When news breaks that dominates the agenda to the extent of the US-Israeli attack on Iran, one challenge for the Guardian Weekly team is how to keep the magazine’s covers feeling fresh, week after week, while remaining focused on the same story.
For this week’s edition, in response to Patrick Wintour’s must-read essay on how the US has ignored the lessons of two previous Gulf wars, we asked illustrator Doug Chayka to play with the idea of a Middle East that the US either cannot, or refuses to, see. Doug’s artwork neatly captures the dilemma of a Trump administration that now finds its Iran exit strategy – assuming there was one – cut off by chaos.
Inside the magazine you’ll find more great writing and reporting from the likes of Patrick (again) on Mojtaba Khamenei, Iran’s new supreme leader; Deepa Parent on the reaction of people inside Iran; David Smith on America’s bombastic “secretary of war” Pete Hegseth; and Nesrine Malik on how the conflict has already upended the Middle East. There’s also a highly moving opinion piece from an anonymous Iranian writer on the horror and precariousness of life in Tehran right now.
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Five essential reads in this week’s edition
Spotlight | War losses mount in rural Russia
Residents of a remote village in Komi Republic say dozens have left to fight in Ukraine, leaving behind grieving families and labour shortages. Pjotr Sauer reports
Science | Is the passion for taxonomy in danger of dying out?
Insect taxonomist Art Borkent fears his field of science is fading, despite millions of insects, fungi and other organisms waiting to be discovered, he tells Patrick Greenfield
Feature | The miraculous survival of Nada Itrab
After a nine-year-old girl was kidnapped and taken from Spain to Bolivia, authorities feared the worst. They found her in the rainforest nine months later – but that wasn’t the end of her ordeal. Giles Tremlett picks up the story
Opinion | In this war, Britain’s enemy now is Donald Trump
As the Iran disaster escalates, Simon Tisdall argues that Starmer should treat the US president as someone whose actions threaten the lawful, democratic way of life everywhere
Interview | Corinne Bailey Rae
The English singer and songwriter was riding high with a hit album when her husband died tragically young. She discusses grief, fame and rebuilding her life with Simon Hattenstone
What else we’ve been reading
Jack White sparked a minor storm when comments from this interview with Dorian Lynskey were taken out of context. Their conversation, to mark the publication of a book of White’s lyrics and poetry, gives a fascinating insight into his creative process, the themes he repeatedly returns to and why he’s not keen on writing autobiographical songs. Clare Horton, assistant editor
Louis Theroux’s faux-naive yet needle-sharp interviewing style has been the key to a string of successful TV documentaries and podcasts. But when the direction of the voice recorder was reversed, why did Charlotte Edwardes find the master interrogator to be such a tetchy and reluctant subject? Graham Snowdon, editor
Other highlights from the Guardian website
Audio | Who really took one of history’s most famous pictures?
Video | Is regime change in Iran a possibility?
Gallery | Hair apparent: inside the transplant capital of the world – photo essay
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