As mass protests sweep Iran and President Trump declares the U.S. is ‘locked and loaded’, Thomas and Aimen revisit the event that shaped U.S.–Iran relations for the next half-century: the Iran Hostage Crisis. Then, in real time, the conversation veers into a fast-moving geopolitical shock: Venezuela, Iran’s global networks, and what a new era of American ‘muscle’ might actually look like. They discuss: Iran’s 2026 protest wave: currency collapse, water crisis, and regime pressure points Trump’s ‘locked and loaded’ warning Why the embassy takeover began as ‘revolutionary entrepreneurship’ How and why Khomeini endorsed the hostage crisis The shift to economic sanctions as America’s primary lever U.S. back-channel diplomacy Operation Eagle Claw: what the plan was and how it fell apart Hostage diplomacy after 1979 The creation of the U.S. Special Operations Command The Iran–Venezuela–Hezbollah nexus, and why Washington’s focus may be shifting Join the Conflicted Community here: https://conflicted.supportingcast.fm/  Find us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/MHconflicted And Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MHconflicted And Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/conflictedpod Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Conflicted is a Message Heard production. Executive Producers: Jake Warren & Max Warren. Produced by Thomas Small and edited by Lizzy Andrews. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices