Professor Scott Lucas analyses how the Trump administration have run out of viable military options, decentring the Middle East and destabilising the global economy.
The episode opens with a wide-ranging update on the escalating instability across the Middle East, centred on the US-Iran confrontation and the strategic importance of the Strait of Hormuz.
Scott explains that the situation has entered a difficult middle phase: a limbo that does not include full-scale war but is also far from peace.
This level of increasing uncertainty and instability is exactly what makes the moment so dangerous, especially as shipping through the strait has fallen sharply and the economic stakes keep rising.
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Timestamps:
(00:00:00) – Preview
(00:02:18) – Climate Change and Political Delusion with the UK's 5th heat wave in a single Summer Season!
(00:05:00) – The Escalating Iran Situation. Somehow it is worse than it has ever been. How did the US lose all leverage against Iran?
(00:11:13) – Reminder of the June 2026 memorandum of understanding and what Trump signed up to and desperately wants Iran to reengage
(00:15:01) — The latest Israel-Lebanon front, Gaza, and the West Bank developments that added further instability in the region
(00:17:57) — Yemen, Saudi Arabia, the Houthis, and Red Sea escalation: The closure of the Bab El-Mandeb Strait – which is only open to Chinese tankers!
(00:21:16) — The Trump administration are not even looking at the Yemen-Saudi Arabia situation and how Saudi Arabia could call out Trump on his failures
(00:24:41) — The emerging Turkey-Saudi-Pakistan defence pact – dubbed the “Islamic NATO” and the decentring of the entire region
(00:30:52) — What is the reaction of Israel and the UAE to the emergence of this new defence pact?
(00:36:32) — This complete realignment goes completely against Trump 1.0's pet project, the Abraham Accords. So what's next?
Episode Notes & Citations:
https://retortmedia.com/podcasts/ceoretort/2026/08/17/scott-lucas-exposes-how-trump-and-israel-lost-control-of-the-middle-east/
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