Top Podcasts on Trump and Iran Tensions

“Iran was clearly prepared for this and they still control the Strait of Hormuz. So they're like, okay, well, you posted Donald Trump that you agreed to our framework. We've made it public and very clear what our negotiating framework is. But if ultimately you don't want to abide by the terms, That's fine. I mean, we control the Strait of Hormuz and we're not going to let any tankers through.”

“France blocked a United Nations resolution that would call for the invasion of the Strait of Hormuz. Also, French President Emmanuel Macron has denied Donald Trump use of French airspace and of any military base in France, joining Spain and Switzerland and Austria and Italy and many other countries denying Donald Trump access to airspace and military bases as Donald Trump rants and raves like a lunatic.”

“Iran firmly controls the Strait of Hormuz with an iron fist. And of course, Iranian leaders are saying that they're getting ready to tell the Houthis to basically shut down the Red Sea and give them the command there, shut down the Strait there, which would send oil prices up to, what, $175, $200 a barrel. But Iran's been targeting its Arab nation neighbors with American interests in it, countries that support the U.S., where the U.S. is launching military strikes against Iran from, like, Kuwait.”

“Iran is reportedly charging vessels for, quote, safe passage through the strait, and the regime is preparing legislation to make that the new standard... As you might suspect, this concept of extorting ships for safe passage through a waterway runs counter to international law. Under international maritime law, the Strait of Hormuz is classified as a transit passage, which means ships have the right to move through it freely, without interference, without obstruction, and without paying fees.”

“The latest example, the Strait of Hormuz, where roughly 20 percent of the world's oil supply normally flows before Iran effectively shut it down because of this war, causing the price of oil to surge. As we told you, President Trump on Monday on Truth Social threatened to blow up Iran's energy plants and desalinization plants if the strait was not, quote, open for business. And here's what Secretary of State Marco Rubio told Al Jazeera yesterday. Watch. Well, the Straits of Hormuz will be open when this operation is over.”

“Now, the head of Iran's parliament, MB Galibaf, he's out there mocking Donald Trump every single day in response to a social media post by Kwaya M. Asif, who says, the goal of the war seems to have shifted to opening the Strait of Hormuz, which was open before the war, to which Iran's parliament leader, M.B. Galibov, mocks Donald Trump in the United States and says, they're playing 60 chess again with clapping emojis.”

“In the current status quo, Iran has full control over the world's most important energy waterway, but it's not keeping a strait entirely closed. It is allowing its own ships to go through, as well as ships from several countries like China and India, who have to cough up a toll. One estimate from Frontier Investments suggests Iran is making 150 million bucks a month from those tolls, a huge financial lifeline.”

“The Strait of Hormuz, which was free and open despite many threats through 47 years of U.S.-Iran tensions, is now blocked by the new leadership, whom Trump terms much more reasonable. President Trump says that after a few more bombing runs, the strait will open naturally because Iran will want to export its own oil. This misreads the situation. The strait is not closed. It is open to Iranian oil, which is flowing freely, especially to China.”

“We're not expecting it to basically ever reopen to traffic as usual by the end of the war. After this thing ends, one of the immediate challenges we're going to face is an Iran that may decide that they want to set up a tolling system in the Strait of Hormuz. Yeah, we know that, Marco Rubio. They're doing that already right now. Before this disastrous and catastrophic war started, they weren't controlling the Strait of Hormuz like that.”

“President Trump is once again threatening to strike Iran's energy grid and water supply, while simultaneously touting the status of diplomatic talks with Tehran to end the war... President Trump posting on social media that the U.S. is in, quote, serious discussions with Iran, but warning that if a deal is not reached soon... the U.S. will blow up and completely obliterate Iran's civilian energy and water infrastructure.”

“They did not plan for Iran to be able to close the Strait of Hormuz, even though that was obviously something they were going to try to do. It's something that Iran has basically been threatening to do for 40 years or more. They have not been able to open the Strait of Hormuz to the satisfaction of the oil shipping companies and their insurers.”

