The war against Iran, launched by President Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu on February 28, was meant to last four to six weeks. It is now in its twenty-second week. Peter Oborne has spent more than two decades arguing against Western military intervention in the Middle East -- he was one of the very few British conservative columnists to oppose the invasion of Iraq in 2003. He argues that this war is illegal under international law, that it was launched without serious deliberation, and that it is accelerating a geopolitical shift already well underway: the rise of China and the unravelling of American authority. He also takes the case for the war head on. Was Iran ever close to a nuclear weapon, or did the 2015 agreement hold until Washington walked away from it? Are Western objections to Tehran's human rights record consistent with its silence on Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the UAE? And what does it say that three days before he launched the war, President Trump delivered a two-hour State of the Union address and devoted just thirty seconds to Iran? In the second half, Tom and Peter turn to cricket. Full Circle argues that the game began in the eighteenth century as a commercial entertainment run by brewers, bookmakers and gambling aristocrats; was reinvented by the Victorians as a system of ethics fit to run an empire; and has now returned to where it started, dominated by private equity and franchise money. Along the way: the first overseas match, played in Aleppo in 1676; racism as cricket's original sin, decades before apartheid; how Afghan refugees learned the game in Pakistan and carried it home; and whether India's dominance of world cricket is something to celebrate or something to watch closely. Peter Oborne is Associate Editor of Middle East Eye and a former chief political commentator of The Daily Telegraph. He is the author of Complicit: Britain's Role in the Destruction of Gaza and, most recently, Full Circle: A History of Cricket, co-written with Richard Heller. Join Tom's Exclusive Newsletter: https://mailchi.mp/cff5e11f69a3/switzerland-with-tom-switzer Read Tom's Substack: https://substack.com/@tomswitzer Tom Switzer is a journalist and broadcaster who has been a prolific commentator on politics and international affairs. His writing and commentary have appeared in outlets including The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times (international), The Australian, and across ABC and Sky News, where he has been a regular presenter and panellist. For 30 years, since 1995, he has worked at the Washington-based American Enterprise Institute, the Australian Financial Review, The Australian, the London-based Spectator magazine, and the Sydney-based Centre for Independent Studies, which he headed from 2017 to 2025. He is the host of Switzerland, a long-form interview series exploring global politics, modern history, and the ideas shaping the world.
