Diplomacy abandoned, and the aborted nuclear deal that could have reshaped the Middle East: from the Amanpour Archive this week, my conversations in 2015 with the key players at the center of the landmark nuclear accord.

“Fighting for freedom makes us feel everything deeper, everything more emotionally.” Ukrainian maestro Oksana Lyniv, who leads Metropolitan Opera’s Turandot, tells me how her passion for conducting is shaped by the war in her homeland.

It’s the world’s biggest democratic exercise. Nearly a billion eligible voters in India go to the polls over the course of six weeks, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeks a third term. Will Ripley explains what’s at stake.

“It's a serious misjudgment to say that Russia doesn't matter.” I ask Britain’s ex-spymaster John Sawers if far-right Republicans are falling victim to Putin’s propaganda. “If you're looking at the next decade or two, the real security threat comes from Russia,” he warns.

“There will be plenty of volunteers for Hamas… emerging out of this conflict.” The former head of Britain’s secret intelligence service questions whether Israel’s war on Hamas was a strategic mistake.
#TheAmanpourHour airs 11aET Saturdays on CNN

“This shadow war between Israel and Iran has been going on for a good number of years.”
My intel briefing with Britain’s former spymaster John Sawers on the wider war nobody wants in the Middle East.

On the show this week: Britain’s ex-spy chief on the chain reaction in the Middle East, Putin’s propaganda parrots in Congress, and America’s vital counterweight to China charts its political future.
#TheAmanpourHour airs 11aET Saturdays on CNN

“The thing that's always amazed me is when you try to explore different things, people have a problem with it, and I don't understand it because there's a natural curiosity about music.” Terence Blanchard on Beyoncé’s country takeover and how music can be a unifier.

“I may be the first but I’m not the first qualified… people of color have been singing opera for generations”. Terence Blanchard is the first black composer to bring a piece to the Met in its 138-year history. He tells me 'I don’t want to be a token; I want to be a turnkey.”

“If Russia succeeds in Ukraine, then the whole transatlantic community will not be trusted anymore,” warns Czech President Petr Pavel Petr Pavel. “We are talking about protecting our values – but we are not doing enough to protect them in practice.”

“Journalists have been attacked without… justification. They must at least be afforded protection as they are doing their noble job. They are humans before being journalists.”

Al Jazeera English correspondent Tareq Abu Azzoum has spent over six months reporting from the ground

“We should retaliate in Iran’s soil, but time is not pressuring us… I do not recommend a full scale war with Iran right now. We have still the war objectives to obtain in Gaza.”

Former chief of IDF intelligence תמיר הימן | Tamir Hayman gives his assessment of what Israel should do next.

“Our house is gone. I’ll live in a tent. I just want to go home. If I die, so be it”.

The words of a child in Gaza as he and his family tried to return home to the north.

Jomana Karadsheh Scott reports. Producer: @ssirgany

'I want to see the EU use every lever at its disposal to exert the maximum amount of pressure to bring about a ceasefire,' Ireland's new Taoiseach Simon Harris TD tells Christiane Amanpour.

This involves 'like-minded countries coming together to recognize the state of Palestine,' he says.

'Ireland is extraordinarily clear in its condemnation of Hamas…[& for] the right of Israel…to live in safety & security. But we also believe that reason has now been replaced by revenge'

I spoke with Simon Harris TD, his first TV interview as Taoiseach. Watch our full interview

Elizabeth Tsurkov was kidnapped in 2023 in Iraq, reportedly held by Kataib Hezbollah. Her sister says Iraq’s PM holds the key to her release. “The govt is…committed to disclose the fate of that hostage” he tells me. “We will hold accountable anyone who engages in such abduction”

Israel says some of Iran’s missiles on Saturday were launched from Iraq -- but Iraq’s prime minister claims it’s unproven: “It was not proven to us through the military reports to us that any missiles or any drones were launched from Iraq,” Iraqi PM محمد شياع السوداني tells me.

“The aggression that took place against the diplomatic consulate in Damascus was a blatant violation to the international law, which pushed Iran to retaliate,” Iraq’s Prime Minister محمد شياع السوداني tells me. “And that’s what we’re working on controlling now.”

“Everyone has to pressure [to stop] the escalation” between Israel & Iran, Iraqi PM محمد شياع السوداني tells me. But he says the war in Gaza is “the origin of the problem”: “The international community… has failed… to maintain the lives of innocent civilians… This is unacceptable.”