For Episode 273 of KK&F, reporter Murtaza Hussain, covering national security and foreign affairs for Drop Site News, joins us to talk about the latest juncture of America’s war in Iran. Today, Friday, Iran officials join the U.S. for peace talks. Similar talks between Israel and Lebanon will take place next week. Building off Trump’s insane and genocidal threats to Iran’s government earlier this week, we talk to Murtaza about what these “peace” talks mean for a country the U.S. has threatened with destruction, what the power dynamics of these talks really are, the potential and current political and economic fallout, and much more. Watch below:

Earlier this week, Trump threatened the people of Iran with a violent apocalypse. While his government (and the American government writ large, for generations) has attacked the nation for religious fundamentalism and constantly painted its social and cultural traditions as barbaric, it’s clear to see where the barbarism lies — in the government threatening another with extinction by drone strike. We’ve talked previously about how our own country’s extremely virulent current strain of Christian fundamentalism has informed its violet international policy. Everything we’re seeing now is a great example of that. And exemplified by Trump’s comments this week is our government and its allies’ willingness to enact mass suffering and mass bloodshed to pursue financial and political interests. As Iran accepts the ceasefire and heads into the peace talks, Israel has just killed hundreds of civilians in a strike in Lebanon, threatening the agreement to say the least.

Iran has submitted a ten-point plan to establish peace in the region, and it remains to be seen what Trump is willing to accept. He’s pretending that working to prevent future Israeli bombings in Lebanon was never part of the deal, part of his erratic and profoundly untrustworthy strategy. No matter what, knowing our president, he’ll find a way to tout the outcome of his disaster of a war as a win. But the plan proposed by Iran requires major concessions from the U.S., which, in its hubris, has previously made clear that it expects absolute capitulation from Iran. At the same time, all is not lost — Trump has accepted the framing of the talks Iran has provided, and made it clear that he’s invested in the talks. What remains to be seen is how invested he is in ending the conflict, even if it means reaching political compromise.

We cover a lot more in this episode, from the conflict’s economic ramifications to Europe’s reaction, Israel’s role in and perspective on the war, and much more. We’re grateful to Murtaza for joining us for this conversation, and we hope you enjoy. Thank you for keeping us ad-free! You can listen to this episode on major streaming platforms starting tomorrow evening.