Episodes

  • The Iran War: British Uncertainty vs. French Resolve

    The Iran War: British Uncertainty vs. French Resolve
    Mar 5 2026
    In this Conflicted Conversation, Thomas speaks to two friends of the show about how Europe is responding to the war with Iran. In the first half, the Rt Hon Tom Tugendhat MP — former chair of the UK Foreign Affairs Select Committee and former UK Security Minister — discusses Britain’s confused response to the conflict, and in the second half, French journalist Wassim Nasr explains France’s position. Sir Tom and Wassim explain: The UK government’s uncertain response to the Iran war What politicians mean when they talk about the ‘legal basis’ for military action The lessons of the Iraq War and whether they are being misunderstood Iran’s role in the insurgency against Western forces in Iraq The debate over designating the IRGC as a terrorist organization in the UK The state of the British military after decades of defence cuts The strategic controversy surrounding Diego Garcia and the Chagos Islands France’s historic Arab Policy and its effort to maintain strategic independence in the Middle East France’s military agreements with the UAE, Qatar, and Kuwait The E3 framework (France, Germany, UK) and its role in negotiations with Iran Macron’s attempt to expand France’s nuclear deterrent to cover Europe The evolving situation in Lebanon and Hezbollah’s weakening position Intelligence cooperation between France, Israel, and regional partners Whether Europe is entering a new era of strategic independence Follow Sir Tom on X: https://x.com/TomTugendhat Follow Wassim on X: https://x.com/SimNasr Join the Conflicted Community here: https://conflicted.supportingcast.fm Find Conflicted on X: https://x.com/MHconflicted And Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MHconflicted And Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/conflictedpod And YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4sdlF1mY5t4 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Conflicted is a Message Heard production. Executive Producers: Jake Warren & Max Warren. This episode was produced and edited by Thomas Small. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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    1 hr and 5 mins
  • The Death of Ayatollah Khamenei & The Future of Iran

    The Death of Ayatollah Khamenei & The Future of Iran
    Mar 3 2026
    With missiles streaking across Middle Eastern skies and the assassination of Iran’s Supreme Leader sending shockwaves through the region, Aimen joins Thomas from a Dubai under fire to unpack a historic turning point. They discuss: Iran’s unprecedented drone and missile strikes across the GCC and Israel Life under bombardment in Dubai and the regional military response The assassination of Ayatollah Khamenei and what it means for Iran’s future Whether this war marks the death of the 1979 Islamic Revolution The internal dynamics of the Iranian regime at this critical moment The United States’ strategic calculus and the question of escalation Join the Conflicted Community here: ⁠https://conflicted.supportingcast.fm/⁠ Find us on X: ⁠https://x.com/MHconflicted⁠ And Facebook: ⁠https://www.facebook.com/MHconflicted⁠ And Instagram: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/conflictedpod⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit ⁠megaphone.fm/adchoices⁠ Conflicted is a Message Heard production. Executive Producers: Jake Warren & Max Warren. Produced and edited by Thomas Small. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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    1 hr and 9 mins
  • 🚨 Emergency Episode: The Iran War Has Begun 🚨

    🚨 Emergency Episode: The Iran War Has Begun 🚨
    Feb 28 2026
    In this very special Emergency Episode, Aimen and Thomas discuss the Iran War, which began this morning with wide-ranging air strikes carried out by Israel and the United States against IRGC and Iranian regime targets, and which almost immediately resulted in Iranian counter-strikes against seven states in the region — including in Dubai, where Aimen lives. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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    56 mins
  • African Slavery: The Untold Story

    African Slavery: The Untold Story
    Feb 26 2026
    In this Conflicted Conversation, Thomas speaks to former BBC journalist Martin Plaut about his new book Unbroken Chains: A 5,000-Year History of African Enslavement, which tells the whole story of African slavery, a story far older and more global than the one that focuses only on the Trans-Atlantic slave trade. Martin explains: How Africa’s slavery story begins in the Nile Valley around 2900 BC Why the trans-Saharan slave routes remain less examined than Atlantic slavery What Islam did — and didn’t — change about slavery in practice Indian Ocean slavery Oman’s slave market in Zanzibar and its caravans that penetrated deep into central Africa Indigenous African slavery in Ethiopia and the Sokoto Caliphate The role of racial hierarchies and ‘slave blood’ stigma within societies Barbary corsairs and European so-called ‘white slavery’ Contemporary chattel slavery in Mauritania, Mali, Niger, Sudan, and Libya Why major institutions still prefer commemorating slavery in the past to confronting it in the present Follow Martin on X: https://x.com/martinplaut And his personal website: https://martinplaut.com/ Join the Conflicted Community here: https://conflicted.supportingcast.fm Find Conflicted on X: https://x.com/MHconflicted And Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MHconflicted And Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/conflictedpod And YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4sdlF1mY5t4 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Conflicted is a Message Heard production. Executive Producers: Jake Warren & Max Warren. This episode was produced by Thomas Small and edited by Lizzy Andrews. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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    50 mins
  • Conflicted Revisited: Spying for Saudi

