'War with no winners': Middle East crisis enters a dangerous new phase

About this episode

The episode discusses the escalating conflict in the Middle East, particularly the war involving Iran and the implications for regional and global stability.

Even as Washington hints at a quick end to the war with Iran, analysts say Tehran is preparing for a longer strategic struggle. The Middle East is in the grip of a widening conflict following joint US and Israeli strikes across Iran and Tehran’s retaliatory attacks. While US president Donald Trump has suggested the war could end soon, many analysts and regional actors see the trajectory very differently. For them, the escalation risks pulling the region into a deeper and more dangerous phase. The European Council on Foreign Relations has warned that the confrontation could become a war with no winners , raising humanitarian risks inside Iran and threatening to destabilise an already fragile region. According to the foreign policy think tank, the latest conflict also risks drawing in global powers such as Russia and China while spreading across multiple theatres, from the Mediterranean to the Gulf. Julien Barnes-Dacey, Middle East and North Africa programme director at the ECFR, says the conflict has already passed the point of easy containment. “We’re already at that moment,” he told RFI. “The conflict has quickly expanded and Iran - from the outset - has been intent on…

People in this episode

Guest: Julien Barnes-Dacey

Topics covered

• Middle East crisis
• Iran
• US-Israel relations
• regional conflict
• global powers

Keywords

• war
• humanitarian risks
• strategic struggle
• escalation
• foreign policy

Mentioned in this episode

Places: Middle East, Washington, Iran, Tehran, The Middle East, US, Russia, China, Mediterranean, Gulf

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