Why Are We at War with Iran? (w/ Mehdi Hasan)
Assembly Required with Stacey Abrams
Assembly Required with Stacey Abrams
4.6 • 1.8K Ratings
🗓️ 10 March 2026
⏱️ 60 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
More than a week into the war with Iran, the fallout continues.. The Trump administration’s strikes have caused the deaths of more than a thousand civilians, thrown the Middle East into chaos, and led to oil and gas prices spiking globally. This week, Stacey speaks to Mehdi Hasan, founder and Editor-in-chief of Zeteo, about the motivations behind the war, the importance of independent media in covering the conflict, and what history can teach us about foreign policy consequences that play out over decades.
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.
Learn & Do More:
- Be Curious: To hear more from Mehdi Hasan and support independent media, subscribe to Zeteo.
- Solve Problems: Call your member of Congress and urge them to oppose funding this war.
- Do Good: Contribute to organizations helping those impacted by war. Donate to World Central Kitchen at wck.org, which is serving communities in Lebanon as the conflict escalates. The Palestinian relief fund at pcrf-rescue.org is providing emergency medical care and other essential aid to children.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Quick question. Are you politically engaged and spiritually exhausted? |
| 0:07.0 | If you said yes to both, welcome home. I'm Erin Ryan. |
| 0:10.1 | And I'm Alyssa Master of Monaco. |
| 0:12.3 | And we're the host of Hysteria, the podcast for women who care about democracy, culture, and not losing their minds in the process. |
| 0:18.7 | We break down the news, call out the nonsense, and spotlight the |
| 0:22.2 | women actually fighting back on Capitol Hill, in classrooms, and everywhere the stakes are high. |
| 0:27.7 | It's sharp, honest analysis featuring women's voices with humor and zero handholding. |
| 0:33.4 | Listen to hysteria wherever you get your podcasts and watch full episodes on YouTube. |
| 0:47.8 | Welcome to Assembly Required with Stacey Abrams from Cricket Media. I'm your host, Stacey Abrams. |
| 0:53.7 | As the war in Iran enters its second week, |
| 0:57.1 | the headlines can barely keep up. The U.S. has denied responsibility for a strike that killed at |
| 1:03.4 | least 175 people at a girls' elementary school despite video evidence. Iran has named |
| 1:10.2 | its new supreme leader, the son of the Ayatollah killed |
| 1:13.5 | in the airstrikes last week. The Strait of Hormuz continues to deny passage to oil tankers, |
| 1:19.3 | and American energy prices are rising as a result. And as more Republicans are forced to show their |
| 1:25.4 | hand on how far they'll let this authoritarian regime go, |
| 1:29.4 | the war in Iran may be coming to a midterm near you. Today's episode will dive into the U.S. |
| 1:35.7 | and Israeli-led war that is unfolding in Iran and across the Middle East, as well as understanding |
| 1:42.0 | the broader discussion of why this new approach to foreign |
| 1:45.6 | actions means something dangerous, both here and abroad. |
| 1:49.6 | Joining me this week on Assembly Required is Medi Hassan, an intrepid journalist and founder |
| 1:55.2 | of the media startup, Zateo. |
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