The U.S.-Israeli war against Iran has closed the Strait of Hormuz almost completely.

The head of the International Energy Agency said that the war is causing the biggest energy crisis in history.

We need a new system. We need a new society.

We need to demand that which may have sounded impossible even a few weeks ago,

but is not only realizable, but an imperative necessity. We are happy to have Professor Richard Wolfe join us again for our regular weekly segment

where we talk about the biggest stories related to the economy, the state of the working

class, and the crimes of big business.

I'm your host, Brian Becker.

The Socialist Program brings you content several days a week.

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Richard Wolf is the co-founder of the organization Democracy at Work.

He's the author of many books, including Understanding Capitalism, which is available at

Democracy at Work.Info, Professor Wolfe, welcome back.

Thank you very much, Brian.

Glad to be here.

Well, Richard, at the moment that we're recording, which is about midday

on Tuesday, negotiators may be going for additional talks in Islamabad in Pakistan, or they may not be

going. We can't really tell. The stories keep changing almost every minute.

At certain points, it looked like a deal was on the table. Iran has very specific demands,

mainly insisting on the relief of economic sanctions, primary and secondary sanctions,

and the unfreezing of Iranian assets. the total cost to Iran of all of that

...