Iran: Trump's Forever War?

Summary

Podcast Summary

What A Day

Episode: Iran: Trump's Forever War?
Host: Jane Coaston
Date: July 20, 2026
Guest: Mehdi Hasan, Editor in Chief and CEO of Zateo

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Overview

In this episode, host Jane Coaston is joined by journalist Mehdi Hasan to unpack the spiraling US-Iran conflict under President Trump, five months after the war began. They discuss how the administration’s lack of transparency, blurred motives, and broken campaign promises have led to a senseless, indefinite conflict with no clear end or objective. The conversation situates the war within Trump’s broader approach to governance, media obfuscation, and personal grievances, with reflections on how media and public accountability are being eroded in real time.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Ongoing Lack of Transparency in the Trump Administration

• Mehdi Hasan emphasizes the “fundamental challenge” of covering Trump, who “lies constantly,” making it almost impossible for journalists and the public to discern the facts ([00:00]).
• The administration has cut off traditional media access, replacing them with partisan figures who themselves are kept in the dark, leading to zero meaningful Pentagon briefings for months ([08:31]).
  • Quote: “This is a fundamental challenge with covering Trump: everything he says is a lie, and same with the people around him... it’s very hard to then try and debunk those lies when information is so closely guarded.” – Mehdi Hasan [08:31]

2. Escalation Despite Supposed Ceasefire

• Just over a month after a 14-point Memorandum of Understanding between the US and Iran (that included a formal ceasefire), the conflict has escalated, with nine consecutive days of US-led strikes on Iran ([06:09]).
• Mehdi Hasan analyzes the MOU as a “kicking the can down the road” maneuver, particularly avoiding any real solution to Iran’s nuclear program.
  • Quote: “Many of us told people this MOU is not a peace deal, it’s not a real ceasefire, it hasn’t ended the war, and it’s going to end in tears… With Donald Trump, you don’t lose much money betting on things ending in tears.” – Mehdi Hasan [06:18]

3. War’s Motives Remain Unclear

• The administration has floated over a dozen conflicting justifications for war, from regime change to personal payback, but failed to articulate a concrete end goal (Jane, [05:44]).
• Lack of clarity on both American objectives and what “victory” would look like has fueled a growing sense of endlessness, reminiscent of but “much stupider” than the Iraq War ([10:52]).
  • Quote: “This is like the war in Iraq, only somehow much stupider.” – Jane Coaston [10:52]
  • Quote: “These guys don’t know what’s going on. Donald Trump can’t tell you in a sustained interview… what is actually happening on the ground, where is Bab el-Mandeb or the Strait of Hormuz on a map, or what the actual strategic goal is… It’s insanity of the highest order.” – Mehdi Hasan [11:01]

4. Administration’s Media Manipulation

• The government is under no obligation to release injury or death numbers; Trump officials have exploited these regulatory gray areas to keep the public uninformed ([08:31]).
• Media conventions and reportorial access that once facilitated basic accountability have collapsed.
  • Quote: “I checked just before I came on air: The last time there was a full Pentagon briefing for the media on the war was early May. So it’s been over two months.” – Mehdi Hasan [08:31]

5. Broken Campaign Promises: The Return of the ‘Forever War’

• Trump’s central campaign promises—ending “forever wars” and prioritizing affordability—have been directly contradicted by the conflict in Iran. He and his surrogates (“we will not be going to war”) are now perpetuating exactly what they condemned ([14:50]).
  • Quote: “He pretended to be anti-war in 2016. He then did a first term where he wasn’t anti-war, then pretended to be anti-war again in 2024 and got away with it…the war in Iran has led to a direct increase in gas prices at home, which has screwed his affordability agenda.” – Mehdi Hasan [14:50]
• Jane highlights how Trump is “so good at the advertising part of a campaign, but has no interest in being president.” ([16:36])

6. Personal Vanity and Foreign Policy

• Mehdi links some of Trump's actions to bruised ego, citing Trump’s own admission that his attitude toward peace changed after not receiving the Nobel Peace Prize ([16:50]).
  • Quote: “One of the reasons we are at war is because he didn’t get a Nobel Peace Prize. And he said this himself…he literally said on the record a few months ago that ‘I used to care about peace, but they didn’t give me a Peace Prize. So now I don’t care.’” – Mehdi Hasan [17:00]

