Category: Trump

Trump Foreign Policy

Interview: US-Iran: What the Blockade Threats Mean for Oil and Freight Markets

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Channel News Asia/CNA,Singapore, July 22, 2026: Iran has shut the Strait of Hormuz and The Houthis have just declared a blockade of Bab al-Mandeb. Two of the world’s most critical shipping chokepoints — squeezed at the same time. Saudi Arabia’s workaround, routing oil through the Red Sea, may now be closing off too. A look at the compounding economic risks and how markets are pricing in rerouted supply chains, soaring freight premiums, and broader inflation risks.

Interview: Iran Releases Exclusive Video of Ballistic Missiles Hitting US Bases in Gulf

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FirstPost America, July 21, 2026 (Zunes begins at 5 mins.):
The US-Iran war intensifies as the US launches a ninth consecutive night of air strikes on Iran, triggering fresh missile attacks across the Middle East. Iran says it is fighting a ‘full-scale war’ with the US after targeting US assets in Jordan and Kuwait. Tensions are also rising in the Strait of Hormuz, where a commercial ship was set ablaze following an attack, raising fears over global oil supplies and maritime security. With Donald Trump, Marco Rubio, and Iranian leaders exchanging strong messages while diplomacy continues behind the scenes, the crisis shows no signs of easing.

Interview: Is Israel pushing Lebanon toward civil war? And how can the Lebanese thwart this scenario?

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Alghad TV, July 9, 2026 (Zunes begins at 9 mins.): Does the Israeli withdrawal represent a tactical move tied to the battlefield, or does it pave the way for a broader political settlement? An analytical discussion with: Ibrahim Haidar, writer and political analyst; Mohammed Zeidan, researcher specializing in Israeli affairs; and Stephen Zunes, on the dimensions of the withdrawal and its implications for the future of the ceasefire and developments in southern Lebanon. (It’s a bit odd, in that Zunes spoke in English, yet this recording has the Arabic translation translated back into English.)

Trump’s Deal with Iran is Good Enough

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The Progressive, June 23, 2026: [click here for audio and text]
The Memorandum of Understanding signed between the United States and Iran is indeed a better deal for the Islamic Republic than the 2015 JCPOA and what could have been agreed to prior to the war, but it is probably the best that is realistically attainable at this point. I note how Democratic politicians and others who denounce it as a “surrender” while unable to suggest a practical alternative are effectively calling for more war. Please consider circulating.

4 Talks: Iran, Israel, Palestine

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    * June 14, 2026, First Unitarian Universalist Society of San Francisco on “U.S. Policy towards Israel/Palestine: How We Can Change It”
    * May 23, 2026, “Universities’ Acquiescence to Trump Administration Policies and Implications for Academic Freedom,” for the Peace & Justice Studies Association
    * From a seminar organized by the Arab Organization for Human Rights in which I made a short presentation on U.S. support for the repressive Sisi regime in Egypt
     * April 22, 2026, a conversation with Robert Malley, a key figure in recent Democratic administrations involved in negotiations with Iran and with Israel & Palestine, and Daniel Zoughbie of the Institute of International Studies at the University of California-Berkeley

20 Interviews: May-June 2026, Iran related

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Below are links to various radio, television, and podcast interviews about the U.S., Iran, and related issues during May and June 2026:

    * A 28-minutes with David Swanson’s Talk World Radio
    *  A 20-minutes with Kris Welch on KPFA-FM, starting at 38:40
    * Hour-long interview for the Scholars Circle on the war
on Lebanon with Yeghia Tashjian and Ervand Abrahamian
     *  Two recent segments for an Indian network news show:
     June 18, beginning at 5:20 & June 2, starting at 4:25
     *  On a Singapore television news channel
     *  On a Singapore radio news channel
 * Two short interviews on KPFA-FM News, Pacifica:
June 14, starting at 2 mins. & May 24, starting 2:28    

* For KTVU News (one of the Bay Area network affiliates):
        June 18: https://ktvu.com/video/fmc-sv3bvh10vi4mon19.amp
        June 8:  https://bit.ly/3RVvpr6
        June 7:  https://bit.ly/43n9zze
        June 1:  https://bit.ly/43UizvR
       May 28:  https://bit.ly/4egHjmR
       May 25:  https://bit.ly/3QcXklR
       May 19:  https://youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=J7tH8nNmCJI&ra=m
       May 13: https://bit.ly/43p5U3R
       May 9: https://archive.tveyes.com/18120/531666-150162/dfd53d40-1c93-45d8-9a79-ad2dd615c0c5/KTVU_04-20-2026_16.30.43.mp4

 Also, two much older analyses were depressingly prescient:
     * A 50-minute documentary from 2012 in which I and a dozen other scholars and analysts critique the U.S. threat of War with Iran: https://youtube.com/watch?v=yoITyAobBMI
     * A 2006 interview I did with Foaad Khosmood on U.S. policy towards Iran and the possibility of war: https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/a-shift-in-iran-policy-by-stephen-zunes/

Quoted: Will US Opposition to UN’s Socio-Economic Goals Play a Decisive Role in the Vote for Next Secretary-General?

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Inter Press Service [UN] June 18, 2026
Zunes is quoted in this analysis on the influence Trump will have on the choosing of the next UN Secretary General. He told IPS under both Democratic and Republican administrations, the United States has blocked the election of candidates for Secretary General, even when they had the support of the fourteen other members of the Security Council. “Given how Trump has been even more prone to attack the United Nations and bully member states, including ostensible U.S. allies, it is likely that the United States will make it even more difficult this round for the UN to choose its next administrator.”