The Economist

The final filmed interview with Sir Alex Younger, the late MI6 chief | The Economist

Sir Alex Younger, the longest-serving head of MI6, died in June 2026, aged 62. He spent 30 years at MI6, Britain’s foreign intelligence service, with six of those as its boss. Few people better understood what intelligence services are capable of—and what can erode them. Shashank Joshi, The Economist’s defence editor, spoke to Sir Alex in March 2026, in one of his final interviews before the former spy chief’s death. They discussed America’s place in the world and the nature of modern spycraft, the conflict with Iran and the health of Iran’s regime and reflected on Sir Alex’s long and distinguished career in British intelligence. #war #iran #america #spy 00:30 Sir Alex’s analysis of the Iran conflict 04:32 Effect of closing the Strait of Hormuz 08:00 The damage to Iran’s nuclear programme 10:23 How strong is the Iranian regime? 15:35 What comes after Iran’s current regime? 17:24 The state of American intelligence 23:00 Espionage in the age of AI 27:00 Analysis of the Gulf countries 33:00 The future of the Middle East region 37:10 The relationship between Europe and America 42:11 How internationalised is the conflict? Watch the full show: https://econ.st/4bL5dpl Sign up to the Insider newsletter: https://econ.st/4nOyzIb Subscribe to The Economist: https://www.economist.com/subscribe Download our app: https://www.economist.com/get-the-app Follow The Economist on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theeconomist/ Follow The Economist on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheEconomist Follow The Economist on X: https://x.com/TheEconomist