US says Iran war could end in ‘weeks’

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1:35This is the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service. I'm Janet Jaleel, and in the early hours of Saturday the 28th of March, these are our main stories. Top US officials say they're hopeful of talks with Iran in the coming days and expect the war in the Middle East to conclude in weeks, not months. The Gulf legend Tiger Woods is charged with driving under the influence after rolling his car in a crash in Florida. The personal email account of the head of the FBI is leaked by Iran-backed hackers. Also in this podcast, what happens if you take life advice from AI? This kind of overly affirming AI had such negative consequences on people's perspectives and judgments.

2:24So we found that it made people more self-centered, less likely to consider other people's perspectives.

2:34Four weeks since they started attacking Iran, the US has carried out more than 10 ,000 strikes on the country and Israel has dropped thousands of bombs on Tehran alone. But their hopes of a swift victory have been dashed as Iran continues to respond with multiple missile and drone attacks on its Gulf neighbours and Israel. Thousands of people have been killed, the majority of them in Iran. The US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told a G7 meeting in France that the war could continue for another two to four weeks. We're going to destroy their factories that make missiles and rockets and drones. We're going to destroy their Navy.

3:13We're going to destroy their Air Force. And we are going to significantly destroy their missile launchers so they can never hide behind these things to get a nuclear weapon. We can achieve. We are achieving all those objectives. We are ahead of schedule on most of them. And we can achieve them without any ground troops, without any. President Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff has said he believes Tehran will hold talks in the days ahead. But given that Iran has successfully blockaded the Strait of Hormuz, causing global oil prices to shoot up and is still carrying out attacks on neighbouring states, I asked our veteran World Affairs editor John Simpson, who has covered many of the major conflicts of the past half century, whether it was in America's gift to choose when this war ends.

3:55It's in President Trump's gift to just make the decision to say we've done absolutely everything we needed. I mean, every time he speaks, he says that they've decimated Iran's capabilities. We can just walk away from this and leave Israel to the hard business of trying to smash Iran and get regime change there. Alternatively, he may judge that that won't be popular enough, that he needs a big victory, that everybody will say Trump did it. And that would mean staying on, bringing in troops, capturing one or more of the islands in the Gulf, Haag Island or one of the smaller islands near the Strait of Hormuz, and occupying that and preventing any single drop of Iran's oil coming out of the country and then try to throttle Iran in that way.

5:00It's his choice. Nobody else is going to make that. I'm sure that Marco Rubio would like to walk out. I don't think he was in favour of this in the first place. But it's not his decision. It's one man and that one man is Donald Trump. And the things that will influence Donald Trump will be the stock market falls that we've seen in recent days, the oil price shooting up and the fact that voters are growing increasingly disenchanted with him ahead of those midterm elections in November. These are all factors he's got to take into account. Do you think that if he was to end the war soon, he could recover in time and get back that support he may have lost?

5:38I don't think so. I don't think so. I think it'll be interpreted. I mean, even Fox News, his favourite news station, is carrying interviews with people who say it's not going well, it's not going to order. So I think there isn't enough time for people not only to go through the price rises, which are absolutely certain to come, but to allow enough time to pass for the prices to come down. And then after that, for people to forget what happened. I mean, we're talking six, seven months. I don't think that's a possibility. And what of Iran? Is it now the military that is in charge, in particular the IRGC, rather than the mullahs or the politicians?

6:28I think really all along, actually, it's been the IRGC that's run things. They make the decisions. The politicians will still front it. That Khalibaf, the speaker of the Majlis in Iran, the parliament, I mean, he seems to be, according to everybody, the person that's doing the talking. and there are others as President Pezheshkin, I mean, who's the elected supposed leader of the country who we don't even hear from. So I'm sure that it's the IRGC that are really running the thing and, you know, if there are talks proper, face-to-face talks, which I actually rather doubt at some stage, then whoever, whichever civilian it is that makes some kind of agreement, if that's possible, which again, I don't think it really is.

7:31The most likely thing I think is that the IRGC, the Revolutionary Guards would just simply say, not acceptable, not acceptable. They don't want a quick deal. They don't want to get out from under. That was, I think, President Trump's big misunderstanding. He thought that the power, the enormous power of American and Israeli force would just simply make everybody come out with their hands up. And that hasn't happened. And that's a mistake that previous US presidents have made in Iraq and Vietnam. In Vietnam in particular, yes, yes. It was Vietnam that the assumption that millions of tons of bombs just make people surrender.

