Iran demands $24bn to sign US peace deal - will Trump accept?

Añadido: 2026-05-27

[00:00:01]Do you think that the the Islamic Republic's establishment want a deal or they don't want a deal? What's the move?

[00:00:08]>> They want a deal.

[00:00:09]>> They do want a deal.

[00:00:10]>> They do want a deal because they need a deal.

[00:00:13]>> A short time ago, the United States military began major combat operations in Iran.

[00:00:20]>> Today, President Trump says Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatah Ali Hami was killed in the attacks.

[00:00:31]The Pentagon is weighing a takeover of that island as a way to force the reopening of the street of Hormuz.

[00:00:38]>> Iran begged for this ceasefire and we all know it.

[00:00:42]>> Does anyone really think that someone can tell President Trump what to do?

[00:00:47]>> Come on.

[00:00:49]>> I'm Venicia Rainey >> and I'm Ryland Olifant >> and this is Iran the latest. It's Wednesday 27th of May 2026. We are 89 days since the war began and 49 days since the ceasefire was declared. And first, a quick correction. I said yesterday that we'll be marking 100 days of war next Monday. It's actually June 8th, so the Monday after. Apologies for any confusion. Thank you so much to everyone who's written in with your thoughts about what you would like to see us cover after we start to broaden out from the Iran conflict. Please do keep them coming in. You can write to us on [email protected].

[00:01:20]You can find our social media handles in the show notes or you can leave a comment underneath this episode. On with today's show, I'm joined in the studio by Act McCoy, foreign correspondent.

[00:01:28]Act, welcome back on to around the latest. We were talking yesterday about Iranian assets being unfrozen as part of this peace deal they're trying to reach.

[00:01:36]We've now got a number for that, 24 billion, and really quite large number.

[00:01:40]How have we arrived at that? It's not like a big number if you compare it to the Iranian economy and the amount of oil they are selling every day and then they are not getting paid for it because the those foreign banks are not giving like transacting any money with the Iranian banks due to the sanctions. On Monday uh chief negotiator Muhammad Balipov and Iranian foreign minister Basari flew to Dha in Kata. Unexpectedly Iranian didn't know we got to know this through foreign media. The main topic of discussion in Kata it wasn't nuclear enrichment it wasn't asylent it was the assets the frozen assets of Iran outside the country which it totals around 100 to 120 billion includes properties money gold anything like but in this particular case the Iranians are demanding $24 billion of their frozen assets and they condition that okay we are going to sign a deal whatever the deal is but we need 12 billion dollars while we signing that memorandum of understanding and another 12 billion 60 days later. List the American and the Iranian demands. Then Actar, >> Iran's condition for a broader peace agreement include a deal that would end the war on all fronts, particularly in Lebanon, which Israel is bombing this morning. Lifting all sanctions, releasing frozen funds, providing compensation for war damages, and recognizing Iranian sovereignty or the strait of the other side of the table, American wants uh they say they're not going to pay for the war for the war compensation. They want the uranian enriched uranium 450 kilogram of 60% enriched uranium and they are saying they are allowing Iran to have only one nuclear site which you can guess is the nuclear busher nuclear site which is run by the Russians and also a ceasefire conditional on continued negotiations.

[00:03:40]So there are these are the main points but at the moment as we're talking the main uh point of a stand of like the main thing that they're discussing is like this 24 billion >> the 24 is only roughly a quarter of the 100 billion assets that are frozen. I was just reading your article from yesterday where whereabouts are these assets cuz they're all around the world aren't they? Yeah, they are all around the world. They are in South Korea. They are in Qatar, Iraq, Japan, Luxmbourg, Bahrain, Turkey, Germany. Wherever Iran could send anything like send export anything, whether it's oil, the statues about anything, they would sell it to them, but they can't get the money. I mean the Indians and the Russians would and the Chinese would pay them with tea sometimes in cash in yuan but in other country like in European countries or those Arab countries they would buy the staff and they wouldn't be able to pay them because if they would pay them they would be sanctions by America.

