Podcast / The Time of Monsters / Mar 23, 2026

After the Iran War, Can America Still Be Trusted?

Annelle Sheline on alienating allies.

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After Iran War, Can America Still Be Trusted? w/ Annelle Sheline | The Time of Monsters with Jeet Heer
byThe Nation Magazine

The US/Israel war against Iran has been devastating to many US allies, both in the Middle

East and the wider world. It could easily lead to a Global Depression. Even before the

war, Annelle Sheline of the Quincy Institute noted that countries such as Qatar and

Saudi Arabia had good reason to wean themselves away from a close reliance on the

US. I talked to Annelle about the current state of the war and why it will only intensify

the alienation of traditional US allies.

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People clear rubble in a house in the Beryanak District after it was damaged by missile attacks two days before, on March 15, 2026 in Tehran, Iran.

(Majid Saeedi / Getty Images)

The US/Israel war against Iran has been devastating to many US allies, both in the Middle East and the wider world. It could easily lead to a global depression. Even before the war, Annelle Sheline of the Quincy Institute noted that countries such as Qatar and Saudi Arabia had good reason to wean themselves away from a close reliance on the United States. I talked to Annelle about the current state of the war and why it will only intensify the alienating of traditional US allies.

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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.

The Return of McCarthyism w/ Chris Lehmann / The Time of Monsters with Jeet Heer
byThe Nation Magazine

Republicans are plummeting in the polls in the lead-up to the midterm thanks to the unpopularity of the Iran War and the attendant inflation. As my Nation colleague Chris Lehmann has noted, in an attempt to shore up their fracturing base, the GOP has decided to label all Democrats as communist, a weird rhetorical move now being made by Donald Trump and his supporters. I talk to Chris about this strange and dangerous development.

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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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