7. Stalemate with No End in Sight

• Iran’s strategy: they don’t need to “win”—just not lose. And the US government lacks a realistic or rational definition of victory ([18:11]).
  • Quote: “If they open the Strait of Hormuz, they’re going to call that a win. And the rest of us should not allow them to call that a win... you can’t just cause all this chaos… kill several thousand Iranians, lose multiple American lives… and then say the Strait of Hormuz is open and call it a victory. That’s bullshit.” – Mehdi Hasan [18:28]
• Mehdi points out Iran’s endurance (referencing the Iran-Iraq war’s 8-year length and 500,000 Iranian deaths), mocking the notion that Iran would roll over quickly for the US.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “I never thought there’d be a time where we missed Donald Rumsfeld and Ari Fleischer and George W. Bush. I mean, that administration looked very transparent and honest compared to this administration.” – Mehdi Hasan [08:31]
• “It is really important that we remind people that he’s betrayed them on these big pledges.” – Mehdi Hasan [14:50]
• “He says nonsense like it’s to prevent them from ever having a nuclear weapon. Oh, that’s new. We already had that goal for every previous president, and Barack Obama already pulled it off.” – Mehdi Hasan [11:01]
• “The idea that you go to war to try and open something that was already open before you started the war is insanity of the highest order.” – Mehdi Hasan [11:45]
• “His family were all there at the World Cup stadium in New Jersey. Lutnick was there. Rubio was there. So, you know, there’s a war going on... Marco Rubio’s enjoying the footy in New Jersey.” – Mehdi Hasan [16:50]

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• 00:00–01:29 – Transparency issues, ICE shootings, and framing of Trump-era government opacity
• 05:30–06:18 – Rising war casualties, the MOU’s collapse, and why peace was never real
• 08:31 – Press access, Pentagon stonewalling, government regulatory loopholes on transparency
• 10:52–12:08 – Comparison to Iraq War, Trump’s lack of strategy, absurdity of casus belli
• 14:50–16:36 – Broken promises: forever wars and rising gas prices; Trump’s advertising over substance
• 16:50–18:10 – Trump’s vanity, his fixation on the Nobel Peace Prize, and staging at the World Cup
• 18:11–20:49 – Stalemate in Iran, lack of strategy, and why “victory” is ill-defined

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Tone and Language

The conversation is sharply critical, laced with irony, humor, and palpable frustration toward the Trump administration’s handling of war, its disregard for transparency, and the media’s sometimes complicit framing. Mehdi Hasan’s remarks are candid and often biting, while Jane navigates between analytical objectivity and incredulity.

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Summary

This episode of “What A Day” offers a darkly humorous but incisive analysis of the US’s deepening war in Iran under a second Trump term. Jane Coaston and Mehdi Hasan dissect the administration’s habitual dishonesty, lack of transparency, and incoherent strategy—linking personal vendettas and political self-interest to the current crisis. Fundamental campaign promises have been abandoned, familiar norms for media access and public accountability dissolved, and the war’s original premise appears increasingly nonsensical. The episode is a call to resist normalizing the unprecedented and to keep demanding clarity and truth, even as the White House continues to obscure both.

Transcript

[A]

The transparency issue is a real problem with this administration. This is a fundamental challenge with covering Trump is that A, everything he says is a lie and same with the people around him, and B, it's very hard to then try and debunk those lies when information is so closely guarded by this administration.

[B]

I'm Jane Costen, and this is what a day. The show wondering why so many in the world of golf have decided that President Donald Trump is the man they need when times get tough. First, it was Tiger woods who told police he was on the phone with Trump when he got arrested for a DUI back in March. Then over the weekend, golfer Bryson DeChambeau reportedly demanded Trump get involved when he was penalized at the Open Championship. Typically, I'd say that these golfers should know that the president of the United States has better things to do. But then again, this is Trump we're talking about. On today's show, we talk to Zatteos Mehdihasan about Trump's escalating war in Iran. Before we get into all that, here's what we're following today. Monday, July 20th on the ice officer in Maine. Is there more any, is there any more clarity on how he got his job, considering the vetting concerns that his wife has raised? Are there potential changes coming to the vetting process of ICE agents? That's a question for ICE that's under investigation. I'm sure that part now is part of the investigation. We'll let the investigation play. I'm not going to comment on investigation.