[00:04:32]>> I think we should unfreeze the pistachios and serve everyone pistachio ice cream. No. Okay. But on a serious note, pistachios are one of Iran's biggest exports. Right.

[00:04:39]>> Yeah. The word pistachio is coming from Persian. It's pistachios.

[00:04:44]How important are they to Persian cuisine?

[00:04:47]>> Very much. It's not like you won't use it mainly in cuisines. You would have it today for example. It's eat at how people would get sheep killed and then when you go to someone's house in both countries Iran and Afghanistan, there would be a table. Pistachios are there and you are advised by your parents not to eat pistachios because they're expensive. just go there say get one and go home because you don't want to be looking like oh this guy this family came in they're only eating pistachios the most expensive ones why they are not eating seeds or nuts or other >> oh I would be you'd be a very bad guest if you went and just munched all the pistachios and is there a particular pistachio growing region of Iran >> yeah of course in Raf San John where Raf Sanjani used to live his hometown and they he had he his family is why they are rich because they have too much pachu remind us who Mr. Raf Sanjani was >> Mr. Sanjani was the president's uh during the Iraq Iran war in that area.

[00:05:43]It he was Iran's second president, third president. He died in 2016 after he was disqualified for running for president.

[00:05:50]>> Very interesting. Where is that region >> in southern Iran?

[00:05:53]>> In the south >> in the south in Kerman province >> where on the coast with the Persian Gulf or actually you go a little bit up >> a little bit up >> and that's the main route of smuggling drugs to Europe too. Coming from Afghanistan going through Kermon and that's where that British couple were arrested. Okay, back to today's news.

[00:06:09]What we really wanted to talk to you about is the fact that the internet has been lifted. This has been the longest nationwide internet blackout ever in modern history. Really, really hugely significant. I was looking at net blocks this morning and they say, "Very sweet."

[00:06:22]Welcome back, Iran. Metrics show a further rise in connectivity as mobile networks and other segments have reconnected to the global internet. But filteret remains in place, can be worked around. WhatsApp is now restricted and requires circumvention. Some users still offline. What have you found when you've been trying to connect to friends, family, contacts this morning?

[00:06:38]>> The messaging app are still not working.

[00:06:41]The social media were already blocked before the war even before they impose the the blackout. As you said, it's 2,93 hours of complete internet blackout.

[00:06:52]Never seen anywhere else in human history. But yesterday when they were lifting the blockade, it was a dramatic decision like and the whole Iranian politics was involved in it. The president issued an order. Okay, now is the time so we can partially and slowly uh lift the blackout. An hour later, a body, a judicial body intervene and said told the president, no, you cannot do it because there are people who are opposing it. Some MP saying this is if you lift it, it would create some national security concerns and some sorts of problems. An hour after that the judiciary itself intervened again saying you this body you stay away from it the president can go with the order and first it was just Wikipedia working today like you can have access to some Iranian news website this morning that you could not have access to yesterday and the messaging apps are still not working I was told emo a Chinese app is working without uh a VPN but it's it's not like a complete internet access is partial and very slow. I think there were four reasons to lift the blackout. First, I think there the in inside the Islamic Republic there is some optimism that there might be a deal or there might not be another attack by the Americans. So they say okay now we we are safe. So no people would be sending information outside the outside the country that would make a place someone a target. So there is a sort of optimism in here. And the other reason is so they are now sure that there won't be any uprising >> because one of the reasons for the internet shutdown was to prevent uh networking by opposition forces to create a street uprising. Okay. So they feel like the war might end.

[00:08:38]>> Yeah.

[00:08:39]>> They feel like they're safe from street uprisings >> and they fear that if they keep it going there would be an uprising. Just remember more than 10 million people in Iran have internet related works and around $14 million dollars $35 million were being lost every day when the internet was off. So >> people are fed up.

