BT Live: Saudi Arabia Joins Iran War | FBI’s ‘Minority Report’ AI Plan | Europe Wildfires

BT Live! Join hosts Rania Khalek and Zoe Alexandra and special guests twice weekly for the breaking news that matters and the sharp left, anti-imperialist analysis you need to keep fighting. 

Saudi Arabia just signed a landmark nuclear deal with Trump — and days later, joined US airstrikes on Iran-backed militias in Iraq. Professor Mohammad Marandi, an expert on American studies at the University of Tehran, joins to break down the latest “doom loop” escalation. After years of hedging carefully between Washington and Tehran – and with Yemen’s Houthis already blockading Saudi ports – is Riyadh’s fragile balancing act finally over? 

The FBI wants AI-powered “pre-crime” policing — a real-life Minority Report — to expand its Terrorist Screening Center’s watch lists, as the Trump administration tries to redefine dissent as domestic terrorism. Deeper States investigative reporter Daniel Boguslaw broke the story in Reason on Tuesday; he joins BT Live to talk Trump terror, NSPM-7, and to unpack what a predictive artificial intelligence system would mean for the Bureau’s growing terrorism watch lists – and the millions of Americans who could end up on the FBI’s radar because of their politics.

As wildfires rage across France, Spain and Italy in a record-breaking European heatwave, firefighters are struggling to contain blazes fueled by climate change and extreme weather. But the disaster isn’t just the result of the climate crisis: years of EU austerity, budget cuts, and reductions in firefighter staffing have severely weakened Europe’s ability to respond. BT’s Ana Vračar joins the show to discuss how climate change and neoliberal austerity are colliding to intensify deadly wildfires across Southern Europe as hundreds of thousands of people are forced to flee. 

Thursday, July 30 | 12 PM ET / 9 AM PT