The Long Game with Jake Sullivan and Jon Finer

The Iran Strikes Explained - Live

34 snips

Feb 28, 2026

A live breakdown of U.S.-Israel strikes on Iran and Iran’s regional retaliation. They probe whether a clear end game exists and if an imminent threat justified military action. The conversation raises questions about Congressional approval, Iran’s remaining capabilities, risks to oil shipping, and potential long-term regional fallout.

Ask episode

AI Snips

Chapters

Transcript

Episode notes

INSIGHT

Use Of Force Must Meet Necessity Clarity And Consent

Military force requires necessity, clear objectives, and public consent to be justified.
Jon Finer emphasizes the administration hasn't convincingly shown necessity, objective, or public buy-in for strikes on Iran in this episode.

ADVICE

Require Clear Threat And Congressional Authorization

Demand an explanation of imminent threat, public authorization, and measurable end states before supporting war.
Jake Sullivan argues there's no articulated imminent U.S. threat, no Congressional authorization, and no clear success metric for the strikes.

INSIGHT

Key Short Term Questions That Determine Escalation

The immediate unknowns will shape escalation: Iran's remaining strike capacity, leadership status, oil-route attacks, and U.S. off-ramps.
Jake Sullivan lists specific watchpoints like Strait of Hormuz, Ayatollah status, and duration.

Get the Snipd Podcast app to discover more snips from this episode

Get the app

Joint U.S.-Israel strikes on Iran, Iran’s retaliation across the region, War Powers Act debate on Capitol Hill. In this recording of a live conversation on Substack, Jake Sullivan and Jon Finer break it all down: What we know so far, what we don’t know, and the biggest questions that will shape what happens next.

Topics of discussion include:

- What’s the end game? If the U.S. is entering a war, the public needs a clear account of why, what success looks like, and how this strategy plausibly achieves it.

- Is there an imminent threat to the U.S.? Based on the administration’s own claims, there isn’t one from the nuclear program.

- Why didn’t the administration seek Congressional authorization? Even President George W. Bush got authorization for the Iraq War.

- What to watch for in the coming days as details firm up: To what extent have Iran’s capabilities been degraded? Will Iran close the Strait of Hormuz or otherwise disrupt oil shipping infrastructure? Is Ayatollah Khamenei alive?

- The long game questions: What are the second-and third order effects? Will this instability lead to increased risks of terrorism, displacement, and downstream political consequences as we saw with the Arab Spring, the Syrian Civil War, and the Iraq War? What’s the eventual off ramp for the U.S.? What actually happens inside Iran? If the current leadership is toppled, who takes over? And, how is China seeing this – does this create new risks with respect to Taiwan?

Follow The Long Game so you never miss an episode. New episodes drop weekly.

Watch the video of this episode on Youtube.

Show notes of the episode are available here.

The Long Game book recommendations here.

Join us on Substack

Email Jake and Jon with your thoughts and questions at longgame@voxmedia.com. Or leave a comment below.

The Long Game is produced by the Vox Media Podcast Network.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices