About this episode

The episode discusses the implications of Iran's political situation and the broader geopolitical landscape in the Middle East.

With Ayatollah Khamenei’s demise occurring hours into the war, the West anticipated a collapse of the Iranian regime and a popular uprising that never came to be. Is a ‘memorandum of understanding’ the only thing preventing total escalation in the region? In this episode of One Decision, former MI6 Chief Sir Richard Dearlove and co-host journalist Kate McCann sit down with John Raine, Senior Adviser for Geopolitical Due Diligence for the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), to analyze the ripple effects of the war in Iran and what it will take to stabilize the Middle East. What is keeping a comprehensive peace deal off the table? How did Western intelligence miscalculate the IRGC’s resilience? And where does this leave the rest of the Middle East? We also break down China’s pledge to support Cuba’s sovereignty, the 75th anniversary of the Cambridge Five espionage scandal, and the latest in the war in Ukraine, including China’s role in training Russian soldiers and the opening of a museum in North Korea that memorializes the North Korean losses in the war. In this episode: 1:07 – Iran, Israel & Trump: The Middle East Crisis Explained 2:52 – Cuba, China, and US…

People in this episode

Hosts: Sir Richard Dearlove, Kate McCann

Guest: John Raine

Topics covered

• Iran's regime stability
• Middle East geopolitics
• Western intelligence failures
• China's influence
• Cuba's sovereignty
• Cold War espionage
• Ukraine conflict

Keywords

• Iran
• Middle East
• geopolitics
• China
• Cuba
• IRGC
• Ukraine
• espionage
• peace deal

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: International Institute for Strategic Studies, IRGC

Places: Iran, Cuba, China, North Korea

More episodes of One Decision

• The Undersea Contest for Control of the Global Economy, ft. Journalist Samanth Subramanian · May 21, 2026 · 1h 2m
• Former White House China Advisor on What Beijing Really Wants from Trump Summit · May 14, 2026 · 51 min

Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the One Decision podcast page.