Updates on Iran

ROBIN WRIGHT, JOURNALIST AND AUTHOR: Well, Hezbollah is obviously one of the most important parties. And, of course, it is the largest militia outside of the Lebanese army, as it is, in many ways, defining national security because it repeatedly has taken potshots at Israel. And the one of the tensest front lines in the Middle East is between Lebanon and Israel today. The tragedy of Lebanon — and I lived there for five years during the civil war — is that the politicians who are also the old warlords are still fighting each other in the same way they did in the 1970s and 1980s, only this time through politics. And the country is deadlocked. And it is indeed a failing state. It’s one of the great travesties because this was the first nascent democracy. It was the one place where Christians and Muslims lived side by side, celebrated the religious holidays together. And, today, it is a country that is almost beyond salvation.

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR: So, Robin, let me ask you what you think is going to happen to Lebanon and maybe to Iran, because there are reports that amid escalating tensions in the region, there has been heavy artillery fire from Lebanon into Israel. And it’s presumably, although I don’t know whether it’s been named that yet, from the south, where Hezbollah have their positions, that on top of Israel naming and calling out the Iranian Revolutionary Guard commander for unmanned vehicles for that attack on the Mercer Street, the ship, in which two people were killed a few days ago. How badly do you think that — well, how close do you think that we are to an escalation of maybe even military action in that region that can ill afford it?

WRIGHT: I think we are at a crossroads in the Middle East, in part because of Iran’s tensions with Israel, both directly and through its allies and proxies like Hezbollah. There — we’re reaching a point that, over the past year, whether it’s the kind of maritime tensions playing out among tankers, the attacks on tankers, and by both sides, is reaching an unprecedented point. You have also seen the strikes on each other’s drones. There is a sense that Iran has become the hegemon in the region.