The Long Game with Jake Sullivan and Jon Finer

President Trump says the war with Iran is over. But what exactly did the United States agree to?

Ambassador Wendy Sherman, the lead U.S. negotiator of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, joins Jake Sullivan and Jon Finer to assess the new U.S.-Iran agreement and explain why she believes it gives Tehran significant concessions while securing few meaningful nuclear constraints in return.

Topics covered:


Whether the United States or Iran emerged with greater leverage from the war


The future of Iran's nuclear program and its economic windfall through sanctions relief and Strait of Hormuz fees


What the deal means for Israel, the Gulf states, and the broader Middle East


Why diplomacy requires expertise, patience, and direct engagement with adversaries

Jake and Jon also discuss whether Congress will review the agreement, what it could mean for Russia and global energy markets, and other stories they're watching in the weeks ahead.

For transcripts, exclusive podcast segments, and more, subscribe to The Long Game on Substack.  On  Apple Podcasts, subscribe to The Long Game+ for exclusive audio. This week, paid subscribers get access to an exclusive segment in which Jake and Jon share behind-the-scenes stories from their own negotiations with Iranian officials during the Obama administration, including late-night bargaining sessions in Vienna, secret talks in Oman, and some of the unexpected moments that helped shape the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.

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

Show notes are available here.

Watch the video version of this episode on YouTube.

Transcript here.

Email Jake and Jon at longgame@voxmedia.com.

The Long Game is produced by the Vox Media Podcast Network.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

As the World Cup kicks off, what can soccer tell us about the state of the world?

Franklin Foer, author of “How Soccer Explains the World,” joins the show to discuss why the world's most popular sport remains one of the best lenses for understanding nationalism, globalization, identity, and political power. More than twenty years after the book's original publication, Foer reflects on how globalization reshaped the game, why national identity remains a powerful force, and what the World Cup reveals about today's geopolitical landscape.

Topics covered:


 Why globalization often strengthened nationalism rather than weakened it


The possibility of a U.S.-Iran World Cup showdown on American soil


The roles of Saudi Arabia and Qatar, and the growing intersection of sports and geopolitics


President Trump’s relationship with FIFA

Subscribe to The Long Game on Substack for exclusive video content, transcripts, and more. This week, paid subscribers receive the inaugural edition of The Wrap, where Jake and Jon share what they're reading, revisit something they may have gotten wrong, and discuss the issues they're watching most closely.

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

Show notes are available here.

Watch the video version of this episode on YouTube.

Transcript here.

Email Jake and Jon at longgame@voxmedia.com.

The Long Game is produced by the Vox Media Podcast Network.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

More than four years into the Russia-Ukraine war, has the battlefield finally begun to shift?

Jake Sullivan and Jon Finer sit down with Michael Kofman, one of the leading analysts of the conflict, fresh off a trip to Ukraine's frontlines. Kofman argues that Ukraine is in its strongest position since 2023 and explains why Russia's grinding offensive may be running out of steam. Together, they discuss how Ukraine used drones and battlefield innovation to offset Russian advantages, why Moscow's military strategy is producing diminishing returns, and what it would take to translate recent developments on the battlefield into a lasting political settlement.

They discuss:


Why Kofman believes Ukraine has gained the advantage for the first time in years


How drones and decentralized defense production have transformed the battlefield


Whether Russia can be convinced that continuing the war is futile

Subscribe to The Long Game on Substack for exclusive video content, transcripts, and more. This week, paid subscribers will receive a special mailbag segment  where Jake and Jon answer listener questions.

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

Show notes are available here.

Watch the video version of this episode on YouTube.

Transcript here.

Email Jake and Jon at longgame@voxmedia.com.

The Long Game is produced by the Vox Media Podcast Network.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

President Trump is simultaneously pursuing peace talks with Iran while escalating U.S. military pressure in the region following recent strikes. Jake Sullivan and Jon Finer revisit the policy options most likely facing the administration and walk through how they would advise the president at this moment of escalation and diplomacy.

Then, Ricardo Zúñiga, former Senior Director for Western Hemisphere Affairs at the National Security Council and one of the architects of the Obama administration’s opening to Cuba, joins to discuss:


The politics behind U.S.-Cuba policy 


What Obama was trying to achieve through engagement with Havana


How Trump’s approach to Cuba and Latin America has changed in his second term


The likelihood that the U.S. will undertake some form of military action in Cuba


Whether sanctions and pressure campaigns still create meaningful leverage


How Venezuela reshaped U.S. thinking about authoritarian regimes in the hemisphere

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

Watch the video version of this episode on YouTube.

Show notes are available here.

Transcript coming soon.

Email Jake and Jon at longgame@voxmedia.com.

The Long Game is produced by the Vox Media Podcast Network.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

President Trump is preparing to sign a major executive order on AI and cybersecurity at a moment of growing concern over cyber threats from China, Russia, Iran, and criminal ransomware gangs.

Jen Easterly, former Director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and now CEO of RSAC, the world's largest cybersecurity community, joins Jake Sullivan and Jon Finer to discuss:


Why America has a software security problem, not just a cybersecurity problem


How insecure software shifted risk from tech companies onto consumers


Why AI tools like Mythos and GPT-5.5 Cyber could fundamentally change cyber defense


What China’s Volt Typhoon campaign revealed about U.S. infrastructure vulnerabilities


How cyber warfare has shaped conflicts in Ukraine and Iran

Jake and Jon close the episode with a discussion of the latest developments in the Iran war, rising tensions around Cuba, the Ebola outbreak in the Congo, and President Trump’s summit with Xi Jinping in Beijing.

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

Watch the video version of this episode on YouTube.

Show notes are available here.

Transcript coming soon.

Email Jake and Jon at longgame@voxmedia.com.

The Long Game is produced by the Vox Media Podcast Network.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices