War with Israel has put the Islamic Republic’s supreme leader back in his Manichean comfort zone

The consequences could be felt across the Middle East for decades

The president’s strategy has been transformed by Israeli persistence and Iranian defiance

Much hinges on the stubborn supreme leader and America’s mercurial president

With the war with Israel escalating, the successor for Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is already being discussed in some political circles

The president is unreliable. The Islamic Republic is inflexible

War with Israel has put the Islamic Republic’s supreme leader back in his Manichean comfort zone

A test of Trump’s nerves, Iranian resilience and Israeli overreach

Ali Khamenei must choose between escalation, a diplomatic compromise with the US, or containing the conflict to Israel

Also on the daily podcast: the West’s shift away from religion has slowed and the decline of inverted commas

For the first time since 1979 the military has ascendence over the clerics