8:17Well, I've seen it with my own eyes. It doesn't happen that way. And Gulf nations are furious with Iran for the attacks that it's carried out on them. But they're also reassessing their relationship with the US. Yes, they must do, because like with Europe, like with Britain, we know now that we can't absolutely 100 % trust the US or whatever presidents in power what he says. And that's as important to the Gulf states as it is to Europe. The BBC's World Affairs editor, John Simpson. The UN says there are no longer any safe spaces for civilians to find refuge in Lebanon, even in the capital, Beirut.

9:02More than a thousand people have been killed in the past four weeks of fighting between Israel and the Iranian-backed group Hezbollah. From the city of Tyre in southern Lebanon, here's our Middle East correspondent, Hugo Bishager. Lebanon is at breaking point, a country that has already suffered so much in recent years, on the verge, the UN says, of a major humanitarian crisis. More than a million people have been forced to flee their homes because of the war. That's nearly one in five of the population. Shelters are overcrowded and many, with nowhere to go, are now living in improvised tents in squares and public spaces.

9:40Dr. Sarah Nader is from Doctors Without Borders. What we have been witnessing now is very concerning, because especially now, the last days we had waves of rain and cold weather. We have witnessed drone strikes also in Beirut itself outside the official red zone. So officially we cannot really speak about a 100 % safe place also within Beirut. 15 % of Lebanon's territory is under evacuation orders issued by the Israeli military, including the entire south, where Israeli troops are pushing ahead with their invasion. The city of Tyre has been a key target of airstrikes. There's the constant sound of Israeli warplanes and drones in the sky.

10:23Streets are empty, as most residents have left, but some are here to stay, like this man, Khaled Ottoman. We can't leave Tyre. Where would we go? There's no alternative. If we leave Tyre, where are we supposed to go? stay in the street. Israel says it is trying to protect its northern communities from Hezbollah attacks. Many Lebanese fear this could mean another Israeli occupation of the south, and that many of the displaced families may never be able to go back home. Hugo Bacheco. The Middle East conflict is being watched closely by Ukraine, which fears it will be forgotten by the world in its long-running battle against Russia's invasion.

11:05But as our diplomatic correspondent Paul Adams explains, the two wars are connected in other ways as well. These two conflicts are very, very much linked because of the military relationship between Iran and Russia. And that is why President Zelensky of Ukraine is in the Middle East at the moment. He's been signing a deal with the Saudis and talking very much about the lessons that Ukraine has learned in tackling the aerial threats from Russia over the past four years. One of the interesting things going on in the Gulf at the moment is that those Gulf states are using extremely expensive methods to shoot down rather inexpensive Iranian drones.

11:48The Ukrainians have learned everything there is to know about that dilemma in the last four years, and they have made do with a whole series of ingenious solutions. And it is those solutions and the experts involved in developing them that President Zelensky has said he is willing to share with the Gulf countries. He obviously would like to get something in return. He would like to make sure, for example, that he doesn't run out of those most expensive interceptor missiles that you just heard Marco Rubio being asked about. And of course, I think he's also keen to show that Ukraine is a reliable partner and can be looked at by other countries in other conflicts as having something to offer.

12:28This is all part of Ukraine wanting to be an ally to the West and to the West's allies. Now, Marco Rubio said that no decisions had yet been taken, but Ukraine was already having enough difficulties getting hold of sufficient interceptor missiles before the war in Iran. And the war in Iran, with the spectacle of the Gulf countries burning off these interceptor missiles at a furious rate, that has raised great fears in Ukraine. And so I think President Zelensky may be somewhat reassured to hear that no additional decisions have been taken that will make it even more difficult for Ukraine. Paul Adams.

13:07It's not just the Ukrainians joining the dots between the war in Iran and Russia's invasion of their country. The head of the German armed forces, General Karsten Breuer, has told the BBC that the threat from Russia has never been more urgent. He's overseeing a rapid expansion of Germany's military might to turn its armed forces into the most powerful conventional ones in Europe, as our special correspondent Alan Nittel reports.