[A]

This is ongoing.

[B]

Border czar Tom Homan spoke to reporters outside of the White House on Monday about the recent deadly shootings in which Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers killed immigrants in Texas and Maine. The Associated Press reported last week that the ICE officer who killed a man from Columbia in Maine had a history of violent behavior toward family members that was detailed in family court records. In response to the shootings, US Senators are pushing for more details from ICE about the agency's vetting practices for new agents. Maine's independent Senator Angus King and 38 Democratic senators sent a letter to the Department of Homeland Security on Monday. The letter lists new measures they want put in place to increase accountability at the agency, including transparency about whether ICE considers records in family court of domestic violence or abuse when vetting new recruits. The Trump administration is at a loss on how to clean up the mess of the parasitic outbreak causing thousands of people to sprint to the toilet. Thankfully, the FDA was on the case. Until it wasn't. The agency admitted today that it had not found lettuce that tested positive for cyclospora, a parasite that can cause explosive diarrhea, from produce distributor Taylor Farms. The HSC's initial report was a false positive. Taylor Farms has recalled its lettuce processed in Mexico in quote, an abundance of caution. The reversal comes as the outbreak quickly spreads. More than 1,000 people have confirmed cases of cyclosporasis, according to federal data and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But the numbers could be far higher since the infection is often underreported and symptoms can take several days to develop. But don't worry. I'm sure Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Has his situation handled. You know the guy who once bragged about having a freezer full of roadkill? Troy Jackson, a fifth generation logger, is almost certain to become the Democratic Senate nominee in Maine after all of his major opponents dropped out. While Jackson is a staunch progressive with a long history in Maine politics, Democrats worry that he simply isn't as compelling as Graham Platner was before his campaign's implosion. A Biddeford resident told Politico that Jackson was never going to be like the pick of the consultant class. He continued, quote, he's too much of a regular guy. He's not the slick choice, which is funny because he's a regular guy, was the entire pitch for Graham Platner. After a glorious month of hydration breaks, upsets, FIFA related nonsense and thinking way too much about var, the World cup has finally come to an end. On Sunday, Spain defeated Argentina 10 in extra time, marking the country's second men's World cup title. And because the Spanish women's team won the World cup back in 2023, Spain is now the first country to hold both the men's and women's titles concurrently. But don't worry, Donald Trump naturally attempted to get involved in the final. During a Friday reception. He said that he wants the U.S. to host the World cup again in 2038, but without Mexico and Canada as co hosts. He added that FIFA President Gianni Infantino has suggested that the US Co host a World cup with China, an idea so terrible that only a FIFA president could come up with it. And that's the news. Let's talk about Trump's war in Iran. Over the weekend, the Pentagon announced that three US service members were killed as fighting intensified between the US and Iran. That brings the current death toll for US military personnel engaged in the war to 17. Trump's response It's a very sad thing, and with news from the New York Times that the Pentagon has been hesitant to share more information about further casualties, it's clear that far from ending, the war in Iran is spiraling out of control. Actually, was a war in Iran ever in control? As we've discussed on the show before, the Trump administration has given more than a dozen reasons why it launched combat operations in Iran. From regime change to preventing nuclear war to personal payback on the country for assassination attempts on Trump. And nearly five months into the conflict, not only do the American people not know why the war began, but we have absolutely no idea what victory would even look like. So to talk more about Trump's war of choice, I spoke to Mehdi Hasan. He's the editor in chief and CEO of Zateo. Mehdi, welcome back to what a day.

[A]

Good to be back.

[B]

So, feels like it was 10 years ago, but just over a month ago, the US and Iran signed a 14 point memorandum of understanding which included a formal ceasefire, reopening the Strait of Hormuz, and even the promise of billions of dollars for Iran to do something, among a bunch of other things. But now we've seen nine straight days of strikes on Iran and a Wall Street Journal report that Trump wants to expand operations. How did we get here?

