Trump Is DESPERATE To End Iran War, Three Ships Hit In Strait of Hormuz

March 25, 2026·56 min·5 clips

Iran is exporting more oil through the Strait of Hormuz now than before the war started.

Hosts Aaron Bastani and Kieran Andrew open with Trump's claim to Axios that the war on Iran will end soon at his discretion, contrasted with Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz's statement that operations will continue without any time limit until all objectives are achieved. The disconnect between American and Israeli war aims is a central theme. The Strait of Hormuz situation has escalated, with three more ships hit in the past 24 hours, including a Thai-flagged oil tanker that caught fire. Iran's military reiterates that any vessel with US or Israeli-allied cargo will be considered a legitimate target. Meanwhile, the US military releases footage showing the destruction of 16 Iranian mine-laying vessels. Trump posts a confused statement on Truth Social simultaneously claiming the US has no reports of Iranian mines while threatening severe consequences if mines exist. The Wall Street Journal reports that Iran is actually exporting more oil now than before the war, using shadow fleet tankers that primarily serve China. Tankers have loaded a daily average of 2.1 million barrels of Iranian oil, up from 2 million in February. The hosts note that a Chinese ship was heard crossing the strait announcing itself as friendly. The International Energy Agency announces its largest release of strategic oil reserves in 50 years: 400 million barrels, equivalent to about 20 days of normal Strait of Hormuz flow. The hosts argue this demonstrates the scale of the crisis created by the war. Trump negotiator Steve Witkoff claims on CNBC that without the war, Iran would have had 30 to 40 nuclear bombs within a year, a claim energy correspondent Greg Karlstrom of The Economist calls fabricated. The US asks Israel to halt strikes on Iranian energy infrastructure for three stated reasons: harm to the Iranian public, Trump's desire to cooperate with Iran's oil sector post-war, and risk of retaliatory attacks on Gulf state energy infrastructure. The hosts discuss how the war is accelerating American geopolitical decline and pushing Gulf states toward China. The second half features Iranian-American commentator Ali Sharkasday, who has been demonetized on Instagram, reach-limited on TikTok, and had videos removed on YouTube. He discusses NIAC polling showing Iranian Americans are roughly evenly split on the war, contrary to media portrayals of universal diaspora support. He describes the pro-war monarchist movement around Reza Pahlavi as containing far-right elements, including racial purity rhetoric, anti-Arab sentiment, and connections to alt-right figures. He explains that Reza Pahlavi presents differently in English versus Persian, and that anti-war Iranian voices face coordinated mass reporting, doxing, and defamation lawsuits. Sharkasday argues that Iranians have never been given a neutral view of their own history, with both the Pahlavi era and the Islamic Republic promoting selective narratives.

Listen to the show on

Apple Podcasts Spotify

Play clips from this episode More from The Truth