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A ceasefire in Iran gets announced, but the harder question lands: what if the side that took the most bombing still holds the real leverage? We dig into the Iran ceasefire through the one geographic fact no press conference can rewrite: the Strait of Hormuz. When a chokepoint can function like a toll booth for global shipping, “mission accomplished” starts to sound like marketing, not strategy.

I’m joined by retired British Army officer and former NATO deputy supreme allied commander General Richard Shirreff to unpack why military damage does not automatically translate into diplomatic advantage.

Then we bring it down to the ground in Dubai with luxury property CEO Imran Sheikh of BlackOak Global. He explains what he’s actually seeing in the Dubai real estate market, why pricing has not collapsed, how “rebalancing” shows up in the secondary market, and what developer incentives and payment-plan changes signal about confidence. If you care about Gulf stability, global trade routes, oil transit risk, or Dubai property investment, this conversation connects the dots.

Subscribe to Backstory, share this with someone following the region, and leave a review. After you listen, do you think this ceasefire has long legs or is it only a pause?

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How close are we to the use of a nuclear weapon in current conflicts?
Join me, Dana Lewis, as I discuss the nuclear arms race with Rose Gottemoeller, a distinguished former arms control negotiator. We dissect the deployment of long-range ATACMS missiles by Ukraine into Russian territory, exploring the nuanced strategic implications and potential nuclear fallout.

And marking the milestone of 1,000 days since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, we reflect on the relentless assault on Ukrainian infrastructure and the role of Western military aid. I am joined by Ukrainian lawmaker Oleksiy Goncharenko who says any deal with Russia has to bring peace, not just a ceasefire.

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