China Benefits but Was Not the Driver

A deep dive into Trump’s emerging grand strategy and the geopolitical logic behind the Iran conflict. 

Kamran Bokhari joins Bankless to unpack how the U.S. is trying to reshape the Middle East, manage tensions with China and Russia, and transition from direct intervention toward a new model of burden-sharing, regional power balancing, and global restraint.

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TIMESTAMPS

0:00 Intro

0:56 Iran War Unstated Motives

10:03 Trump’s Goals

18:43 China’s Role

26:43 Venezuela & Cuba

28:22 US China Relationship

34:27 Optimizing Global Relationships

39:56 Iran War Best Approach

47:12 Does Iran Want to Negotiate?

51:30 Iran Regime Change

56:51 Israel Interests

1:00:36 Marco Rubio

1:05:24 Signal in the Noise

1:07:25 Closing & Disclaimers

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RESOURCES

Kamran Bokhari on X
https://x.com/KamranBokhari 

LinkedIn

https://www.linkedin.com/in/kamranbokhari/ 

New Lines Institute

https://newlinesinstitute.org/people/kamran-bokhari/ 

Forbes

https://www.forbes.com/sites/kamranbokhari/ 

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Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here:

https://www.bankless.com/disclosures⁠