Bob Kagan

speaker

1,471 appearances 4 recordings 1 series first heard Feb 2026 last heard 29 Jul

Bob Kagan’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.

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recordings per month · last 12 months

Recordings per month over the last 12 months — 4 in all, peaking in Jul 2026 with 1.

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The Bulwark Daily · Jonathan V. Last and Robert Kagan: Marco and Miller Go Full Fascist · 29 Jul 2026 podcast

And this is a pretty simple way of putting your thumb in that notion by by making it clear that not only are you not talking, but actually we are now striking you again in response to this Iraqi stuff.

So I think it carries an overall message, none of which I would say is good from the American point of view.

They've been very clear all along, which is that they want to control the Strait of Hormuz.

And we treat this like it's a power grab and it's like a luxury.

And wouldn't it be cool for them?

And, you know, to some extent, obviously, it is a power grab.

But I think much more importantly, I think we need to understand from the Iranian point of view, I think they have every reason to assume that some point down in the future, either Israel or Trump are going to attack them again.

Even if they made a deal, Trump has demonstrated that his deals are completely unreliable.

He breaks them at the first opportunity.

And Israel will never abide by the deal.

So from Iran's point of view, they have to anticipate that they're going to get hit again.

And the best deterrent they have is control of the straits.

So I think from the very beginning, that has been the number one goal.

And by the way, the MOU gave them control of the strait.

And the thing about this is like the media treats this like,

Well, it's a misinterpretation.

We don't really agree on the interpretations.

What happened was Trump was so desperate for a deal that he accepted this bad deal, which gave Iran administrative control of the strait.

It says in the Memorandum of Understanding.

Then, because he didn't really want to give it away, or maybe Witkoff never told him that he had given it away, who knows, he tries to claw it back by opening up and having the American forces defend the route along the Oman coast.

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