling her. While a shaky ceasefire remains in place between Iran and the US, no such ceasefire exists...

Is Trump winding down the war or just playing for time? Did Netanyahu just reveal his grand plan for the Middle East? And how is the conflict is playing out in Lebanon? Yalda is in Beirut where Israeli bombs continue to devastate the capital. She has spent time in residential areas that have been largely destroyed and spoken to people living there. Is this the Israeli next front line? Meanwhile Ri...

Sky News International Affairs Editor Dominic Waghorn and his team are currently some of the only international journalists inside Iran. The internet is sporadic but they managed to connect with Yalda to bring her news from straight from Iranian capital Tehran. The team were there to witness the Israeli air strike that killed Iran's security chief Ali Larijani. They were able to see the thousands...

Is Israel about to occupy Lebanon? Why is Donald Trump sending more troops to the Middle East? And what is it actually like reporting from an active war zone? Yalda and Richard discuss the latest developments in Iran and what the killing of the country's security chief Ali Larijani could mean for any peace process. They assess the reaction of the Gulf states to the war and look at how possibly put...

Who is the new Iranian leader and will he make a difference to the conflict? Trump says the war is "won" but do his team agree? And who is set to gain from the war in Iran? Yalda is in Qatar and Richard is in Tel Aviv for this week's episode. Qatar's Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al Thani has told Yalda he wants a diplomatic solution to the conflict and has told Iran to stop the a...

What happens next in Iran? Will there be regime change? And what are the actual objectives of Israel and America? Yalda and Richard are both in Israel as the conflict in the region ramps up. Both have been reporting on the ground and working their contacts to find out what the American and Israeli strategy is. As the death toll in Iran climbs, and the Americans say the biggest hits are yet to come...

Can you carry out regime change without boots on the ground? Will President Trump walk away now the Supreme Leader is dead? Does this feel like 2003 all over again? Richard has been in Israel watching events unfold. He was in Tel Aviv when Israel and America launched strikes against Iran which ultimately led to the killing of Ayatollah Khamenei and many members of the top command. In this special...

Ken Burns is one of America's most successful documentary filmmakers. Ahead of the 250th anniversary of American independence later this year, he sits down with Yalda in this extra episode to reflect on where the US has come from, as well as the current state of the nation. Burns has been making films for more than 40 years, winning Emmys and Grammys, and has even had a film effect named after him...

What is Gaza like four months on from the ceasefire? Are Hamas still operating? Why won’t Israeli troops withdraw completely? And what about the Palestinians who have been forced to leave their homes? Richard has been taken into Gaza by the IDF, which is still the only way that international journalists are allowed into the Strip. He is shown a Hamas tunnel which the IDF says was used until recent...

Why did the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei just threaten to sink US warships? Is the progress made in the talks between America and Iran meaningful? What could happen next? US President Donald Trump has sent more military equipment towards Iran and has said regime change is the “best thing that could happen”. At the same time, Iranian officials have said that some progress has been made in...

What is next for Iran? Did MI6 know about Peter Mandelson’s past with Epstein? How does Europe bring Putin to the negotiating table? When he left his job in 2025, the former head of MI6 said that he didn't think he’d left the world in a better place than when he was first appointed in 2020. But a lot has happened since he took the position, Sir Richard Moore has served two monarchs, four prime min...