Battle Lines

The Telegraph
  • 5.0 (3)
  • NEWS COMMENTARY

Battle Lines is The Telegraph’s defence, security and foreign affairs podcast. It offers expert analysis and on-the-ground reporting from around the world, everywhere from China and the United States to the Middle East and Europe. Three times a week, veteran foreign correspondents Roland Oliphant and Venetia Rainey bring you on-the-ground dispatches from the world’s most volatile regions and informed analysis from world-class experts. Every Wednesday on Battle Lines x Global Health Security they’re joined by Arthur Scott-Geddes to look at the intersection between health and security, from bioweapons to warzone diseases to frontline medicine. You can watch these episodes here. Whether it’s the Russia-Ukraine war, the Israel-Gaza conflict, Chinese aggression in the Indo-Pacific, tensions between India and Pakistan, or the civil war in Sudan, Battle Lines covers the world’s most critical flashpoints with depth and clarity. When will China invade Taiwan? Can Donald Trump bring peace to the Middle East? What should Europe do to help Ukraine beat Russia? Is Iran building a nuclear bomb? What is the point of NATO? Can the United Kingdom still defend itself?  Created by David Knowles, Battle Lines answers all these questions and more, bringing together the best of The Telegraph’s international, geopolitical, and conflict reporting in one place. Don’t forget to follow and leave a review to stay updated on the latest in global conflict and foreign affairs. Battle Lines: Global Health Security is supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  1. Iran bombs entire Middle East after Ayatollah Khamenei assassinated by Israel and US

    2 HR AGO

    Iran bombs entire Middle East after Ayatollah Khamenei assassinated by Israel and US

    Iran's leader Ayatollah Khamenei was killed in an Israeli and US strike on Saturday morning, kicking off a major war that has since expanded to the entire Middle East. On day three of the conflict, Venetia and Roland run through the big updates, including the UK’s involvement, the ongoing death toll and how Iran is striking back on key targets in the region.  They also talk to former Israeli intelligence official and Iran expert Danny Citrinowicz about how poorly defined the war's goals are and why we aren't seeing any cracks in the regime yet. Plus, The Telegraph’s David Blair on the significance of Khamenei's assassination and Trump's conflicting messaging. Read Iran war, day three: Everything you need to know: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2026/03/02/iran-war-day-three-everything-you-need-to-know/ Read David Blair on why Trump’s incoherence on Iran maximises the risk of failure: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/02/28/trump-is-taking-a-monumental-risk-on-iran/ Read Roland Oliphant on the eight-month plot that led to Trump’s attack on Iran: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2026/02/28/donald-trump-attack-iran-israel-how-it-came-to-this/ Producer: Peter Shevlin Executive Producer: 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 Contact us with feedback or ideas: @venetiarainey @RolandOliphant Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    48 min
  2. Trump attacks Iran with 'major combat operations' to oust regime - what next?

    2 DAYS AGO · BONUS

    Trump attacks Iran with 'major combat operations' to oust regime - what next?

    The US and Israel have launched what President Donald Trump has described as "major combat operations" to try to bring about the end of the Iranian regime. In this bonus episode, Roland and Venetia look at what we know so far - from Trump’s speech to strikes across the Middle East - and what might happen next, while Henry Bodkin, The Telegraph’s Jerusalem correspondent, reports from on the ground in Israel amid air raid sirens around the country. Plus, Roland speaks to Jonathan Hackett, a 20-year US Marine Corps veteran and special operations capabilities specialist, as well as the author of Iran's Shadow Weapons: Covert Action, Intelligence Operations and Unconventional Warfare. Their conversation - which was recorded shortly before the attack began - covers how Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was offered an escape route but refused to take it, the state of the IRGC and why regime change in Iran will be so difficult. Producer: Peter Shevlin Executive Producer: 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 Contact us with feedback or ideas: @venetiarainey @RolandOliphant Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    46 min
  3. Cuba 'very close' to regime change: John Bolton on Trump, Venezuela and Iran

