# Reads: Iran is a Creation of Fiat Money

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/bitcoin-well-podcast-7678220/reads-iran-is-a-creation-of-fiat-money
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/bitcoin-well-podcast-7678220/reads-iran-is-a-creation-of-fiat-money.md
Podcast: [Bitcoin Well Podcast](https://stenobird.com/podcast/bitcoin-well-podcast-7678220)
Published: 2026-03-28T11:00:00+00:00
Episode link: https://feeds.fountain.fm/K4fNsugsQSuLZj6Ag7Oj/items/2DhJx4NLqRkYDp7ZW0JP/files/AUDIO---DEFAULT---13aff0eb-b624-48a5-85f9-21d0763ef3db.mp3
Audio file: https://feeds.fountain.fm/K4fNsugsQSuLZj6Ag7Oj/items/2DhJx4NLqRkYDp7ZW0JP/files/AUDIO---DEFAULT---13aff0eb-b624-48a5-85f9-21d0763ef3db.mp3
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/bitcoin-well-podcast-7678220/episodes/reads-iran-is-a-creation-of-fiat-money
Duration seconds: 901

## Resource

Send us Fan Mail Most people analyze the Middle East through religion, ideology, or ethnic conflict. Useful frames — but incomplete ones. If you want to understand why wars never end and why the same regions keep bleeding across decades, follow the printing press. In this episode of Reads on the Bitcoin Well Podcast, Zach reads his original essay "How Iran Is a Creation of Fiat Money" — a deep dive into the monetary history behind 70 years of engineered conflict. What's covered: the 1953 CIA coup that overthrew Iran's democratically elected prime minister for daring to nationalize his country's oil, Nixon's 1971 gold shock and the birth of the petrodollar system, how fiat money funded both sides of the Iran-Iraq War simultaneously, the 2012 Swift sanctions and what happened when Iranians started looking for alternatives, why Iran became a significant Bitcoin mining hub — and why the regime couldn't control it, and why Bitcoin is the only structural solution to monetary coercion. The story of Iran isn't about Islam vs. the West. Those are just the costumes. The underlying play is always the same: centralized control of money enables centralized control of people. Fix the money. Fix the world. Original Article: https://bitcoinwell.com/blog/how-iran-is-a-creation-of-fiat-money 📩 z.addair@bitcoinwell.com Chapters: 00:00 Intro — The US at War, Zach's Personal Connection 02:16 How Iran Is a Creation of Fiat Money 02:55 1953 — The CIA Coup and the Dollar's Need for Oil 05:00 The Dollar vs. Bitcoin: Two Very Different Uses of Energy 05:37 1971-1979 — Nixon, Kissinger, and the Petrodollar Trap 08:07 The Perpetual War Machine — Funding Both Sides 11:01 Fiat Thrives on the Chaos It Creates 09:22 2012 Swift Sanctions — Bitcoin's Most Honest Advertisement 10:15 Iran Becomes a Bitco…

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