Podcast / The Time of Monsters / Feb 1, 2026

War Clouds Over Iran

On The Time of Monsters: Amir Handjani on Trump’s new threats.

The Nation Podcasts
The Nation Podcasts

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War Clouds Over Iran w/ Amir Handjani | The Time of Monsters with Jeet Heer
byThe Nation Magazine

Donald Trump is sending over what he calls “a massive Armada” to Iran with the

promises to do a reprise of his quick attack on Venezuela that ended with the

kidnapping of president Nicolás Maduro. Trump claims that “like with

Venezuela, it is, ready, willing, and able to rapidly fulfill its mission.” But will a

war with Iran really be so simple? To look at the prospects for war and the

larger politics driving the conflict, I spoke with Amir Handjani of The Quincy

Institute.

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(Jim Watson / AFP via Getty Images)

Donald Trump is sending over what he calls “a massive armada” to Iran, promising to repeat the kind of quick attack that ended with the kidnapping of President Nicholas Maduro in Venezuela. Trump claims that, “like with Venezuela, [the US] is ready, willing, and able to rapidly fulfill its mission.” But will a war with Iran really be so simple? To look at the prospects for war and the larger politics driving the conflict, I spoke with Amir Handjani of The Quincy Institute

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The Nation Podcasts
The Nation Podcasts

Here's where to find podcasts from The Nation. Political talk without the boring parts, featuring the writers, activists and artists who shape the news, from a progressive perspective.

Fighting Trump’s Corruption w/ Chris Lehmann / The Time of Monsters with Jeet Heer
byThe Nation Magazine

Donald Trump is corrupt on a scale that puts all other criminal presidents, including Richard Nixon, to shame. One recent example is the so-called Anti-Weaponization fund of $1,776,000,000, being deployed to reward convicted criminals who stormed the Capitol on January 6, 2021. Trump and his cronies are also profiting from billion-dollar deals with foreign governments and engaged in stock market trading while in office. 

My Nation colleague Chris Lehmann has written about this in a recent column. We talk about both the corruption, and the political tools Democrats can use to fight it.

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Subscribe to The Nation to Support all of our podcasts

Support The Nation’s June Fundraising Campaign

With the midterm elections now firmly upon us, the question is whether Democratic candidates will do more than merely occupy ballot lines as mild alternatives to the red-hot crisis that is Donald Trump.

As Trump spends over $1 billion a day on a globally destabilizing war on Iran and admits that he doesn’t “think about Americans’ financial situation,” millions across the country are struggling with the surging costs of essentials. Democrats must seize this moment and advance bold, small-“d” populist ideas—not settle for cynical caution that once again snatches defeat from the jaws of victory.

The Nation elevates progressive ideas, movements, and elected officials achieving real change across the country into the national conversation. At the same time, our journalists are exposing how crypto and AI-funded super PACs are spending hundreds of millions of dollars to knock out candidates they oppose, reporting on the devastating impact of the Supreme Court’s evisceration of the Voting Rights Act, and sounding the alarm on attempts by red states to quickly redraw electoral maps, disenfranchising Southern Black voters.

We can play this critical role because of support from readers like you. This June, we’re raising $20,000 to power The Nation’s independent journalism in the run-up to November’s immensely consequential elections.

It’s in our power to build a more just society, and your support at this critical moment brings us closer to that bold vision. I hope you’ll donate today.

Onward,

Katrina vanden Huevel
Editor and Publisher, The Nation

Jeet Heer

Jeet Heer is a national affairs correspondent for The Nation and host of the weekly Nation podcast, The Time of Monsters. He also pens the monthly column “Morbid Symptoms.” The author of In Love with Art: Francoise Mouly’s Adventures in Comics with Art Spiegelman (2013) and Sweet Lechery: Reviews, Essays and Profiles (2014), Heer has written for numerous publications, including The New Yorker, The Paris Review, Virginia Quarterly Review, The American Prospect, The GuardianThe New Republic, and The Boston Globe.

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