17,000 US Troops Are Heading to Iran – This Is Vietnam All Over Again | Silk and Steel

In this gripping episode of the Silk and Steel podcast, host Carl Zah and senior fellow Einar Tengen dissect the escalating U.S.-Iran crisis, warning that the deployment of 17,000 U.S. ground troops to Iran—alongside 50,000 already in the Middle East—marks a dangerous escalation reminiscent of Vietnam. Tengen argues that Trump’s erratic foreign policy, driven by a desire to distract from the Epstein files and child pornography allegations, is not only reckless but strategically nonsensical. He dismantles the myth of U.S. energy dominance, explaining that America is a net crude oil importer despite being a net exporter of refined products, and highlights how Iran’s economic leverage through tolls in the Strait of Hormuz undermines U.S. sanctions. The episode explores China’s long-term energy resilience, its fusion energy ambitions, and its diplomatic push through a Pakistan-China peace proposal, contrasting it with the U.S.’s aggressive, unilateral approach. Tengen warns that the war is not just a military conflict but a systemic assault on global stability, with ripple effects on food, water, and energy security, and that the U.S. is now isolated, with only Israel as a loyal ally. The episode ends on a bleak note: the world is entering a new era of permanent war, where the absence of accountability and the rise of technocratic authoritarianism threaten to entrench perpetual conflict.