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Pod Save the World

How Bad Is Trump’s Iran Deal?

Pod Save the World

Pod Save the World

Politics, News

4.825.5K Ratings

🗓️ 17 June 2026

⏱️ 93 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Tommy and Ben are back with a week of bad deals, high-stakes elections, and World Cup joy.

The US and Iran have agreed to a deal to end the war, but the Trump administration has refused to release the text to anyone — so the guys parse through what we think we know. The short version: it's a pretty good deal for Iran that meets almost none of the goals Trump set out before the war started, and the nuclear issue hasn’t even been touched yet. Then the guys question if Netanyahu will do something to torpedo the whole thing with his continued war against Lebanon. In England, a special election could reshape British politics and set up a direct challenge to Prime Minister Keir Starmer. Meanwhile, a spate of developments across England, Italy, France, and Switzerland signal increasing growth for far-right movements in Europe. In Trump world, there’s both good and very bad news: Trump backed down on installing Bill Pulte as Director of National Intelligence after bipartisan pushback, and the dismantling of USAID continues to have devastating real-world consequences. And finally, with the World Cup in full swing, Tommy and Ben take a moment to enjoy the fans, from Scots drinking their way across, to Mexican and Korean fans bonding over tequila, and Nigerian fans flying all the way to Mexico just to root against South Africa. At the end of the show, Tommy speaks to CNN’s Senior International Correspondent Frederik Pleitgen, about what he saw and heard on his latest reporting trip on the ground in Iran.

Buy Ben’s book All We Say: The Battle for American Identity: A History in 15 Speeches  and subscribe to his Substack here.

For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here. For a transcript of this episode, please email transcripts@crooked.com and include the name of the podcast, episode title, and episode date.

Transcript

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0:00.0

This episode is brought to you by the Obama Foundation.

0:02.8

Democracy doesn't defend itself.

0:04.3

That's why the Obama Foundation is committed to training the next generation of leaders,

0:08.0

building communities, and strengthening our democracy for the future.

0:11.0

This summer, the Obama Presidential Center opens as a global hub for change,

0:14.5

committed to providing emerging leaders the tools and resources they need to make a real difference in their communities, our country, and our world.

0:20.7

But none of that happens without you. These leaders need support now, and your donation makes that possible. We're living through a pivotal moment in history. Now is the time to step off the sidelines and onto the fields. As you're listening to this, I might be at the Obama Presidential Library checking it out for the first time. Me too.

0:38.2

Very exciting.

0:39.3

I'm sure it'll be very emotional.

0:44.7

And it will remind me of how much President Obama meant to me as a person to the country,

0:47.7

how far we've fallen with the current crop of leaders.

0:49.3

And that's uplifting.

0:52.5

It'll be nice to disassociate from reality for that.

0:53.0

That's true.

0:57.5

And also you can donate to the Obama Foundation to get us back to a better brand of cult politics.

0:59.1

Join the movement for change.

1:02.5

Donate to the Obama Foundation at Obama.org slash pod.

1:05.0

That's Obama.org slash pod. Thank you. Welcome back to POTSafe the World. I'm Tommy Vitor.

1:20.9

I'm Ben Rhodes.

1:21.9

Ben, are you still hungover from celebrating your Knicks and their incredible NBA championship run. You look like

1:28.6

OG and Ninobe on Good Morning America. I am actually still hung over because in addition to the

1:35.1

game, now I can drink while watching Nick's content, which has been a deep reservoir, including

...

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