Why There Are No Good Options Left in the US War Against Iran | Gregg Carlstrom
Hidden Forces
Demetri Kofinas
4.8 • 1.6K Ratings
🗓️ 24 March 2026
⏱️ 49 minutes
🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS
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Summary
In Episode 471 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with Gregg Carlstrom — Middle East correspondent for The Economist, based in Dubai and Riyadh, and a veteran reporter covering the region for fifteen years — about the mood across the Gulf States since the US and Israeli military campaign against Iran began on February 28th, and what the conflict's trajectory reveals about the widening gap between operational success and strategic victory.
The conversation opens with an assessment of shifting opinion inside Saudi Arabia and across the Gulf — from early opposition to the war to hawkish demands in some quarters that the United States, having opened Pandora's box, now finish what it started.
Carlstrom and Kofinas examine the human and material toll the conflict has taken so far, the extent and internal logic of Iranian restraint in targeting Gulf infrastructure, and the implications of Iran's decentralized Mosaic Defense Doctrine for command and control and efforts at de-escalation.
The conversation then turns to the growing gap between the operational success of US and Israeli airstrikes and the larger strategic picture — including the closure of the Strait of Hormuz and its consequences for global oil and LNG markets — before examining the divergent strategic objectives of Washington and Tel Aviv, the nuclear question as it applies to both Israel and the United States, the opaque power struggles within what remains of the Iranian regime, and what a near-term resolution — or further escalation — might look like.
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Episode Recorded on 03/24/2026
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | What's up, everybody? My name is Demetri Kaffinus, and you're listening to Hidden Forces, |
| 0:05.8 | a podcast that inspires investors, entrepreneurs and everyday citizens, the challenge consensus |
| 0:11.9 | narratives, and learn how to think critically about the systems of power shaping our world. |
| 0:17.3 | My guest in this episode of Hidden Forces is Greg Carlstrom, the Middle East correspondent for |
| 0:21.9 | the economist based out of Dubai and Riyadh, who's been stationed in Cairo, Beirut, and |
| 0:27.5 | Tel Aviv, and has been covering this region for roughly 15 years with publications in |
| 0:32.3 | foreign affairs, The Atlantic, and Politico. |
| 0:35.4 | This episode is part of an ongoing series I've been producing since the latest U.S. and |
| 0:39.9 | Israeli military campaign against Iran began on February 28th. |
| 0:43.9 | These episodes are shorter than our standard format and are designed to help me and my audience |
| 0:48.2 | stay current with the latest developments and their strategic, economic, and geopolitical |
| 0:53.1 | consequences for Iran, the United States, Israel, |
| 0:56.7 | the wider region, and the global economy. |
| 0:59.5 | In this conversation, Greg and I discussed the mood inside Saudi Arabia and across other Gulf |
| 1:04.6 | states since this latest round of violence began, including the shift in opinion from opposition |
| 1:09.4 | to the war to a hawkish demand by some |
| 1:11.7 | in the region that the United States, having now opened Pandora's box, finish what it started. |
| 1:17.3 | We as says the human and material toll the conflict has taken thus far, the extent and logic |
| 1:22.2 | of Iranian restraint and its targeting of Gulf infrastructure, and the implications of Iran's |
| 1:26.9 | decentralized mosaic |
| 1:28.3 | defense doctrine for command and control and efforts at de-escalation. We examined the growing |
| 1:33.5 | gap between the operational success of U.S. and Israeli airstrikes and the larger strategic picture, |
... |
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