“Trump is definitely boasting of something that he thinks the public wants or something that's going to perhaps help him or something that he wants, trying to project this into reality when there are really serious questions about whether any of this or much of this is really, you know, fact yet. Well, Trump has long adhered to the power of positive thinking, and in many cases it has paid off for him. But there are very real tangible impacts that this war has had in the United States on things like gas prices.”

“Donald Trump is out there lying. He told the Wall Street Journal on Sunday that he's heard from all of these nations and they're forming a coalition with him to head into the Strait of Hormuz... That is not happening. To the contrary, you're having nation after nation, call out Donald Trump and rebuke him. Shall we go through one by one right now? Australia announces we will not be sending naval ships to assist reopening the Strait of Hormuz.”

“Donald Trump started posting additional threats, saying that he was going to now start a blockade of the Persian Gulf generally, and that the ultimate trump card is using the USS Gerald Ford to run a blockade of Iran. So what happens when an Indian flag tanker shows up to the Strait of Hormuz and you have your blockade? You're going to interdict it. You're going to blow up the Indian tanker.”

“My view is that a diplomatic off-ramp doesn't have to be a formal agreement between the two sides. It could be something a little more informal, a little more implicit. And I think that the president and his team should be looking for that because they should be trying to bring this war to an end. And I believe the strait could be reopened on the back of that.”

“NPR is reporting that cracks are forming inside the United States military driven by low morale, ethical unease and a growing number of service members choosing to retire early, declining to reenlist or walking away from their contracts, regardless of the consequences. The GI rights hotline has seen call volume more than double since the Iran war began. The majority of callers are asking about conscientious objecting.”

“Iran launched a successful ballistic missile strike against a U.S. military base in Riyadh. At least 12 U.S. soldiers were injured, two very seriously injured... The economic costs of this war are absolutely catastrophic. Billions of dollars being spent each day, while trillions of dollars have been lost here in the markets. People are not able to afford gasoline in the United States. Inflation is surging and the earth is absolute economic calamity right now.”

“The German defense minister is saying Germany will not participate with its military in securing the Strait of Hormuz. UK's Prime Minister, Kierre Starmer, we will not be drawn into the wider Iran war. Opening the Strait of Hormuz is not some simple task. When the fighting stops, we will need some sort of negotiated agreement with Iran is what the UK is saying. And we need to negotiate with Iran.”

“Iran is powerful because of its geography and that's true for all countries geography is the single most important fact of a country where are you on the globe and what does that mean and in Iran's case its power is inherent because it is on the other side the northern side of the Strait of Hormuz so if you want the global economy to function...you have to be able to get through that strait and Iran is in charge of that decision.”

“Iran has cut off all diplomatic and back-channel contact with the U.S. state media. Okay, again, not a great idea. Iran has closed all diplomatic and indirect channels of communications with the United States. The state-run Tehran Times reported on Tuesday, any and all messages exchanges have also been suspended. Okay, well, that's fine. Just wait for the booming.”

“Donald Trump is crashing out as his ceasefire is collapsing and Iran is celebrating their victory over Trump and his regime... The U.S. is pushing its allies to move quickly on securing the Strait of Hormuz after the ceasefire. And Donald Trump has asked, or I should say, begged European countries to present concrete plans within days for what to do with the Strait of Hormuz.”

“Iran must have sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz and Trump cannot have that. Why? Why can't he have that? That's what I don't understand. Why can't we go back to the way things were previously? So you remember our debt as a country, Ryan? Yeah. It's really big. Yeah. Ever since we've gotten into the war, yields have gotten higher, which means our debt payments are going up.”

“Iran continues to mock Donald Trump, his regime, and the United States. Never before has the United States been weaker. Also, Iran is tightening control over the Strait of Hormuz, forcing ships to share detailed data, reroute into the waters, and sometimes pay for passage, creating what analysts call a toll booth system, the AP is reporting. And Scott McFarlane...has interviewed numerous people on the Hill who say it's a bad effing idea, a terrible effing idea.”

“As Saudi Arabia, the UAE and others see utter weakness in Donald Trump and his regime, they're trying to basically break Donald Trump's ceasefire because they're saying you basically surrendered to Iran and you've made Iran into a world power right now. And you've left all of our countries vulnerable. What the hell did we give you all these pay for play and quid pro quo schemes for?”