[00:08:59]>> Yeah. So there were reasons that people like the administration at least president administration would want to lift the blockade and let the people connect to internet. There are still people mainly those MPs who are close to Pari front Jali those kind of people that they are still opposing it because they see it as a national threat to for people to have access to international media because for now like for months many people uh would get their own information only from a state television so and they don't want them to have access to news that's from independent organizations. Have we seen videos, pictures, uh stories being posted that give us new information about the impact of the war on the ground in Iran?

[00:09:46]>> Not yet because there is a very partial uh and slow internet connectivity so far. I was speaking with someone he said like he was surprised after getting connected seeing those clips while they were being bombed and some fo countrymen in Europe or elsewhere in the in the world they were dancing while they were bombing while they were being bombed. So that was one of the things that people are now getting to realize like getting to know that diaspora Iranians.

[00:10:11]>> Yeah. One some of them while the nation inside the country was being bombed some were out there Iranians dancing on the street. So these are the things the Iranians are now finding out slowly.

[00:10:22]>> Do you worry that the internet when it comes back and historically whenever the internet has been cut off it comes back and it's more restricted. Do you think those restrictions will become more permanent? I've also seen reports that you know Chinese equipment is being brought in. and they're trying to sort of build some kind of copy of the Chinese great firewall. There is always that concern but for the war uh uranian government unblocked WhatsApp after I don't know how many years for years but now they left the blackout so they can people now can get connected to partially to the internet but not WhatsApp yet Instagram was blocked already some most favorite social media app in Iran and lots of people are working in there they're advertising their the things they're producing so we should see like if they left the ban on Instagram and WhatsApp and Telegram and this in like messaging apps last night.

[00:11:15]The only thing you could have access inside Iran was Wikipedia. So >> it's not really about websites, it's about apps. Yeah.

[00:11:22]>> Um just going back to what you were saying about who's in control in this dispute. You've written a really interesting analysis in today's paper in which you say in Iran trust is an invaluable currency but it's in short supply and you talk about the kind of vacuum of trust inside the country between various factions.

[00:11:41]>> I'm wondering if you could expand on that slightly but also on what you said about the Pidari front and the hardliners kind of trying to sabotage everything because they're so opposed of things. We've talked about the Pari front before. people like Sai Jilli and and I think in one episode we dismissed them as as a bunch of losers who couldn't affect anything but they do seem to be affecting things. So I'm just wondering like how do we square this? On the one hand we think they're they're actually quite marginal radical kind of fruit cakes even in the Iranian context.

[00:12:16]On the other hand, they do seem to be able to to gum up the system and to and to influence things. Yeah, they do influence things but not as much as would it would have a impact on decision- making. There are 291 MPs in the Iranian parliament. It was an online meeting of course uh there were 261 60 people MPs they signed a letter supporting the negotiations except seven MPs MPs like Same Rasai who are very close to S Jali and that Pary front they are trying their best these days to stop any deal >> right >> they see the whole situation that Iran won the war and now they are giving American concessions that would make Iran look as a loser they say So basically we've won and these pathetic wishy-washy >> woke establishment idiots like Muhammad Bagger Galabath are going to >> sell out our victory down the toilet by making concessions to to the Americans.

[00:13:17]That's their view.

[00:13:18]>> That's their view. And there are also some generals inside the IRGC who are looking for who want revenge for their dead colleagues.

[00:13:25]>> Right. Okay. Um but I suppose the question then is you're saying they can things up. M >> I'm wondering whether it changes your assessment that they can't really block a deal being done or do you think that actually in general uh the push within the regime is towards some kind of deal and and that they won't be able to to disrupt it.

[00:13:48]>> They are trying to influence decision- making but if they can do it or they cannot do it that's very I would say unlikely. We talk a lot about Donald Trump's intentions and I think we're kind of thinking that Donald Trump really wants a deal. He wants to put this to bed and so on. Very quickly in one word, do you think that the the Islamic Republic's establishment want a deal or they don't want a deal?

[00:14:14]What's the move?

[00:14:15]>> They want a deal.

[00:14:16]>> They do want a deal.

[00:14:16]>> They do want a deal because they need a deal.

