Had You Asked Us, We Would Have Said No

Had You Asked Us, We Would Have Said No

From Cheap Talk by Jeff Kaplow and Marcus Holmes

March 21, 2026 · 1h 1m · Season 6 · Episode 20

About this episode

The episode discusses the complexities of the Iran conflict and the U.S. response, including strategic goals and leadership challenges.

Washington’s allergy to the “w”-word in describing the conflict in Iran; the Trump administration seems to have been caught off guard by some aspects of the conflict; what we have learned about the real drivers of the conflict; the extent to which the parties are achieving their strategic goals in the region; leadership assassinations and the quest for stability; calling on allies to help deal with the Strait of Hormuz; speculation about the timeline for an end to the war; and Marcus’ predictions were right, but came ten months late The opinions expressed on this podcast are solely our own and do not reflect the policies or positions of William & Mary. Please subscribe to Cheap Talk on Apple Podcasts , Spotify , or your podcast player of choice to be notified when new episodes are posted. Check out our online store at https://cheaptalk.shop . See all Cheap Talk episodes

People in this episode

Hosts: Marcus Holmes, Jeff Kaplow

Topics covered

  • Iran conflict
  • U.S. foreign policy
  • leadership assassinations
  • strategic goals
  • regional stability
  • military conflict

Keywords

  • Iran
  • Trump administration
  • conflict
  • leadership
  • Strait of Hormuz
  • military
  • stability
  • foreign policy

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: William & Mary, Trump administration

Places: Washington, Iran, Strait of Hormuz

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