90 Seconds to Midnight

Inside Iran: Does it really want to take on the West?

David Patrikarakos speaks to Iran expert Holly Dagres to unpick one of the most complex countries on earth – Iran. The two discuss whether the Islamic Republic really wants to wipe out the West; just how stable it is; and, why its huge Gen Z population may prove to be the most significant factor in long term geopolitics of the Middle East. 

Producer: Max Bower 
Editor: Alex Graham 
Executive Producer: Bella Soames 
Production Manager: Vittoria Cecchini 
Host: David Patrikarakos 


Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Doomsday Clock is the symbolic countdown to human extinction; a universally recognised, annual indicator of the world’s vulnerability to man-made global catastrophe. If the clock strikes midnight, the world will have ended. 
Today, the clock sits as close to midnight as it has ever been – just 90 seconds away. 
And is it any wonder?
Ongoing wars in the Ukraine and Middle East. The continued expansion of nuclear arsenals around the world. The advance of generative AI and its potential for disinformation. The climate crisis. The list of potentially world-ending dangers feels increasingly – and depressingly – long. 
The Doomsday Clock is set annually, but, given the scale of the challenges facing humanity on a daily basis, as of September 5, we will be setting our own version of the clock each week. 
Welcome to 90 Seconds to Midnight: the Daily Mail’s new weekly global news podcast, promising listeners informed analysis, discussion, and on-the-ground reporting about the week’s most influential geopolitical flashpoints. Hosted by the Mail’s Special Correspondent David Patrikarakos, every episode ends with one question: are we closer, or further away, from midnight?