[00:14:18]>> They need a deal. Okay, that's what I want to get to. There are some new pictures of Majam going around and I know there's been a lot of discussion about whether they've been AI edited, right? Because we still haven't seen him in public. We don't know what condition he's in after those strikes that killed most of his family. I'm just reading something from a journalist at BBC Verify who says that one of the images at least that's going around does appear to have been manipulated with AI taken from previous footage and had the background removed. What do you make of these pictures that are going around? If he was uh in public and if he was speaking for the first time appearing in public for the first time estate media won't be silent wouldn't be silent they would make very big deal of out of it and I have not seen any picture on the state media about it >> okay so for now no new proof of his condition or or life >> no last you know he was climbing the stairs and then the home was bombed and he was blown out and then he had some injuries on his face according to some people who were working inside the office of the Supreme Leader.

[00:15:15]>> Asha McCoy, foreign correspondent at the Telegraph. Thanks very much for joining us on Around the Latest.

[00:15:19]>> As we were recording this episode, a couple of updates came up that we wanted to keep listeners ab breast of. Donald Trump is due to host the 12th cabinet meeting of his second term. So, all of his allies um and officials in one room.

[00:15:32]It was meant to be a camp day, but it's going to be at the White House. Um and overshadowing all of this is likely to be um this huge question of how to end the war, the negotiations, what to give, what not to give. And simultaneously uh with this or or or just in advance of this, and I imagine uh something that will be mentioned um in the White House is the draft of uh the alleged draft of an agreement that has been published by Iranian state media. Uh so this is what Iranian state television is calling a draft framework deal with the United States that they say has not yet uh been finalized um but is a draft outline of a potential memorandum of understanding.

[00:16:14]And what it says um as far as we can tell is that the United States will lift the uh naval blockade, cease harassing ships passing to or from the Islamic Republic of Iran. Um and in return Iran will open the straight to commercial shipping. um just as it was before the war within 1 month according to the draft. Uh military ships are excluded from that. It it significantly also claims that the draft says that Iran would continue to manage shipping lanes inspect vessels and impose service fees on ships. I'm not sure I believe that the Americans are going to go with this, but this is what the Iranians um are saying in public. It also says that US troops uh are to be withdrawn from the Gulf region or from the vicinity of Iran. Um, it says Washington has given the quotation here is a commitment to the Islamic Republic of Iran regarding this issue. Again, I'll put a big hefty red question mark next to that one. It says, uh, following this agreement, Terran and Washington would enter a 60-day negotiation period. Um, and if a negotiations reached a final agreement within that period, it would be put to the United Nations Security Council to be finalized in a binding resolution.

[00:17:26]Please note that I have not anywhere there mentioned uranium or other nuclear issues. It simply doesn't feature in this document that the Iranians have put out. Make of it what you will.

[00:17:40]We're going to take a short pause now.

[00:17:41]Coming up after the break, we're going inside southern Lebanon after Israel has stepped up its campaign against Hezbollah.

[00:17:52]Welcome back. You're listening to Iran the latest. Now, earlier this week, Israel announced that it was going to step up its military campaign against Hezbollah. In a speech on Monday night, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed, "We will deal them a crushing blow." And sure enough, yesterday, Israel pounded Lebanon with more than 120 air strikes.

[00:18:10]It was one of the heaviest nights of bombardment since the ceasefire began in midappril between those two countries.

[00:18:16]At least 31 people were killed yesterday, including four children, according to Lebanon's health ministry.