“Iran knows that by driving up prices in America, it can severely wound the Trump presidency. You realize when Democrats take the House, Donald Trump is going to be impeached. It's a guarantee. Write it down. Take it home to the bank. Iran has the power to impeach Donald Trump by refusing negotiations. And Iran knows it.”

“"We haven't needed it, and we don't need it. We've beaten and completely decimated Iran. We are decimated, both militarily and economically and every other way. And the countries of the world that do receive oil through the Hormuz Strait It must take care of... Wow, this is kind of strange to see Donald Trump weaning the EU off the teat of the United States of America, you know?"”

“This morning, the president issued a threat to the entire population of Iran saying, quote, A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again if Iran did not meet his latest deadline to reopen the Strait of Hormuz by 8 p.m. tonight. Now, most of the world treated a threat to wipe out an entire civilization with the horror and the disgust that something like that deserves.”

“I have also instructed our Navy to seek and interdict every vessel in international waters that has paid a toll to Iran. No one who pays an illegal toll will have safe passage on the high seas. We will also begin destroying the mines the Iranians laid in the straits. Any Iranian who fires at us or at peaceful vessels will be again in all caps blown to hell.”

“President Trump saying serious talks were underway to resolve the war, but also threatening to attack Iran's electric plants, oil wells, and even water desalinization plants if the Iranians did not soon agree to a deal that includes opening the Strait of Hormuz. Then, late last night, the Wall Street Journal reporting that Mr. Trump has told AIDS he's willing to end the war without reopening Hormuz.”

“The hack is the story here because precisely because of how unsurprising it is. I mean, U.S. officials have been warning about Iran's cyber capabilities for years now. And after the U.S. struck Iran last year, back in June, Trump was repeatedly warned by his own agencies that one of the primary ways Iran could strike back against the U.S. was through a cyber attack.”

“In Donald Trump's hubristic ceasefire that he thinks he's achieved, he sent two U.S. Navy destroyers to go through the Strait of Hormuz...almost immediately, Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps sent a drone to go threaten these ships, and the risk of even one ship getting blown up in the Strait of Hormuz is absurd. If an oil tanker gets blown up or if a U.S. destroyer gets blown up in the strait, That escalates tensions in the region so much so that we might as well be back on day one of the war and starting from fresh.”

“Iran responded, you do that. We're going after the energy infrastructure and other infrastructure of Arab nations that support the United States of America, to which Donald Trump is now escalating matters. And according to sources in Israel, a ground invasion of Iran appears to be imminent with those marine expeditionary units that are on their way to the Middle East. So let's talk about what's gone down. And we also need to talk about something that's not getting nearly enough attention, that the flow of LNG, liquefied natural gas from the Gulf, is expected to come to an abrupt end in the next 10 days.”

“Donald Trump is panicking as multiple Arab nations that are purportedly allied with the United States are demanding that Donald Trump have U.S. forces engage in a ground invasion of Iran. These Arab nations are saying you can't leave this region unless you obliterate Iran, because if you leave and Iran still controls the Strait of Hormuz... you are going to be leaving all of your purported Arab nation allies being left far more vulnerable.”

“Donald Trump is panicking as his disastrous war in Iran continues to spiral out of control. And now Donald Trump thinks that if he just throws the special forces at the catastrophic problem he created, that that will solve everything. Just send these special forces to go and extract nearly 1,000 pounds of highly enriched uranium. Just put them in a country with 90 million people and see what happens.”

“Global oil markets are currently in turmoil after the Iranian parliament speaker threatened Donald Trump... accusing Trump of secretly trying to wage a war by moving troops to the Middle East... Iran is now earning nearly twice as much from oil sales each day as it did before American and Israeli bombs started falling... the regime is winning the energy war and waging asymmetric warfare against the United States, therefore choking global oil markets.”

“The one thing I would say about the current state of negotiations, which I think is important, is both the United States and Iran have put out demands that are wildly unrealistic... But in the context of the JCPOA, much of the conversation was conducted with other countries in the room. And in this case, now we see China and Pakistan trying to insert themselves into the diplomacy.”