{"podcast":{"title":"Middle East Focus","slug":"middle-east-focus-529488","podcast_index_feed_id":529488,"rss_url":"https://middleeastinst.libsyn.com/rss","website_url":"http://www.mei.edu","image_url":"https://static.libsyn.com/p/assets/a/4/a/8/a4a832f884ee9d9116c3140a3186d450/MEF_square-20250424-uf9f282kb1.png","author":"Middle East Institute","episode_count":100,"summary":"Weekly discussion of Middle East policy, arts, and culture, featuring experts from the Middle East Institute in Washington, D.C.","last_synced_at":"2026-09-18T08:19:26.403871+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/middle-east-focus-529488"},"episode":{"title":"Regional Escalation and the Fight Over Hormuz","slug":"regional-escalation-and-the-fight-over-hormuz","published_at":"2026-07-30T15:52:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/middle-east-focus-529488/regional-escalation-and-the-fight-over-hormuz","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/middle-east-focus-529488","url":"https://middleeastinst.libsyn.com/regional-escalation-and-the-fight-over-hormuz","audio_url":"https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/middleeastinst/Middle_East_Focus_7.30.26_mixdown.mp3?dest-id=531685","summary":"As the US-Israel-Iran war enters its sixth month, the conflict has taken a sharp turn. After a brief lull in the fighting, Iran launched a surprise ballistic missile attack on US forces on July 28, and the US and Saudi Arabia struck back at Iran-backed militias in Iraq, marking Riyadh's entry into the war. MEI Senior Fellow Alex Vatanka joins host Alistair Taylor to discuss the escalation, what may come next, and the state of talks over sharing the Strait of Hormuz. Recorded on July 29, 2026.","meta_description":"As the US-Israel-Iran war enters its sixth month, the conflict has taken a sharp turn. After a brief lull in the fighting, Iran launched a surprise ballis…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":2343,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/middle-east-focus-529488/episodes/regional-escalation-and-the-fight-over-hormuz/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/middle-east-focus-529488/regional-escalation-and-the-fight-over-hormuz.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}