[A]

We got here because we never really left. Jane is my, is my simple answer to that question. I don't want to sound like I told you so, but when this MOU

[B]

was signed, you can say, I told you so.

[A]

I mean, we, many of us told many of people watching and listening that this MOU is not a peace deal, it's not a real ceasefire, it hasn't ended the war, and it's going to end in tears. With Donald Trump, you know, you don't lose much money betting on things ending in tears that he claims are resolved, sorted, ended, whether it's pandemics or foreign wars. And so for me, looking at that 14 point memorandum of understanding, it was very clear that they'd kicked the most important can down the road, which was the nuclear program, which was supposedly the casus bellae for this illegal war from Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu that was kicked down the track. And the short term issue was, what do we do about the Strait of Hormuz? And that was where the sticking point came. There's an article, I think it's Article 5, where the Iranians read it as, we get to do what we want with the Strait, we're managing it with the Omanis. And the Americans were like, no, no, no, no. This just Means that you have to allow everyone back in during the 60 days. And so there's been trading of fire, there's been attacks on ships. Both sides have accused each other of breaching the deal. Trump finally got fed up on one of his foreign trips, started calling the leadership of Iran. I don't know if he's doing. He said they're scum. Which is funny because a month ago he said that they were rational people, good people, they care about their people. And now he's about to scum. It's kind of the way he talks about members of his cabinet. They're wonderful when he hires them, and then they're the worst people when he fires them. Why on earth were they ever in government to begin with? So Donald Trump's erratic nature, impulsive nature, thin skin nature, his inability to focus on problems for longer than five seconds, his misunderstanding and ignorance of the Middle east, and his general hawkishness, as well as his close alliance with Netanyahu, all of that feeds into this idea that an MOU is not going to stop this. It's not going to end this. By the way, in terms of deals, let me just say this. The JCPOA that Barack Obama signed with Iran in 2015, that took several years

[B]

to negotiate, and obviously there have been massive consequences for Trump's decisions. We're not even going to get into the consequences for the Iranian people. Over the weekend, the US Lost three more service members in Jordan and Iraq, bringing the total number of American casualties to 17. And today, the New York Times reported that the Pentagon has been withholding injuries from the public. How do we make sense of this war when we can't trust the information coming from the Pentagon? Which is not a new problem, but it's one that's in our faces right now.

[A]

Yeah, I never thought. Would there be a time where we missed Donald Rumsfeld and Ari Fleischer and George W. Bush? I mean, that administration looked very transparent and honest compared to this administration. I said recently to a colleague in a podcast that Donald Trump has chosen 2026 to go full George W. Bush, not just embracing the neocons and lying us into an illegal foreign war in the Middle East. But of course, his presentation last week at the White house was very 2003 esque. How does the CIA say we've released intelligence showing China's doing XYZ, which China is not doing according to the intel they release. So the transparency issue is a real problem with this administration. This is a fundamental challenge with covering Trump. Is that a everything he says is a lie and same with the people around him. And B, it's very hard to then try and debunk those lies when information is so closely guarded by this administration. This is an administration which was, you know, multiple judges have gone after for them, blocking the media, Whether it's the AP from the Oval Office for simply calling it the Gulf of Mexico, whether it's the entire defense press corps which were ejected from the Pentagon by Peter Hexseth a few months ago and they were replaced by Laura Loomer and a bunch of far right freaks. And even the far right freaks have not had a briefing from the Pentagon. I checked just before I came on air. The last time there was a full Pentagon briefing for the media on the war was early May. So it's been over two months. So they don't even trust their own hand pick far right conspiracy nuts who they've put in the Pentagon. Even they don't get a proper briefing, let alone the rest of the press corps. So these are people who abuse everything that they can abuse. I didn't know this until I read it today in the Times that the government is under no obligation to publish injury numbers because some soldiers go into hospital, come out quickly, and it's hard to unpack serious injuries from weekend. But again, all of those rules were constructed for a different period and a different president. I mean, I think there has to be a whole house clearing at some point in the future if Democrats ever get back into office. All of the departments and government rules that were treated as well. It's just a convention. It's a norm. It's how we've always done things. Well, then you get a Donald Trump or a Pete Hegseth and then you go, well, actually, we needed proper rules. We needed laws that they need to abide by. And I think that's just something that we're being, we're learning the hard way on Iran as well, where they can just say, we're not going to tell you how many people are injured. We're not going to tell you how many people have been killed. We're not going to tell you how. You know. Exactly. They got injured. And that's a problem, obviously, for the media.

