Unscripted

This Special Edition of the Unscripted looks at the war scenario with the Israeli regime.

Today’s interview is with the editor-in-chief of The Grayzone, Max Blumenthal. He is an award-winning journalist and the author of several books, including the best-selling Republican Gomorrah, Goliath, The Fifty-One-Day War, and The Management of Savagery. He has produced print articles for an array of publications, many video reports, and several documentaries, including Killing Gaza. Blumenthal founded The Grayzone in 2015 to shine a journalistic light on America's state of perpetual war and its dangerous domestic repercussions.

It's called the Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC). It has launched the Madleen, a civilian ship now sailing toward Gaza carrying humanitarian aid and international human rights defenders in direct defiance of Israel's illegal and genocidal blockade. Madleen symbolizes the unyielding spirit of Palestinian resilience and the growing global resistance to Israel's use of collective punishment and deliberate starvation policies. Yasemin Acar is a Human Rights activist and organizer of the Freedom Flotilla, and she joins us in this edition of Unscripted.

Our featured guest for today's program is Alastair Crooke. Alastair Crooke is a former British diplomat, and is the founder and director of the Beirut-based Conflicts Forum, an organization that advocates for engagement between Islam and the West. Amongst his other career highlights, he was a former advisor on West Asia issues to Javier Solana, the former EU Foreign Policy Chief. He also has extensive experience with resistance movements like Hamas and Hezbollah. Crooke has said that Imam Khomeini was an Islamic cleric, a philosopher and a poet of high standing: pursuing what is often a private and personal voyage of inner intellectualism. He somehow, incredibly, in the words of Jaques Berques, took in hand his people; gave them healing, authenticity and a solution to their crisis. He gathered up a tradition and forged a new equilibrium: one which would offer renewal through a grand "sewing together" of dispersed parts, making the present "an organic whole", not some mere syncretic assembly of parts. The tradition, on which he drew, was of Mulla Sadra, Ibn Arabi, Mir Damad's. This interview also covers Imam Khomeini negative view of the Israeli regime, like when he said "Neither our problems nor the Palestine issue would not be resolved unless we follow Islam to resolve our problems". Nations must separate themselves from actions of states. Why does Israel rule those countries that have every resources and power? The reason is the division among Islamic nations and they just simply look at Israel's crimes against Lebanon and Palestine.

In today’s program, we have the pleasure of having Osama Hamdan, a member of the Hamas politburo, a senior leader of the Palestinian resistance movement. The Palestinian resistance movement says the war will not end as the Israeli enemy had envisioned. Osama Hamdan, who is Hamas’ representative in Lebanon and also a member of the group’s politburo, said the conclusion of this confrontation will be in favor of the resistance.

Our guest for this edition of the program is Ambassador H.E. Muhammad Mudassir Tipu, Ambassador to Iran since October 2023. He has also served as Additional Secretary and Director General (Americas) and Director General (China) at the Foreign Ministry between 2019 and 2023. The 2025 India-Pakistan conflict was a brief armed conflict between India and Pakistan that began on 7 May 2025, after India launched missile strikes on Pakistan. India said that the operation was in response to the Pahalgam attack in Jammu and Kashmir on 22 April 2025, in which 26 civilians were killed. Pakistan thanked Iran for the de-escalation efforts during the standoff with India. Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif specifically praised Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi for his timely diplomatic engagement. In a candid interview with the Pakistani ambassador to Iran, Ambassador H.E. Muhammad Mudassir Tipu, said Pakistan is open to negotiations with India in order to prevent any further tensions, but Pakistan stands ready to defend its territorial integrity.

Our featured guest for today's program is Alastair Crooke, a former British diplomat, and the founder and director of the Beirut-based Conflicts Forum, an organization that advocates for engagement between Islam and the West. Among his other career highlights, he was a former advisor on Middle East issues to Javier Solana, the former EU Foreign Policy Chief. He also has extensive experience with resistance movements like Hamas and Hezbollah.

Our featured guest today really doesn't need an introduction. He has been a fixture on the political side of things for decades. He hails from Scotland, a British politician, broadcaster, and writer. He has been leader of the Workers' Party of Britain since he founded it in 2019, and is a former leader of the Respect Party. Until 2003, he was a member of the Labour Party, and he was passionate about the Palestinian cause. He is also a presenter for the program Have it Out with Galloway.

Our featured guest for this edition of the program is Glenn Diesen, a Norwegian political scientist, analyst, and author. He is a professor at the University of South-Eastern Norway. His research is focused on geo-economics, conservatism, Russian foreign policy & Greater Eurasia.

In today's program, we have the pleasure of having the honorable Cong Peiwu, a Chinese diplomat who is currently serving as Chinese Ambassador to Iran since 2024. Previously, Cong Peiwu served as China's Ambassador to Canada and has held several positions within the Department of North American and Oceanian Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China, including director-general. We figured this would be a great time to have been due to US aggressive tariff and trade war, along with China's position on different worldly matters.