Trump’s War to Nowhere

Trump’s War to Nowhere

From The Intercept Briefing by The Intercept

March 6, 2026 · 36 min · Season 3 · Episode 10

About this episode

Ali Gharib discusses the escalating Israel-U.S. military campaign in Iran and its implications with co-host Jordan Uhl and journalist Séamus Malekafzali.

The Israel–U.S. military campaign in Iran has killed more than 1,000 people since the assault began on February 28. A war powers resolution in the Senate to curb President Donald Trump’s ability to drag the U.S. into the war failed on Wednesday. Similarly, a measure in the House failed on Thursday.  “This war is just a few days old and it's escalating really quickly,” says Ali Gharib, senior editor at The Intercept. “It's becoming a regional conflict,” as Iran retaliates and targets U.S. bases as well as Israel and Gulf energy sites. This week on The Intercept Briefing, Gharib discusses the human and political toll of the Israel–U.S. war on Iran with co-host Jordan Uhl and journalist Séamus Malekafzali , who has been based in Paris and Beirut. “Trump has repeatedly failed to articulate anything — even resembling coherent — about why the U.S. got into this war,” says Gharib. He adds, “Marco Rubio even — who again, not the sharpest tool in the shed, but usually has his shit pretty together — but in this case, he's like changing his tune every two days because he has to keep up with Trump's inanity about what the reasons for the war were.” The end game for Israel here, says…

People in this episode

Host: Jordan Uhl

Guests: Ali Gharib, Séamus Malekafzali

Topics covered

  • U.S. military campaign
  • Iran conflict
  • war powers resolution
  • political commentary
  • human toll of war
  • regional conflict

Keywords

  • Trump
  • war powers
  • Iran
  • Israel
  • U.S. military
  • regional conflict
  • political commentary

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: The Intercept

Places: Iran, Israel, U.S., Paris, Beirut

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