[00:18:22]The Israeli military said it hit more than 100 Hezbollah infrastructure sites, but some strikes hit near Lebanon's largest water reservoir, the Karun Dam in East Lebanon. You can see a video circulating online of an explosion in the water right by a dam. That's the Karun Dam. The dam is reported to be okay. There were also strikes near the 900year-old medieval Bowfort Castle. A true bit of history in Lebanon. Now, as we've been speaking about repeatedly on the podcast, Hezbollah has been adopting this Ukraine style drone warfare tactics with growing success recently. And it's no coincidence that Netanyahu disorder came after the Israeli military said another soldier had been killed in combat over the weekend. That's the Israeli military's 23rd casualty since the conflict began on March 2nd. Just for context, Israeli strikes over the same period have killed at least 3,100 Lebanese people, although they don't distinguish between combatants and civilians. Now, very few journalists are able to report inside southern Lebanon at the moment due to the active hostilities. So, I caught up with Candice Adil, the spokesperson for UNIFIL, the UN's peacekeeping force in the area. Here's our conversation.

[00:19:32]Candace, welcome to Iran, the latest.

[00:19:34]You're joining us now from Beirut.

[00:19:36]You're normally based in Nakura, Naura, way down in southern Lebanon. just tell us what's it like there today? The Israelis have ramped up attacks. What's the situation been like over the last 24 hours?

[00:19:45]>> Well, we've seen a significant escalation in the last few days um after a period where we had seen a lessening of violence following the agreement that had happened in the middle of April. Um so peacekeepers are observing an increased amount of activities in the south including air strikes, drone activity, um even some clashes. So this is a concern for us. Um we're seeing uh the stability that we were trying to work back toward uh being eroded yet again. And uh nonetheless, peacekeepers are on the ground. We're continuing to monitor and report. We're in contact with both Lebanon and Israel to urge deescalation and to urge um a reduction in tensions and try to uh to get back to a situation where we can start again to work towards stability because that's what's needed right now. We see in the south so much suffering, so much destruction. From everything that we've heard, it's been a ceasefire in name only since the Israelis and Lebanese struck a ceasefire, which has since been extended. Hezbollah has regularly been attacking Israeli troops both in southern Lebanon and firing projectiles over into northern Israel. And the Israelis have been bombing southern Lebanon, occasionally outside of southern Lebanon, and flattening villages and targeting Hezbollah operatives. What have you seen firsthand in terms of what you've been monitoring as a peacekeeper?

[00:20:59]>> Well, we've seen all of that. We've seen Hezbollah firing uh projectiles. We've seen the IDF firing projectiles back.

[00:21:05]We've seen air strikes. We've seen drone strikes, including some that have hit in and near some of our bases, including our headquarters in Nura, causing some damage.

[00:21:14]>> Is that drone strikes by Hezbollah or Israel?

[00:21:17]>> We believe that they were Hezbollah drones. Yes. That uh were probably targeting IDF activities in the area. Um and uh ended up hitting our headquarters. some one inside and uh some nearby. So this is obviously a concern for us in terms of peacekeeper safety. We've already seen uh earlier in this conflict um six peacekeepers killed um two in an incident that has been attributed to Hezbollah and yet another one in an incident attributed to Hezbollah and others um in an incident attributed to the IDF. So like this this is an extreme concern for us in terms of the safety of our peacekeepers. But of course we have the civilians who have had to leave large swaths of the south who are displaced both within our area of operations and outside because of this violence and this conflict that has escalated. And we've seen their villages peacekeepers have observed the extreme destruction of uh of villages including again Nura next door to our headquarters. the damage that we're seeing because of this conflict and because of what's happening on the ground is absolutely devastating and uh it's it's something that uh cannot continue if uh we're going to see long-term stability and eventually peace again in this region. I want to come back to that in more detail again in a minute. But just on the subject of unif peacekeepers being killed, six killed since the Iran war erupted right at the end of February. And as you say, some attributed and some attributed to Israel. Is it the feeling that UN peacekeepers are being specifically targeted or are they just collateral?

[00:22:43]>> Well, those cases are still under investigation in terms of the full circumstances. We'll have to wait and see what those investigations say in terms of what the intention was behind it, but nonetheless, there's a great deal of violence happening. Peacekeepers are on the ground. We're in the middle of it in a lot of cases. We're beside where a lot of these clashes and activities are happening. There are projectiles flying back and forth over our bases. Um and so this is something that is a concern for us.