    3 DAYS AGO

    Cuba 'very close' to regime change: John Bolton on Trump, Venezuela and Iran

    For sixty years Washington and Havana have been having a geopolitical tango fuelled by obsession and ideology. The island nation of Cuba has been a socialist splinter in the finger of the Florida coastline, its regime infecting the region.  Now, with the toppling of Nicolás Maduro and Venezuelan oil tightly controlled by the US, Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel could be next. To get into the finer details of the US’s new found dominance in the Caribbean, Venetia is joined by The Telegraph’s foreign reporter, Lily Shanagher. Plus, former national security advisor John Bolton, voices the need for regime change in Venezuela, Iran and Cuba. Coining the phrase ‘Troika of Tyranny' in 2018, Bolton has had Cuba in his sights for many years as a rogue state. So what should happen next in the region? John Bolton lays bare the truth about Trump’s decision making and the need for swift action. Producer: Peter Shevlin Executive Producer: 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 Contact us with feedback or ideas: @venetiarainey @RolandOliphant Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    35 min
  4. Drugs, HIV and gangs: the Pacific island paradise hit by a triple epidemic

    5 DAYS AGO

    Drugs, HIV and gangs: the Pacific island paradise hit by a triple epidemic

    Drugs and gangs have created an explosion in HIV cases in Fiji. This week on Battle Lines: Global Health Security, Arthur Scott-Geddes is joined by Sarah Newey, The Telegraph’s correspondent in Bangkok who recently travelled to Fiji, and Dr Jason Mitchell, the head of the country’s HIV task force. On the archipelago known as the gateway to the Pacific, Chinese triads, Mexican cartels, and Australian biker gangs are all involved in a booming methamphetamine trade. The result is that an island paradise is now home to the fastest-growing HIV epidemic on earth. Read Sarah’s dispatch from Fiji: The island paradise with the world’s fastest growing HIV epidemic https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/science-and-disease/fiji-island-paradise-with-the-worlds-fastest-growing-HIV-epidemic/ Producer: Sophie O'Sullivan Executive Producer: Louisa Wells Studio Operator: Meghan Searle ► 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 Contact us with feedback or ideas: battlelines@telegraph.co.uk @venetiarainey @ascottgeddes Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    38 min
  5. The 'super secret' Chagos island airbase at heart of Trump-Starmer row

    23 FEB

    The 'super secret' Chagos island airbase at heart of Trump-Starmer row

    The British Indian Ocean Territory, AKA the Chagos Islands is home to the American super-base of Diego Garcia. Located on the largest island in the archipelago and home to the joint UK/US military base since the 1970s. The Chagos handover to Mauritius has been controversial from the outset and shifting signals from Donald Trump have left the Starmer government open to a political backlash. Has the special relationship turned toxic over these islands? And should the sovereignty transfer be stopped? To discuss, Roland turns to Ben Judah who has worked for the previous foreign secretary and Chief Foreign Affairs Commentator, David Blair.  Producer: Peter Shevlin Executive Producer: 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 Contact us with feedback or ideas: @venetiarainey @RolandOliphant Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    32 min
  6. Trump’s Iran plan: 'kick the door in' and hit the regime where it hurts

    20 FEB

    Trump’s Iran plan: 'kick the door in' and hit the regime where it hurts

    The drumbeat of war in the Middle East is getting louder - and once again it’s Iran in America’s crosshairs. A second round of talks over Iran’s alleged nuclear weapons programme ended this week without a deal. In the last few days, dozens of American fighter jets and refuelling tankers have joined the US's two carrier strike groups in the region. This is now the largest American military buildup in the Middle East since the Iraq war in 2003. Venetia chats to Henry Bodkin, The Telegraph's Jerusalem correspondent, and Roland Oliphant, chief foreign affairs analyst about when war might break out and how it could unfold. Plus Roland speaks to Maryam Mazrooei, an Iranian journalist and war photographer who fled the country after being arrested and imprisoned in 2022, about whether American-led regime change would spark a civil war in Iran. Read - Trump sends fighter jet squadron to ‘kick the door down’ in Iran: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2026/02/18/us-military-aircraft-heading-towards-iran/ Producer: Sophie O'Sullivan Executive Producer: 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 Contact us with feedback or ideas: @venetiarainey @RolandOliphant Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    49 min
  7. Frog poison, tear gas and Novichok: Inside Russia’s chemical weapons programme