[B]

Yeah, I'm glad you referenced Donald Rumsfeld and Ari Fleischer because I've been thinking like this is like the war in Iraq, only somehow much stupider.

[A]

Yeah, definitely stupider. Whatever you want to say about Colin Powell and Donald Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney and Condoleezza, they weren't stupid. There were a lot of they were incompetent, yes, they were ideologues, yes. They were not stupid. There was some geostrategic goal to what they were doing. I mean, they fucked it up, but they went for it. These guys don't know what's going Donald Trump can't tell you in a sustained interview, which he doesn't do. If he had a sustained interview with a decent interviewer, he could not tell you a what is actually happening on the ground, b where is Babel Mundab or Strait of Hormuz on a map? And c what is the actual strategic goal here? He says nonsense like it's to prevent them from ever having a nuclear weapon. Oh, that's new. We already had that goal for every previous president, and Barack Obama already pulled it off with the jcpoa. Which begins the very first sentence of JCPOA says Iran agrees never to have a nuclear weapon. And now Trump thinks that's some big victory. We're also being told that Strait of Hormuz is the big issue here. I would remind your viewers and listeners, I'm sure they're aware of this, but we must never stop reminding ourselves it was open on February 27, the day before we went to war on February 20. The idea that you go to war to try and open something that was already open before you started the war is insanity of the highest order.

[B]

If you also think that going to war to open something that was already open is insane, stick around. We'll get back to my conversation with Mehdihausen in a moment. In the meantime, make sure to subscribe. Leave a five star review on Spotify and Apple podcasts, watch us on YouTube and share with your friends. More to come after some ads why Today is brought to you by Smart Credit. Here's something most people aren't told about their credit score. It's not just whether you pay your credit cards, it's when you pay them. But Smart Credit's data experts understand how credit bureaus operate. So they created something called the Best Pay Down Date, built around how credit reporting actually works. So instead of guessing, you get a personalized strategy that shows you what to do and when to do it to help you maximize your score. And that matters because better credit can mean lower payments and more money in your pocket. And this is where it gets interesting. You can see your full credit picture in one place. Your score, what's affecting it. And if something needs attention, you can take care of it right there. So before you apply for anything, a car, apartment, refinance, it makes sense to start with Smart credit. Go to smartcredit.com watt and try it for just $1. You may be surprised to see how many points Smart Credit estimates you can gain. That's smartcredit.com wad results vary. Cancel anytime. Wadaday is brought to you by Smalls Smalls Fresh Cat Food is protein packed recipes made with preservative free 100% human grade ingredients you'd find in your fridge and it's delivered right to your door. Smalls cat food leads to high protein and improved hydration that equals strong bones and toned muscles. Cats use protein as their main energy source. More protein means more fuel and sustained energy. Plus a balanced diet leads to less shedding, fewer hairballs and more silky shine. After switching to smalls, 88% of cat owners reported overall health improvements. And if you're spooked by commitment, you can try Smalls Risk Free. They'll refund you if your cat won't eat their food. So stop serving your little carnivore a bowl of processed shortcuts for a limited time because you are a what a day listener. Get 60% off your first order, plus free shipping and free treats for life when you head to smalls.com wade that's 60% off your first order, plus free shipping and free treats for life when you head to smalls.com wad let's get back to my conversation with Mehdi Hasan. Trump made many promises on the campaign trail, but two of the big ones, the ones that we heard the most about, not just from Trump but from people around him, was no more Forever wars and affordability. Both of these things were things that were projected onto him, things that were used against Vice President Kamala Harris. Neither of those things is happening. What is Trump doing right now? Because it seems as if the version of Donald Trump we're getting now is the person Donald Trump would've hated the most in 2016.