13:39For the first time since the Nazi era, Germany has a permanent military presence in Lithuania.

13:49This is a NATO live fire exercise, and these German troops are wargaming a Russian invasion from the east on the Great European Plain. From the Baltic Sea in the west to the walls of the Kremlin in the east, there are few natural defensive barriers, no mountain ranges or deep river valleys. This terrain is extremely vulnerable to invasion. I'm standing a few Two kilometres from Lithuania's border with Belarus, the very eastern edge of democratic Europe, in front of a column of German armoured personnel carriers known as boxers. Nothing illustrates the transformation of Germany's reputation and place in Europe more graphically than this German military build-up on territory outside Germany.

14:33For generations, Germany's neighbours had good reason to fear German militarism. Now they want Germany's strength in defence of European democracy. I've never experienced a situation which is that dangerous, that urgent like it is today. And this is the man who is leading the rapid expansion of German military might. Karsten Breuer is the most senior soldier in the Bundeswehr, the chief of defence. What we are seeing, what we are facing is a threat from Russia. we can clearly see that Russia is building up their military to a strength which is nearly doubling in size from what they had before the war against Ukraine.

15:14But in 2029, there's a possibility for Russia to conduct a major war against a NATO country. And I as a military have to say, OK, we have to be prepared for this. The conference finds that the German people, their entire country occupied, have begun to atone for the terrible crimes... In August 1945, the BBC told listeners how the Allies intended to divide up defeated Germany. Clement Attlee, Harry Truman and Joseph Stalin decided that Germany must be demilitarised and for decades Germany was content to rely on America to guarantee its security. But no longer. Germany's Chancellor Friedrich Merz has said Europe needs to acquire what he called operational independence from the United States.

15:59It is a measure of the breakdown of trust between Donald Trump's United States and many of the European allies. But what would European defence look like without the USA? I think that is a question that many ask, and I think it is the wrong way to think about it. Sophia Besh is a senior researcher at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington. I doubt that we will have one country in Europe that can fill the footsteps of the US. The way that European defence has been organised in recent decades really is around the US. Yes, they were all equal, but the US was very much setting the tone.

16:34It was the capability foundation of European defence. Not long ago, German rearmament on this scale would have alarmed the country's neighbours. Not anymore. For Karsten Breuer, the world has changed. I'm absolutely sure that we can't think in boxes anymore. So it's not the European theatre and the near Middle East and then probably China or the Indo-Pacific area. We have to connect those dots. All those theatres are intertwined or interlinked. And what happens in one theatre has impact on the other theatre as well. When NATO was founded, it was said that its purpose was to keep the Americans in, the Russians out and the Germans down.

17:18That era is over. Eight decades after Germany's humiliation, the country is back, re-armed and at the heart of Europe's new power map. That report by Alan Nittel. Still to come in this podcast... Now it is 99 % the old ski jumper in the world. This is easier to count the jumpers who didn't jump with our equipment. This is only two Germans. The specialist equipment firm helping Slovenia ski jumpers to dominate the sport.

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18:54Not culture or business, culture and business. Puerto Rico. It's not what's next, it's where. Visit investpr.org forward slash business. choiceology an original podcast from charles schwab is a show about the psychology and economics behind our decisions join host katie milkman an award-winning behavioral scientist and author of the best-selling book how to change as she shares true stories from nobel laureates authors athletes and everyday people about why we make the choices we do and how to make better ones to help avoid costly mistakes listen to choiceology at schwab.com slash podcast or wherever you listen You're not at the office.

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20:11This is the Global News Podcast. The US golf legend Tiger Woods has been arrested and charged with driving under the influence after being involved in a car crash. The 15-time golf major winner was taken into custody after he rolled over his car while trying to overtake a truck. Nedda Torfik is following the story. This all took place just before 2 p.m. in the afternoon on a narrow road near Tiger Woods' Jupiter home in Florida. And police say that if oncoming traffic had been there, that this would have been far more dangerous. Luckily, there were no injuries. Take a listen to how the sheriff described the incident.

