Dubai: The US and Israel’s war against Iran, killing Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and many other leaders, has dragged several countries in the Gulf region into the conflict after Tehran launched severe retaliatory strikes.
As the crisis in the Middle East escalates and intensifies, viewers are turning to geopolitical thrillers to understand the context of the conflict which is rooted in history.
Leading this surge are two television — Apple TV’s ‘Tehran’ and Netflix’s ‘Fauda’.
While ‘Tehran’ has completed three seasons, and already been renewed for a fourth, ‘Fauda’ is awaiting the release of its fifth season.
Those who have already watched every minute of action of the two political-spy thrillers are catching up again to relate to the current conflict. Even those who had heard about the two series but had not got the opportunity to watch these are tuning in to the multiple-episode ‘Tehran’ and ‘Fauda’ across seasons.
So much so that ‘Tehran’ is back on top of Apple TV’s global rankings with its long-delayed new season last month, while ‘Fauda’ continues to attract significant engagement with its previous episodes while the audience awaits the release of season 5 in the first half of 2026.
‘Fauda’ is about undercover Israeli operatives working in the West Bank in Palestine, while ‘Tehran’ centres on a Mossad agent operating inside Iran.