[A]

Well, I can't forget the 2016 presidential debate. Or maybe it was 2015 when Donald Trump went after Jeb Bush and said, the towers came down on your brother's watch. I remember it vividly like it was yesterday. I was sitting in my old house. I was sitting on the couch and and I started whooping and cheering. Probably the only time I've whooped and cheered for Donald Trump, not knowing how bad he was at the time, not thinking he would win, but whooping and cheering that somebody had called out the Bush family on a Republican debate stage and not got immediately Booed. Half the audience clapped for him. Some booed. And I just thought to myself, wow, that was a kind of head on attack on the Bush family, on the neocons, on the Iraq war. And he pretended to be anti War in 2016. He then did a first term where he wasn't anti war, and then he pretended to be anti war again in 2024 and got away with a second time and has been even more hawkish and gung ho in his second term. So it is really important that we remind people that he's betrayed them on these big pledges, interlinked pledges. Obviously, the war in Iran has led to a direct increase in gas prices at home, which has screwed his affordability agenda. Don't forget he thinks affordability is a word that was invented by the Democrats to undermine him. Let's not forget that either. So they are interlinked. You're right to point out they were the two big promises. It wasn't just Trump. Stephen Miller. I just saw somebody just shared the other day a screenshot of an old tweet exchange between Stephen Miller and Cenk Yuga of the young Turks from 2024, when Stephen Miller was like, I cannot be explicit enough. Cenk, we will not be going to war. Kamala Harris will be taking people to war in the Middle East. We will be ending wars. So that kind of bullshit was said a lot and we should hang that around their heads because there's no getting away from it. I was on Piers Morgan's show recently with Hogan Gidley, who was deputy press secretary during the first term, and he said, oh, he didn't say no wars. He said, no stupid wars. Trying to borrow the Barack Obama line and no dumb wars.

[B]

And.

[A]

And I brought receipts and I read them out. I said, no. He said, no more wars. I will end wars. There will be no new wars on my watch. So it's a complete betrayal.

[B]

It really is. And it goes to how Trump is so good at the advertising part of a campaign, but he has no interest in being president. He would love it if being president was like winning an award where you won the award and then you just went home.

[A]

Well, on that note, two things on awards. I'm glad you mentioned that. Number one, you asked me earlier, you know, where is Trump? What is he doing while wars kick off and oil prices go up and his agenda fails and Republicans are about to lose Congress? We know where he is. He's standing on stage trying to get into the Spain photo as they lift the World cup trophy and The Spanish team, props to them, edited him out of the photo this morning when they released the official picture, because there he was, like an old man in an old people's home with dementia, being grabbed by Gianni Infantino, the head of FIFA, and being told, you know, get out. This is not. You're not supposed to be in this shot. You're supposed to give the trophy and leave. So that's what he's doing. His family were all there at the World cup stadium in New Jersey. Lutnick was there. Rubio was there. Rubio was there. So, you know, there's a war going on. People are dying. Marco Rubio's enjoying the footy in New Jersey. So that's where they are trying to get, you know, join onto other people's awards. And then, of course, don't forget the Nobel Peace Prize, which goes to the heart of this. I'm sorry, Jen. This is really important for us to acknowledge. When I try and tell people, they think it's tds. Don't be silly. That's a joke. No, no. One of the reasons we are at war is because he didn't get a Nobel Peace Prize. And he said this himself. He's. People missed this. He didn't get as much coverage. He literally said on the record a few months ago that I used to care about peace, but they didn't give me a Peace Prize. So now I don't care.

[B]

It's like Citizen Kane. And yet again, stupider.

[A]

Stupider and crazier.

[B]

Looking ahead, what drives me insane, of the many things, the Iranian government and the US Are at a stalemate right now. Yeah. Iran does not have to win this war. They just have to not lose. Do we even know what winning means for the US at this point?