    Conflicted Revisited: Spying for Saudi
    Feb 24 2026
    As Saudi Arabia celebrates Founding Day, and as the murky underbelly of GCC geopolitics is on everyone's minds, we're re-releasing this classic Conflicted episode from early 2022. Thomas & Aimen discuss: The deep history of Arabia The first foundations of Saudi Arabia The transition from British to American dominance in the Middle East Aimen’s family history within the British imperial system The 1920 Iraqi revolt St John Philby (Abdullah Philby) The consolidation of Saudi Arabia under Ibn Saud Oil politics and the American-Saudi partnership Cold War spy-craft and intelligence networks in Saudi Arabia Espionage culture in the region The murder of Jamal Khashoggi Join the Conflicted Community here: https://conflicted.supportingcast.fm/ Find us on X: https://x.com/MHconflicted And Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MHconflicted And Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/conflictedpod And YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ConflictedYoutube Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Conflicted is a Message Heard production. Executive Producers: Jake Warren & Max Warren. Produced and edited by Rowan Bishop. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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    1 hr and 21 mins
  • The People Who Became Arabs

    The People Who Became Arabs
    Feb 19 2026
    In this Conflicted Conversation, Thomas speaks to historian Yossef Rapoport about his new book Becoming Arab, and the revolutionary argument at its heart: that Arab identity in Egypt and the Levant was not the result of mass migration from Arabia, but was forged in the medieval countryside between the 11th and 15th centuries. Rapoport explains: What the word ‘Arab’ meant in the early Islamic centuries Why most medieval villagers in Egypt, Syria, and Palestine did not initially think of themselves as Arabs Why migration models fail to explain Arabisation in the settled countryside How Islamisation and Islamic governance reshaped rural society The role of clan genealogies, taxation, and local leadership in creating Arab village identities The extraordinary 1245 Fayyum survey and what it reveals about rural Egypt The rise of popular Arab epics and the imagination of tribal ancestry Ibn Taymiyyah’s critique of manufactured tribalism in the 14th century How medieval Arabisation reshapes modern debates about identity, belonging, and land Join the Conflicted Community here: https://conflicted.supportingcast.fm Find Conflicted on X: https://x.com/MHconflicted And Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MHconflicted And Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/conflictedpod And YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4sdlF1mY5t4 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Conflicted is a Message Heard production. Executive Producers: Jake Warren & Max Warren. This episode was produced by Thomas Small and edited by Lizzy Andrews. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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    57 mins
  • Trump, Netanyahu, and the Iran Endgame

    Trump, Netanyahu, and the Iran Endgame
    Feb 17 2026
    With war clouds gathering once again over the Middle East, Aimen takes us behind the scenes of the indirect negotiations between the U.S. and Iran. He narrates the shifting Iranian position, the will-he-or-won’t-he calculus surrounding Donald Trump, and the vital strategic role played by Israel as the White House formulates a way forward. Is this brinkmanship, miscalculation, or the prelude to full-scale war? They discuss: Iran’s negotiating position over the past 17–18 days The domestic factors informing Trump’s thinking How the IRGC is united around a rejectionist position How Israel may have helped provide the White House with the narrative it needs to get buy-in from U.S. citizens What really went on during Netanyahu’s recent visit The truth beyond Scott Bessent’s claims about causing a dollar crisis in Iran Join the Conflicted Community here: https://conflicted.supportingcast.fm/ Find us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/MHconflicted And Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MHconflicted And Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/conflictedpod Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Conflicted is a Message Heard production. Executive Producers: Jake Warren & Max Warren. Produced and edited by Thomas Small. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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    57 mins
  • How the US is Abandoning its Afghan Allies

    How the US is Abandoning its Afghan Allies
    Feb 12 2026
    In this Conflicted Conversation, Thomas speaks to U.S. Navy veteran Shawn VanDiver, founder of AfghanEvac, about the fate of Afghans who worked alongside American forces during the U.S. occupation, and how the Trump administration’s immigration restrictions are increasingly freezing them out. Shawn explains: Who America’s Afghan allies were and the risks they took The complex tragedy of the National Guardsmen shooting in Washington D.C. The Special Immigrant Visa system and why it failed Trump’s first travel ban and the dismantling of refugee pathways The Doha Agreement and the chaotic U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan The creation of AfghanEvac and cooperation with the U.S. government How Trump’s second term is closing the door on Afghan allies Join the Conflicted Community here: https://conflicted.supportingcast.fm Follow AfghanEvac: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AfghanEvac Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/afghan_evac X: https://x.com/afghanevac TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@afghanevac LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/afghanevac BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/afghanevac.bsky.social Truth Social: @AfghanEvac Follow Shawn VanDiver: X: https://x.com/shawnjvandiver Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shawnjvandiver LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shawnvandiver/ BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/shawnjvandiver.bsky.social Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/shawnjvandiver TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@shawnjvandiver Find Conflicted on X: https://x.com/MHconflicted And Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MHconflicted And Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/conflictedpod And YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4sdlF1mY5t4 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Conflicted is a Message Heard production. Executive Producers: Jake Warren & Max Warren. This episode was produced by Thomas Small and edited by Lizzy Andrews. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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    52 mins