About this episode

This episode discusses the recent shifts in US-Iran relations, including Trump's contradictory statements and the implications of economic warfare.

In the past few days, Donald Trump went from threatening to obliterate Iran's power plants to announcing a surprise diplomatic reprieve and declaring that the war has been won. This episode breaks down the whiplash: what actually happened, whether the talks are real, why an agreement between the US and Iran will be extraordinarily hard to reach, and why $580 million worth of energy trades just minutes before Trump's announcement reek of insider trading and corruption. Ben and Tommy also cover: the US allowing Iran to sell $14 billion worth of oil, Iran firing missiles at a joint US-UK military base, Israel's creeping occupation of southern Lebanon, signs that Trump is actually harming far-right parties in Europe, and how a workout app put a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier at risk. Then Tommy talks with Edward Fishman, the author of Chokepoints: American Power in the Age of Economic Warfare , about the ballooning economic cost of war with Iran and how it’s revealing America’s economic vulnerabilities. For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here . For a transcript of this episode, please email transcripts@crooked.com and include the name of the podcast. Preorder…

People in this episode

Hosts: Ben, Tommy

Guest: Edward Fishman

Topics covered

• US-Iran relations
• diplomacy
• economic warfare
• political analysis
• military actions
• corruption

Keywords

• Trump
• Iran
• diplomatic talks
• economic vulnerabilities
• military base
• insider trading
• oil sales
• corruption

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Iran, US, UK, Israel

Books & works: Chokepoints: American Power in the Age of Economic Warfare, All We Say: The Battle for American Identity: A History in 15 Speeches

More episodes of Pod Save the World

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• JD Vance’s Global Humiliation · April 15, 2026 · 1h 38m
• Trump Threatens Genocide · April 8, 2026 · 1h 31m
• Trump Begs Allies to Clean Up Iran Mess · April 1, 2026 · 1h 42m
• MAGA’s Iran War Meltdown (and Micropenis) · March 18, 2026 · 1h 52m
• Why Trump Might Send Ground Troops to Iran · March 11, 2026 · 1h 49m

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