David Smith: The Guardian Washington Bureau Chief says Iran has chosen a new Supreme Leader

Israel is launching a new wave of strikes in Tehran, which has been choked by smoke following attacks on its energy resources. 

Iran state-media says a new supreme leader has been chosen but they're yet to be named. 

Israel is also claiming its first military deaths of the war with two soldiers dead in southern Lebanon. 

Iran continues to lash out at US allies with Saudi Arabia authorities saying two have been killed and 12 injured in a recent attack. 

The Guardian Washington Bureau Chief David Smith told Ryan Bridge that Iran is risking further spreading the war. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Let's go to the lightest on the war. David Smith,
Washington Bureau Chief of The Guardian, joins me live. Good morning, David,
good morning. So we're hearing more and more that Iran
is going after Golf. The golf state Saudi Arabia in
the last few minutes apparently said that he's been two dead,
twelve wounded, and they are attacking. This is Iran attacking
the diplomatic quarter in Riads. So what's the latest here,

(00:23):
what are we what's going on?

Speaker 2 (00:25):
Yeah, it's a great question because in Iran seems to
have been giving conflicting signals on that. There was a
statement from the president yesterday suggesting that they would no
longer go after countries in the Golf region, but it
did seem to have a little bit of ambiguity that
that would only be the case if the implication was

(00:47):
those countries were no longer backing the US attack. And
of course, you know, the US does have military bases
in almost all of those countries, and so it would
appear Iran is still attacking on that pret and it's
a very high risk strategy for them. I mean, I
think some of the view of some in Washington is

(01:07):
that it's going to backfire. It just alienates the region,
It makes those countries even more likely to collaborate with
the US. You know, some of those critics would say
Iran is just kind of lashing out here almost indiscriminately,
and appears to be kind of no no let up
in that happening. And it does obviously carry that risk

(01:31):
of just a wider conflagration of this war really spreading
in a dangerous way and airlines having to cancel flights
and people desperate to get out and pressure on the
US to provide the passage for them. It sort of
feels like the war is escalating and widening rather than
the opposite.

Speaker 1 (01:51):
Yeah, and could they're in a perverse kind of way
get it over with quicker. I know it's you know,
there's obviously going to be casualties, is going to be
bad things that come from that. But I think a
lot of people, including in America as you'll know, as saying, well,
we don't want this pushing prices up.

Speaker 2 (02:07):
Yeah, that's right, because clearly, oil in a simple word,
is one of the key factors here, and we're already
seeing the oil price go up because of the strait
of her moves in Iran are being affected and these
other countries as well, and that will increase global pressure.

(02:31):
And already we're seeing here in the US petrol price
is affected as a consequence, maybe not as dramatically as
some fear, because the US itself has become a massive
oil and gas producer, partly through fracking, to provide some
insulation precisely for this kind of global turbulence. But even

(02:53):
so it is a potential negative, especially for Donald Trump
and Republicans politically going forward to the midterm elections in November.
And so yes, I think there is something in that
theory that, you know, the wider this war goes, the
quicker it might be over because because of those pressures

(03:14):
and because you know, Gulf countries have a motivation to
join the battle against Iran.

Speaker 1 (03:19):
David, appreciate your analysis this morning. David Smith, Washington bureau
chief for The Guardian. For more from Early Edition with
Ryan Bridge, listen live to News Talks.

Speaker 2 (03:28):
It'd be from five am weekdays, or follow the podcast
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