20:54The pressure cleaner truck, truck pulling a trailer, a small trailer, was northbound on South Beach Road. and was pulling kind of to turn into a driveway. It was slowing down, starting to turn into a driveway. And the driver of that vehicle looked in his mirror and saw a Land Rover, a dark-colored Land Rover, overtaking him at high speeds, and I don't know those speeds. As he was trying to move to the side of the road, the Land Rover overtook him at the last minute, swerved to avoid a collision, but clipped the back end of the trailer of the pressure cleaner apparatus, listed to the side and then rolled on the driver's door.

21:34The individual driving that Land Rover was able to crawl out the passenger door of the car and was identified to be Mr. Tiger Woods. Mr. Woods did exemplify signs of impairment. They did several tests on him. Of course, he did explain the injuries and the surgeries that he had. We did take that into account. But they did do some in-depth roadside tests. and when it was determined he was placed under arrest and taken to the Martin County Jail. But when it came time for us to ask for a urinalysis test, he refused and so he's been charged with DUI with property damage and refusal to submit to a lawful test.

22:13Under Florida law, Tiger Woods will have to remain in jail for at least eight hours before he can be released on bond. He will later, of course, get a chance to defend himself against those misdemeanor charges and is considered innocent until he does so. But anybody who knows the story of Tiger Woods knows that this golf legend has had to deal with these very public incidents of past car accidents and very painful back surgeries. There, the sheriff alluding to some of those. Back in 2021 in Los Angeles, after a high-speed crash, Tiger Woods underwent numerous surgeries to his leg and ankle And his first time being charged with driving under the influence was a few years before that, in 2017.

22:59Then toxicology reports found numerous substances in his system, and he ended up pleading guilty to driving recklessly and undergoing some addiction treatment. Another instance very publicly playing out for Tiger Woods. the sheriff there saying that he appeared lethargic, he appeared impaired. But beyond that, we have to wait to see how this will turn out for the star who had just returned back into the competitive circuit just a few days ago. Neddatorfik. US officials say the personal email account of the FBI chief Kash Patel has been compromised. A hacker group linked to Iran has claimed responsibility for the breach, publishing photos of Mr Patel and also work correspondence.

23:48A US government official said the material appeared to be authentic. In a statement, an FBI spokesman said malicious actors targeted Kash Patel's personal email. The US has offered a reward of$10 million for information about the hackers. Our cyber correspondent Joe Tardy spoke to my colleague Andrew Peach. There's an Iranian-linked hacktivist group called Handala, and this morning they started posting on their Telegram cryptic clues about some sort of hack they've carried out. They said, hello, FBI. Then they said, hello, Kash Patel, with a picture of him. And then they posted a gallery of nine images of him in some sort of personal capacity.

24:28Some of them look like holiday pictures, things like him doing selfies, pulling funny faces, sniffing cigars, and also a CV of his as well. They offered a download link to what they are claiming are hundreds of his personal emails because they say they've hacked his personal email account. And on their website, the Handala Group have said, today, once again, the world witnessed the collapse of America's so-called security legends. They carry on and they say, Kash Patel, the current head of the FBI, who once saw his name displayed with pride on the agency's headquarters, will now find his name among the list of successfully hacked victims.

25:02The so-called impenetrable systems of the FBI were brought to their knees within hours by our team. All personal and confidential information of Kash Patel, including emails, conversations, documents, and even classified files is now available for public download. But they're overstating it a little bit there because it looks like this was an attack and a successful hack of his personal email account, possibly his Gmail. the FBI have come out and said this was not a successful breach of their own systems and that the emails are, although genuine, they say that they are old and that there's no potentially classified information in there.

25:38But don't get me wrong, this is a very significant breach of a public figure in the US and a major victory for this activist group. I was going to say, if they want to play it down and say it's not that important, why are they offering such a huge reward? Well, yeah, well, the reward actually came last week when they put up a$10 million reward for any information that would lead to the arrest of the Handala Group or members of the Handala Group. But that was based upon different activity. This group has been around for a long time, at least a couple of years, and they usually hack the US and Israel.

26:08And recently, since the conflict began, there have been real fears in the cybersecurity world that we will see some sort of a retaliation from groups like Handala. And last week, or actually the week before that, they managed to carry out what we call a wiper attack against the US medical company, which was extremely devastating and disruptive to that company, brought down potentially tens of thousands of computers were wiped, which is a bit of a kind of speciality of Iranian hackers. But generally speaking, though, we haven't seen a lot of activity from that area of the kind of the conflict, the cyber war.