Morning briefing Monday 9th March

0:00This episode of the Times Radio News Briefing is sponsored by PwCWC. Staying competitive means getting ahead, not just keeping up. So how do business leaders cut through the noise and focus on what really matters? PwC takes you further with tech, from optimising the systems that put your data to work, to scaling AI from proof of concept to competitive edge. PwC helps you meet tomorrow's tech demands, so you can compete at a speed that rewrites the rules. Discover more at pwc.co.uk This is the Times morning briefing on Monday 9th March. Iranian state media have announced Majd Abar Khamenei as the new supreme leader.

0:42The appointment sends a message of defiance to President Trump, who's called him an unacceptable choice. Ross Harrison is a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute. He's seen as a continuity candidate, but given where Iran is at this moment, we really don't know whether he will follow the policies of his father and it'll be sort of an extension of the past, or whether he will strike out in the new direction. That is something that he has to work out over time with the Revolutionary Guards and so forth. And it's not clear. So I'd be careful about characterizing him as a continuity candidate because, yes, it signifies continuity in terms of heredity, but beyond that, we're not sure.

1:21Professor Eric Lobb is from the Department of Politics and International Relations at Florida International University. Tell Times Radio more about Mojtabar Khamenei. Religiously, he's a mid-ranking cleric. like his father, so not very high up in the Shia religious establishment. But they set a precedent with his father when they elevated his father. And politically, while he hasn't held a political position publicly, since at least 2009 with the Green Movement protests, he's been working very closely with the IRGC and with the paramilitary force Basij to repress protesters and to maintain the regime in place.

2:02So Keir Starmer and Donald Trump have spoken for the first time since the US president criticised the Prime Minister's response to the Iran conflict. Number 10 said the two leaders discussed the situation in the Middle East and military cooperation between the UK and US. Helen Maguire is Lib Dem MP for Epsom and Yule. I think we need to see President Trump quite frankly respecting that relationship, first of all, and he's not doing that in the way that he's treating our Prime Minister on social media, particularly at a time when we know that the main reason they want to use RAF Fairford for their B-52 bombers is because it has got the only runway that's long enough to take them in Europe, you know.

2:39So on the one hand, he wants to use the facilities, and on the second hand, he's sort of criticising us on social media. So, you know, he's got to play fairly here. And at the moment, I think he's just behaving like a petulant teenager. In the Iranian capital, a warning has been issued about acid rain. The Iranian Red Crescent said explosions at an oil depot released into the air significant quantities of toxic hydrocarbon compounds, sulphur and nitrogen oxides. Iran's environmental authorities have urged Iranians to remain indoors to avoid respiratory problems. In sport, League One's bottom team, Port Vale, have shocked Sunderland with a 1-0 win in the FA Cup fifth round.

3:18They joined the championship side Southampton in the quarter-finals. They beat Fulham by the same score. and Celtic have knocked Rangers out of the Scottish Cup with a 4-2 win on penalties. There's more on these stories throughout the day on Times Radio.

3:38This episode of the Times Radio News Briefing is sponsored by PwC. AI is everywhere. In the news, in our hands, but return on investment, not so much. So how do you get beyond the hype and deliver AI that powers reinvention and growth across your business? Strong foundations unlock AI's potential. That's why PwC takes you further with tech, strengthening the data quality, processes and workflows that shape how well AI performs. PwC turns innovation into implementation so you can accelerate from experiment to scale. Discover more at pwc.co.uk.