[00:23:09]>> Is it scary? Does it mean that UNIFIL um peacekeepers are less likely to leave their bases and go out and do the monitoring work that they're supposed to be doing?

[00:23:16]>> Well, peacekeepers are soldiers. They're trained for this work. They're very well prepared. We have uh intensive security procedures in place. We have had to adapt, of course, because it is dangerous.

[00:23:26]>> How have you adapted?

[00:23:27]>> Well, we've had to limit the number of patrols that we do outside of our bases.

[00:23:31]Before we were able to go much more freely throughout the area of operations. Uh now we cannot. We are limiting a lot of our patrols to nearby the bases to ensure primarily our force protection to ensure that our bases are not being used to launch attacks by one party against another and just to ensure the safety of peacekeepers. Of course, throughout the course of this we're able to monitor and report what's happening around um but it is much more limited than it was before. We're not able to see the extent of um of the territory of what's happening of the violations because of that limitation. uh you know we have watchtowers, we have our observation posts where we're still able to see a lot uh but again this is limited. We're able to do um to perform our duties under resolution 1701 but not in the same way that we were before which is not to say that the work is not valuable but it's not as complete as it would have been.

[00:24:20]>> Do you feel able to perform your duties fully? I know the the Israeli charge is always that um you know UNIFIL has not managed to stop Hezbollah from operating militarily in southern Lebanon and therefore it's useless and should be disbanded. I'm sure UNIFIL feels otherwise. But what do you do when you see Hezbollah firing a projectile or or Israelis doing something that you feel contravenes international law?

[00:24:40]>> We're here to support Lebanon and Israel in implementing their obligations under resolution 1701. Some of the obligations include, of course, the Israeli withdrawal from all of the territory of Lebanon, the Lebanese side that is establishing an area that is free of unauthorized weapons uh between the Latani River and the Blue Line. So, it's the parties that have those obligations.

[00:25:00]We're here to monitor, to support them in doing that. And so this is what we're doing. We don't have a role to step in and stop violations per se, except in very limited circumstances. For example, if we see a civilian in imminent danger, peacekeepers can step in at that point.

[00:25:14]>> Have you had to step in to save civilians?

[00:25:17]>> We haven't had to intervene to support civilians, for example, who wanted to leave areas where there was conflict happening. We've sheltered civilians in our bases. Um, and so we've done what we can to support civilians in the circumstances. And again, this all depends on our means and capabilities.

[00:25:32]The primary responsibility to protect civilians does lie with the government of Lebanon. But we're able to help where they cannot. And in this situation, obviously, it's quite volatile. Now, most of the civilians, frankly, in the conflict zones are no longer there. What does the landscape in southern Lebanon look like now? I mean, I remember when I lived in Beirut and traveled down there, it's beautiful rolling hills, these very old villages with these lovely sort of Ottoman red tiled roofs. Um it's a very beautiful landscape with these quiet little villages. What does it look like at the moment? I'm seeing so many videos of whole villages being demolished.

[00:26:04]>> Well, the conflict uh since 2023 has taken a toll. We've seen um the landscape in some places completely changed. Vegetation uh removed, burned, um you know, perhaps for military purposes, but nonetheless, it has drastically changed the landscape. Um you still have these rolling hills.

[00:26:20]They're many of them are not green anymore. they've been laid bare um with bulldozers and other um other machinery.

[00:26:28]So the the landscape is completely different. U many of the villages have just been completely devastated. Um again including uh NORA right next to our headquarters which we can see from our headquarters every day.

[00:26:41]>> Is the Israeli security buffer zone the forward defense line um whatever it is that they call it that reaches I think 30 km inside Lebanese territory. Is that visible on the ground? Is that clear where that sort of demarcation line is?

[00:26:53]>> Well, as I say, for us, we're monitoring and reporting. Uh it's not as easy for us to see as it was before. So, we're able to hear um activities that are happening on the ground. For example, points of origin of uh projectiles, points of impact of projectiles. We can monitor where these things are happening. Uh but it is difficult to see precisely and to give precisely a line where where things are. Nonetheless, for us, the blue line is what matters. um any Israeli presence that's beyond the blue line, which is the line of withdrawal between Lebanon and Israel, this is uh this is what matters. Any presence is of Israeli soldiers north of that is a violation of resolution 1701.