[A]

No. Because if they open the Strait of Hormuz, they're going to call that a win. And the rest of us should not allow them to call that a win. Because the fricking Strait of Hormuz was open on February 27. So the idea that you can call that a win. And again, we always grade Trump on a curve. That's always been the case. The mainstream media give him wins that they would never give Joe Biden or Barack Obama or even a George W. Bush or a Bill Clinton. So for him to kill several thousand Iranians, lose multiple American lives, have hundreds of American soldiers injured, we don't know how many, and then go, you know, rocket up gas prices, screw up the global economy, mess up all of our allies in the region, you know, Kuwait just Had a desalination block blown up in Kuwait by the Iranians who are responding to the Americans blowing up a desalination plant in Iran that left 10,000 people in Iran in 20 villages without water. So if you're going to take all of that chaos and destruction and war crimes and genocidal threats and then go, ah, but Trump, in the end, he worked it all out. The Strait of Hormuz is open. He did a deal with Iran. That's bullshit and none of us should actually go along with it. Have some self respect, White House press corps hold him to account on this going forward. You're right, It's a stalemate. It was a stalemate a month ago, which is why I didn't buy the MOU being any kind of great improvement. The fundamentals are the same. Iran has said we have these red lines, that we're not going to give up the Strait of Hormuz. Now. We love this control. It's like a nuclear weapon, they say. And then they say they want a nuclear program, not a weapon. But they say we have a right to enrich uranium. We're not. That's a red line for us. And until we work out how we're willing to live with those two red lines or do some kind of full scale invasion and regime change, good luck with that. That's what the Iranians want. They would love nothing more than Trump to hubristically, ridiculously, overconfidently send American ground forces into Kag island or wherever else. Because this I have to keep reminding Americans. The Iranians fought Iraq for eight years, from 1980 to 1988. Eight years. They lost half a million people. They endured chemical weapons attacks supported by us in eight years. The idea that they're just going to roll over for Donald Trump in eight weeks or even eight months is absurd. And as you say, they don't even have to win. They just have to preserve the status quo. My colleague Swin Soup Sang reported for Zotero recently that American intelligence has told the White House that the Iranians are holding out for the midterms. They know that the midterms are a key political weapon for them, that if they can keep control of the strait and keep control of global oil prices until November and hurt Donald Trump and the Republican Party at the pump, then that only helps them.

[B]

Matti, as always, thank you so much for joining me.

[A]

Thanks. Sorry if I ran to too much.

[B]

Never too much in this climate. That was my conversation with Mehdihausen, editor in chief and CEO of Zatteo News before we Go Hysteria is your podcast for surviving the chaos and heartbreak of the American news cycle. Last Thursday, Erin Alyssa and guest host Heather Gardner discussed the latest on the tragic killings by ICE officers, the death of Lindsey Graham and the consequences of last year's Doge Cuts. Then they unpack what this season of Love island reveals about American literacy and relationship culture. Check out hysteria on YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. That's all for today. If you like the show, make sure you subscribe. Leave a review let's talk about the real second place team at the World cup and tell your friends to listen. And if you're into reading and not just about how because Argentina played like garbage, I think we should elevate a team that played both Spain and Argentina to a draw in full time and never resorted to punching people in the neck like me. What a Day is also a nightly newsletter. Check it out and [e-mail] subscribe I'm Jane Coston and that's right in my view, your World cup silver medalist team is Cabo Verde. Water Date is a production of Crooked Media. Our show is produced by Kaitlyn Plummer, Emily Foer, Erica Morrison and Adrienne Hill. Our team includes Haley Jones, Greg Walters, Matt Berg, Joseph Dutra, Johanna Case and Desmond Taylor. Our music is by Kyle Murdoch and Jordan Kantor. We had help today from the Associated Press. Our production staff is proudly unionized with the Writers Guild of America East. There's a new show from the Guardian called Stateside with Kai and Carter. The idea is pretty slow things down, focus on one story, ask the questions you're probably already yelling at your phone and by the end actually feel like you understand what's going on. They're digging into everything from authoritarianism to the rise of people dating AI chatbots to what's really behind the latest mission to the moon. No fluff, no pretending everything is fine. Just smart conversations and sharp reporting. The show pulls from the Guardians Global newsroom, so you're getting coverage across politics, culture, climate and more. Plus conversations with big thinkers and newsmakers. Join Kai Wright and Carter Sherman three times a week as they try to make sense of all of this. New episodes drop every Monday, Wednesday and Friday starting May 13th. You can watch on YouTube or listen wherever you get your podcasts.