Most coverage of the war with Iran picks a side and stays there. Episode 65 does something less common. Daniel Rosenberg brings back Michael Dye and Lloyd Golburgh and lets them disagree, on the record, about whether Operation Epic Fury serves the United States.
The episode was recorded in April, as the conflict escalated. Iran had moved to shut the Strait of Hormuz, President Trump had issued an ultimatum on uranium enrichment and the strait, and Hezbollah was active in southern Lebanon. Those questions are still open six months later.
The case that it is
Part of the argument is about oil. Roughly a fifth of the world's oil supply moves through the Strait of Hormuz, so a closure there raises prices everywhere, including in a country that produces much of its own energy. The panel walks through the mines, the alternative shipping routes and why a credible threat to keep the strait open matters to every economy.
The other part is about Iran itself. The episode looks at the reach of the Revolutionary Guard, its proxies across the region and its nuclear ambitions, and asks whether removing leadership can cut off the funding that keeps those proxies running. That thread started on Episode 62, recorded in the first weeks of the war.
The case that it is not
The pushback is just as direct. Marines were deployed, and the panel asks whether there is a clean exit strategy, and whether Iran's missiles, geography and defensive depth have been underestimated. Long wars rarely end on the timeline promised at the start.
The conversation also gets into money and influence, comparing the lobbying power of AIPAC with funding from Qatar and Saudi Arabia, and asking whether Israel's influence on American policy comes from strategy, votes, money or shared values. It is the kind of question that usually produces shouting. Here it produces an argument.
A history lesson in the middle
One segment revisits the USS Liberty, the American ship attacked by Israeli forces in 1967, and the debate over whether it was a tragic mistake. We tell that story in its own piece.
The episode closes with a question for viewers. Is a hard line on Iran and the Strait of Hormuz a necessary show of strength, or does it risk another long war? For where Congress stands, read the war powers fight, explained.
Two Taps News stories summarize reporting and the analysis discussed on Two Taps and Friends. They are not legal advice. Read our standards.