[00:27:32]And that is our main concern.

[00:27:34]>> Does it feel like uh they're bedding in permanently from what you can see >> for the moment? Uh the situation is extremely volatile. There's a lot of movement. It's a conflict. Um I wouldn't say that there is any um solid indications of permanency. you've seen um Hezbollah's presence across southern Lebanon. Do you think it's merited the way the Israelis are targeting whole villages, whole Shiite villages and leaving Christian villages?

[00:27:58]>> Well, the systematic nature of some of the targeting of these villages is a concern. Of course, uh the IDF says that they're um they're targeting Hezbollah infrastructure. Um, and I will say looking at the village of Nurora myself, I uh I raised my eyebrows as to what um as to whether every single home in that village could have been considered terrorist infrastructure, including homes of people that I know and work with, frankly. So, um the fact that we're seeing the wholesale destruction of neighborhoods, of villages, that should raise a lot of concerns and I think that's something that should be looked at uh not by peacekeepers perhaps, but by others.

[00:28:33]>> Can you tell us a bit about the impact on your Lebanese colleagues? Well, we have a number of very dedicated uh Lebanese staff working uh civilian staff working with us in UNIFIL um living in the south for the most part and they've suffered a lot. Um all of the when this conflict first escalated in March uh many of the international colleagues uh went home to their home countries and they're working remotely. Our Lebanese colleagues uh moved to different parts of Lebanon. Uh I don't think very many are left in the south. There are a few but the situation is extremely difficult. Many of them have lost their homes. Uh many of them are living with family members um or others elsewhere, renting apartments that are very expensive. It creates a great deal of hardship. They're suffering exactly the same hardships that people across South Lebanon are suffering. Uh you know, there has been a mass exodus from the south because of this conflict. And um in a sense it's uh it's our our peacekeeping colleagues are are feeling some of of the same things as uh as their neighbors because they are part of the community and they are experiencing exactly what uh what everyone else is.

[00:29:38]>> What's the mood like in Lebanon at the moment? You know, it's a country with a long history of sectarian strife to put it mildly. um had it a 15-year civil war and um I know some people are worried that this uh this ne the latest round of conflict over um Hezbollah will reignite sectarian conflict. Do you feel like fears of civil war are overplayed or or valid?

[00:30:00]>> Well, people are extremely concerned about the situation and what it might mean for the long term for security, for stability. Um and of course, these concerns are being uh are being are being expressed. Um but nonetheless, the main concern for us as peacekeepers is this ongoing conflict, the violations of resolution 1701, because this is something that is creating this instability that will lead to long-term problems that we may not be able to anticipate or control. So we need to um to deal with the situation of this conflict so we can return to security and stability because ultimately if people can live in peace on both sides of the blue line that is what we need for long-term security and stability across the entire region.

[00:30:42]>> Feels like we should give our listeners a little bit of history for those who aren't familiar with resolution 1701 and the blue line and all of this. So could you just take us back a bit to UNIFIL's founding and where the blue line comes from? Well, UNIFIL actually goes back to 1978 and it was a time when Israel had invaded Lebanon. Lebanon asked the international community for help. The Security Council adopted resolutions 425 and 426 and established UNIFIL. Um, fast forward a few decades in 2006 there was a war between Hezbollah and Israel and uh the resolution that gave UNIFIL its mandate was expanded. uh th those original tenets of uh peace and security and the Israeli withdrawal that were uh embodied in 425 and 426 are still there but it was expanded and so UNIFIL was given a mandate to support the Lebanese armed forces um and to help the Lebanese armed forces establish this weapons free zone this zone free of unauthorized weapons meaning weapons belonging to non-state armed groups between the Latani River and the Blue Line and so since 2006 this has been what UNIFIL has been operating under we've been supporting the Lebanese armed forces In doing that, um, we've established a number of liaison and coordination mechanisms to pass messages between the Lebanese and Israeli sides to avoid some of the unintended misunderstandings that could happen in situations of tension.