    18 FEB

    Frog poison, tear gas and Novichok: Inside Russia’s chemical weapons programme

    Two years ago, Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny died in a Siberian penal colony. There was an outcry and many suspected foul play, but nothing could be proved.  That is until last weekend, when five European countries including the UK announced that they had made a startling discovery: Navalny had been killed with a rare frog poison. How was the poison was identified, how were the samples smuggled out of Russia, and why does the evidence point directly to Moscow? Venetia and Arthur speak to former commanding officer of the UK’s Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Regiment and Telegraph columnist, Hamish de Bretton-Gordon, and Dr Gemma Bowsher, Senior Research Associate for the Centre for Conflict and Health Research at Kings College London. Producer: Sophie O'Sullivan Executive Producer: Louisa Wells Studio Operator: Meghan Searle ► 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 Contact us with feedback or ideas: battlelines@telegraph.co.uk @venetiarainey @ascottgeddes Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    32 min
  8. North Korea 'names' 13-year-old nuclear heiress & inside Europe’s race to rearm

    16 FEB

    North Korea 'names' 13-year-old nuclear heiress & inside Europe’s race to rearm

    North Korea’s dynasty dictatorship has taken on a new leather clad, second-in-command. Reports from South Korea have suggested that Kim Jong Un’s daughter Kim Ju-ae is now the heir apparent in the totalitarian state. Could she one day be the youngest person to command a nuclear arsenal? Roland chats to The Telegraph’s Lily Shanagher and from the University of Oxford, North Korea watcher, Dr Edward Howell, to unpack what we know from the shadows. Plus, after the Munich Security Conference at the weekend, Europe is facing a new future without Washington’s steadying hand and will have to be less reliant on the Stars and Stripes. But is European defence manufacturing scaling up in line with these new demands? Roland speaks to Philip Lockwood from defence startup Stark to find out just how quickly the ambitions are being realised.  Read Lily's article on Kim Ju-ae: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2026/02/16/kim-opens-neighbourhood-families-soldiers-killed-ukraine/ Pic credit: KCNA via Reuters Producer: Peter Shevlin Executive Producer: 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 Contact us with feedback or ideas: @venetiarainey @RolandOliphant Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    31 min
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About

Battle Lines is The Telegraph’s defence, security and foreign affairs podcast. It offers expert analysis and on-the-ground reporting from around the world, everywhere from China and the United States to the Middle East and Europe. Three times a week, veteran foreign correspondents Roland Oliphant and Venetia Rainey bring you on-the-ground dispatches from the world’s most volatile regions and informed analysis from world-class experts. Every Wednesday on Battle Lines x Global Health Security they’re joined by Arthur Scott-Geddes to look at the intersection between health and security, from bioweapons to warzone diseases to frontline medicine. You can watch these episodes here. Whether it’s the Russia-Ukraine war, the Israel-Gaza conflict, Chinese aggression in the Indo-Pacific, tensions between India and Pakistan, or the civil war in Sudan, Battle Lines covers the world’s most critical flashpoints with depth and clarity. When will China invade Taiwan? Can Donald Trump bring peace to the Middle East? What should Europe do to help Ukraine beat Russia? Is Iran building a nuclear bomb? What is the point of NATO? Can the United Kingdom still defend itself?  Created by David Knowles, Battle Lines answers all these questions and more, bringing together the best of The Telegraph’s international, geopolitical, and conflict reporting in one place. Don’t forget to follow and leave a review to stay updated on the latest in global conflict and foreign affairs. Battle Lines: Global Health Security is supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Information

  • Channel
    The Telegraph
  • Creator
    The Telegraph
  • Years Active
    2023 - 2026
  • Episodes
    258
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Copyright 2026. All rights reserved.
  • Show Website
    Battle Lines
  • Provider

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