Name: Jeffrey Sachs: US and Israel underestimated Iran
Uploaded: 2026-03-14T15:40:45.000Z
Duration: 17 min 43 s
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Adverbs of degree

Jeffrey, we have just heard from the Supreme Leader of Iran, Ayatollah Mujtaba Khamenei.

His statement was the first since he was elected by the assembly of Experts.

Basic passive voice

He called for unity among Iranians and he said the martyrs will be avenged.

And he also called on all US Bases in the Persian Gulf to be closed immediately or they will continue to be attacked.

He said the Straits of Hormuz, that vital sea route, will, will remain closed.

Not in the mood for any kind of compromise or negotiation.

Given that, where do you see this heading?

Both times it was bombed by Israel and the United States.

Iran is under a absolutely brutal attack.

The US And Israel are destroying infrastructure.

They murdered this man's father and the leaders of the Iranian government.

This is a brutal war of aggression by Israel and the United States.

And Iran is responding, and it's not surprising that, that they are responding.

They're under threat of conquest, basically.

That was what Trump said, that he would pick the new leader, that Israel and the United States would run Iran.

Well, the Iranian people have a different view.

Clearly they're showing up by the millions to say that they don't want to be run by the United States and Israel.

And President Trump is also claiming that the United States has won this war.

Yet we see the missile attacks continue, by Iran, by Israel, by the United States.

I mean, do you envision any scenario in which the United States can declare victory when we don't even know what its objective is?

Well, yes, I see a scenario where they can declare victory.

So he says things for the immediate moment or for show or because he believes them.

But is there a way to real victory by the United States?

This is a disaster for the United States.

It is a disaster, disaster for the whole world.

The US And Israel have thrown the entire world into turmoil, perhaps into World War Three.

This was a brazen, violent, ill thought out, to say the least move by these two countries.

And now we're all suffering the consequences of this.

There are already more than a dozen countries involved in this conflict, most of them in the Persian Gulf.

Do you see it expand to other parts of the world as well?

Well, the United States is at war in many places, it is at war in the Western Hemisphere.

It's talking openly about invading Cuba, which it's currently blockading.

Trump just met with Latin American leaders and talked about other military operations in the Western Hemisphere.

Trump has threatened to invade Greenland.

The United States is still heavily engaged in war with Russia in Ukraine.

We have war spreading through the Middle East.

We have the war of Pakistan and Afghanistan taking place, we don't know.

But it could be that when we look back, even in weeks or months, we say, yes, World War 3 has started.

The United States is so reckless, so irresponsible, and

led by such a delusional president right now that I'm sorry to say that anything is possible.

There are more than 1500 Iranians who have been killed in this conflict so far.

But we are also facing another crisis that is an energy crisis.

The world is facing an energy crisis right now.

Energy experts say the full impact of this is yet to come.

And we've just heard from the International Energy Agency, which says that this is the worst energy supply disruption in history.

How will this affect and impact the global economy?

The way it's going this year will be an economic catastrophe if this continues, and

We know that there are massive disruptions of oil supply.

That's the point that the International Energy Agency just made.

We know that only selective tankers are passing through the Strait of Hormuzdos that Iran is allowing to pass through for China and reportedly for India.

But we know that there is a dramatic decline in availability of both natural gas and oil.

And history has shown, especially in the 1970s, when there were two such oil supply disruptions, that the consequences for the world economy are extremely severe, sharp, and

So I think we're in for a very, very significant global crisis brought to you by Israel and the United States.

some call it an asymmetric strategy, is to hit US Persian Gulf allies, many of which host United States bases.

Of course, Iran is hurting their economies by targeting their oil supplies and oil infrastructure.

It's also targeting vital energy industries.

What do you make of this strategy by Iran and its effectiveness?

Well, Iran has been hit repeatedly by the United States and Israel actually for decades.

We can go back to 1953, when the United States deposed a democratically elected prime minister and brought in a police state for several decades.

We can go to the war that the United States supported against Iran by Iraq in the 1980s, we can go to a long list of assassinations by Mossad and the CIA in recent years.

What Iran is saying is we are under attack.

And the countries in the Gulf, by hosting the enemy of our country that is trying to destroy us, are part of this war against us.

the new Supreme Leader has said, that this is not a war against the neighbors.

It is a war against the United States, which is trying to destroy Iran.

And just listen to any of the words of Trump or Netanyahu.

Who will run Iran, Trump or the Iranians?

So from the Iranian position, this is existential.

Trump, Go home, you're not going to pick the Supreme Leader and said to Netanyahu, live within your borders.

It would help us to get past this very, very dire crisis.

To what extent did both the Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, as well as President Trump underestimate the Iranian military?

Not just its battlefield effectiveness, but also the strategies that it is using.

It is taking on two countries, both nuclear armed countries in this conflict, vastly superior military forces.

The United States, during my entire lifetime, which is getting on, has underestimated its adversaries.

From Vietnam onward, the United States repeatedly has declared victory in days or weeks, only to find that the wars extended years or decades, with the United States crawling back home afterwards, having failed in all of its stated objectives and having squandered trillions of dollars and cost hundreds of thousands of lives.