[00:31:59]Um, and we've just monitored and reported what has been happening to the security council in terms of the violations of resolution 171, crossing the blue line, any clashes and conflicts and things like this. So the blue line, just to explain, is basically it's the Lebanese Israeli border short of something more formal having been agreed, right? I know it's not an internationally recognized border with contested areas like the Sheba farms and stuff, but the blue line is what was sort of drawn up by the UN to show when the Israelis would have been considered to have withdrawn.

[00:32:28]>> Withdrawn. Yes. It's not a border. Yes.

[00:32:30]It's not a border. It's a line of withdrawal. But that's uh essentially it's the line between Lebanon and Israel. Basically, we're the ref referees and we uh will point out and report someone has crossed the line keeping score. Okay, this is the line.

[00:32:43]This is where we measure it.

[00:32:44]>> And the Israelis, apart from a few contested areas, like I say, Sherba Farms and a few other places did withdraw south of that blue line in 2000.

[00:32:51]>> For the most part, yes, >> for the most part. But what hasn't happened is Hezbollah has not disappeared from Lebanon. That there is still a non-state actor with weapons.

[00:33:01]UNIFIL is the UN interim force in Lebanon. Have I Yeah. Have I got that right? Yes, it was supposed to be an interim force to deal with this problem, but I mean it hasn't been able to deal with this problem. And now we have Hezbollah, some would say stronger than ever, firing fiber optic drones, you know, innovating in its warfare. And the Israelis are back in southern Lebanon.

[00:33:19]Is it time for a different force to be thought up?

[00:33:22]>> It's the Lebanese authorities and the Lebanese armed forces who are tasked to deal with non-state armed groups on their territory. we're here to support them. Um, and which we do when and how in whichever capacities we're asked to do so, but the primary responsibility is with the government of Lebanon um to do that. The question of whether um what will come next or what should come next is not for us to answer, but the security council has decided that UNIFIL's mandate will end at the end of this year. Um, and they will be presented options by the secretary general um within uh possibly a few days. I understand it's happening in June. um the security council will receive these options uh proposed as to what can come next because clearly um especially given the current uh circumstances. There does need to be some kind of international support here um in in South Lebanon to help return this situation to the stability that um that we all hope that we can see in this region, not just in Lebanon, but of course all across the region along the blue line.

[00:34:23]>> Is it drones I can hear in the background by the way or is that just >> It is. Yes, it is. It is very loud.

[00:34:27]>> Is that just a constant sound now?

[00:34:29]>> Yes. I mean, I've just arrived in Beirut yesterday. Uh, we hear them in Nurora all the time and whenever I've been in Beirut, it is a fairly constant presence. Yes.

[00:34:38]>> And these are Israeli drones to be clear to our listeners, not Hezbollah drones.

[00:34:41]>> Yes, I assume. Yes.

[00:34:42]>> Thank you, Candi Sardil from UNIFIL.

[00:34:44]Thank you for joining us on Around the Latest.

[00:34:46]>> Thank you.

[00:34:50]>> That was Candi Sardil, spokesperson for UNIFIL. And that's all for today's episode of Around the Latest. We'll be back again tomorrow. Until then, goodbye.

[00:35:06]Iran the latest is an original podcast from the Telegraph created by David Nolles and hosted by me, Venicia Rainey, and Roland Dolphant. If you appreciated this podcast, please consider following Iran the latest on your preferred podcast app. And if you have a moment, leave a review as it helps others find the show. For more from our foreign correspondents on the ground, sign up for our new daily newsletter, cables, or listen to our sister podcast, Ukraine, the latest. We're still on the same email address, battle [email protected], where you can contact us on X. You can find our handles in the show notes. The producer is Peter Chevlin. The executive producers are Venicia Rainey and Louisa Wells.