The World podcast: Richard Engel and Yalda Hakim discuss how the new US president will handle war in Middle East

Sky News and NBC News are jointly launching a new podcast on global affairs – and the first episode is out now, with a focus on how America’s next president might affect the crisis in the Middle East.

Sky News’ lead world news presenter Yalda Hakim and NBC News’ chief foreign correspondent Richard Engel have teamed up to share their experiences from the frontline in a new podcast that will be available every Wednesday wherever you get your podcasts.

On The World With Richard Engel And Yalda Hakim, the pair will debrief from global flashpoints and discuss their encounters with the biggest decision makers.

They’ll also be joined by some of those key players to help make sense of world events.

👉 Click here to listen to The World With Richard Engel And Yalda Hakim wherever you get your podcasts 👈

With the US election on 5 November less than a month away, the pair discuss how a potential Kamala Harris administration will handle rising tensions between Israel and Iran’s proxies and, crucially, how this will differ from a potential Donald Trump administration.

But they also discuss how the ongoing Middle East turmoil might impact the American race – especially if Israel strikes Iran’s oil industry before the vote.

“I think that if Kamala Harris wins this election, it will be a continuation as far as Benjamin Netanyahu is concerned of how he has behaved under the Biden administration,” Hakim says.

She adds: “We’re still unclear of exactly what her policies are, what she stands for. She seems to be very thin on explaining exactly who and what she is and what her administration would look like.

“If Donald Trump gets re-elected… some people say the situation could get worse on the ground. [But] I’m not sure because Trump is so incredibly unpredictable. Last time, he left his adversaries and America’s allies guessing constantly.”

“It is unnerving,” Hakim adds.

She says: “I’ve had people who say to me, ‘If Donald Trump gets re-elected, we’re screwed. If Kamala Harris gets re-elected, we’re screwed.'”

Engel says that whatever the outcome of the election, there will be “turmoil in the US between the election and inauguration” – which is scheduled for Monday 20 January.

“If [Trump] wins he’ll start governing right away because that is his style,” he says.

“Let’s say he wins on 6 November. The 7 November is clear, and then he starts making policy.

“He has been saying the Ukrainians don’t need any more weapons, that they’ve had enough and they should have a peace deal. Or in Gaza, he is signalling how he wants that to end – that’s not policy at this stage.

“If she wins, it’s already clear that it’s very likely going to be a contested result in the courts. I’m estimating that there’s going to be a vacuum of power, some sort of chaos at the very least until inauguration, if not beyond.”

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One thing that will have a “huge impact” on the US election, according to Engel, is if Israel launches retaliatory strikes against Iran – and hits the country’s oil industry.

Engel says: “Suddenly gas prices are up. That’s not good for for Harris. It helps Trump. He can say, ‘Look at the chaos here. I would fix all of this.’

“So there are real consequences of what might happen [after] an Israeli reprisal.”

Agreeing, Hakim adds: “There will be some in the US who think, ‘Yeah, go in, smash Iran’… but that feels very much like a very simplistic, naïve approach to resolving what feels so deep and unresolvable at this moment.”

Listen below to a short introductory episode of The World podcast – then check out episode one wherever you get your podcasts, or at the top of this article.

Also on Wednesday’s episode, the pair discuss the anniversary of the 7 October attacks and ask whether there is a way out of further escalation in the region.

Episodes of The World with Richard Engel and Yalda Hakim will be available every Wednesday on all podcast platforms.

Listeners can submit questions to the podcast by emailing theworld@sky.uk.