9 August 2026
Trump’s reckless war on Iran is
threatening global economic collapse — as the region breaks out into a
matrix of conflagrations, Trump seemingly has no way out.
The United States and Israel’s attacks on Iran have inflamed West
Asia to the point that it has turned “into a matrix of smaller wars
taking place across the region, all of which are interconnected, but all
of which have quite separate agendas,” describes Alistair Crooke of Conflicts Forum,
a former diplomat who served in the Middle East and who authored,
“Resistance: The Essence of the Islamist Revolution”. In this episode of
the Chris Hedges Report, Hedges and Crooke explore the wide-reaching
geopolitical and economic ramifications of the war on Iran and what
options remain for the Trump administration, which has been forced
multiple times to walk back its threats of escalation.
The war on Iran has depleted a significant percentage of US
munitions, costing tens of billions of dollars so far, and has lowered
the US’ strategic petroleum reserves to its lowest level in over forty
years. The closure of both the Strait of Hormuz and the Bab al-Mandab
Strait have blocked oil exports from Saudi Arabia completely, as well as
other products that were previously traded through these major transit
routes. This has rocked the global economy, sending Japan into a debt
crisis.
As countries scramble to adjust to these new realities, there is no
end in sight to the crisis. The Trump administration is running out of
options. Crooke describes the fall of US military hegemony in the region
and how this has changed the mood in Iran, saying, “It’s triggered
something much more profound, a memory of Iran as a major civilizational
power, as something that has been a dominant influence in the region
for thousands of years.” He states that Iran is prepared for and expects
a long war as negotiations with the United States are not a reliable
route to peace.
Hedges and Crooke discuss the numerous and growing wars in the region
from the state of Israel, where leaders are pushing to force
Palestinians out of the West Bank ahead of the October election, to the
increasingly fragile situation in Iraq, to the hot war between Saudi
Arabia and Yemen. No country in the region is untouched as even Egypt
and Jordan are positioning troops along their borders. The fate of
millions of people in West Asia is at stake as Washington scrambles to
protect dollar hegemony and risks what Crooke refers to as a “slow
tactical nuclear weapons strike,” the destruction of infrastructure that
provides the energy and water necessary to sustain their lives.
9 August 2026
Trump’s reckless war on Iran is
threatening global economic collapse — as the region breaks out into a
matrix of conflagrations, Trump seemingly has no way out.
The United States and Israel’s attacks on Iran have inflamed West
Asia to the point that it has turned “into a matrix of smaller wars
taking place across the region, all of which are interconnected, but all
of which have quite separate agendas,” describes Alistair Crooke of Conflicts Forum,
a former diplomat who served in the Middle East and who authored,
“Resistance: The Essence of the Islamist Revolution”. In this episode of
the Chris Hedges Report, Hedges and Crooke explore the wide-reaching
geopolitical and economic ramifications of the war on Iran and what
options remain for the Trump administration, which has been forced
multiple times to walk back its threats of escalation.
The war on Iran has depleted a significant percentage of US
munitions, costing tens of billions of dollars so far, and has lowered
the US’ strategic petroleum reserves to its lowest level in over forty
years. The closure of both the Strait of Hormuz and the Bab al-Mandab
Strait have blocked oil exports from Saudi Arabia completely, as well as
other products that were previously traded through these major transit
routes. This has rocked the global economy, sending Japan into a debt
crisis.
As countries scramble to adjust to these new realities, there is no
end in sight to the crisis. The Trump administration is running out of
options. Crooke describes the fall of US military hegemony in the region
and how this has changed the mood in Iran, saying, “It’s triggered
something much more profound, a memory of Iran as a major civilizational
power, as something that has been a dominant influence in the region
for thousands of years.” He states that Iran is prepared for and expects
a long war as negotiations with the United States are not a reliable
route to peace.
Hedges and Crooke discuss the numerous and growing wars in the region
from the state of Israel, where leaders are pushing to force
Palestinians out of the West Bank ahead of the October election, to the
increasingly fragile situation in Iraq, to the hot war between Saudi
Arabia and Yemen. No country in the region is untouched as even Egypt
and Jordan are positioning troops along their borders. The fate of
millions of people in West Asia is at stake as Washington scrambles to
protect dollar hegemony and risks what Crooke refers to as a “slow
tactical nuclear weapons strike,” the destruction of infrastructure that
provides the energy and water necessary to sustain their lives.