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00:00:17We have reached the end of this news collection. Thank you very much for your attention and companionship.
00:00:21Have a peaceful night. Goodbye.
00:00:22In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. Good evening,
00:00:56dear viewers. As usual, the news channel
00:01:00at this hour presents a special news interview tonight.
00:01:04We will present it to you and tonight we will talk
00:01:07about the developments in Yemen and Saudi Arabia.
00:01:10Well, recently, the attacks
00:01:13of Ansarullah on Saudi airports once
00:01:16again placed the tension between Riyadh and Sanaa at
00:01:19the top of political developments. Developments that, in addition
00:01:23to the battlefield equations of war, have affected
00:01:27the management of strategic routes in the Red Sea
00:01:30and especially Bab al-Mandab. Tonight, we will try
00:01:34to analyze the various dimensions of this tension
00:01:37with the presence of Dr. Saadollah Zarei,
00:01:41political analyst and West Asia expert.
00:01:45Hello and good evening, and welcome. Thank you.
00:01:48I would like to extend my greetings to you and
00:01:51to our dear viewers, and wish you a good evening.
00:01:55Thank you very much. In recent days, especially the attacks
00:01:58by Ansarullah on King Khalid Airport in
00:02:02Riyadh received a lot of media coverage.
00:02:06Why have airports now become
00:02:08targets of Ansarullah, and what is your analysis
00:02:12of the recent tensions? In the name of Allah,
00:02:15the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
00:02:17Ansarullah is under
00:02:21the influence of the situation that
00:02:24the Saudis have imposed on Yemen for the past 12
00:02:28years.
00:02:30That is, on the one hand, there is the issue of siege,
00:02:34which during these 12 years
00:02:37Yemen has been under siege by Saudi Arabia
00:02:40by sea, by air (meaning airports), and by
00:02:44land. And also from the perspective of war,
00:02:47during this period, at least for 9 years, the Saudis,
00:02:51along with a coalition of about
00:02:5519 countries, attacked Yemen. Now
00:02:59the Saudis are still constantly attacking
00:03:02Yemen. Just today we witnessed their attack on the
00:03:06Jawf region. The Yemenis say
00:03:09that these two actions
00:03:13must be resolved.
00:03:17One is the lifting of the siege, including the reopening of the
00:03:20airport, and the other is the issue of
00:03:24ending the war. Well, these are two logical demands
00:03:28that the Yemenis are making. Any country
00:03:31wants, if there is a war,
00:03:34it should end, and if
00:03:38it is under siege, the siege should be lifted, just as the Islamic Republic also
00:03:42has the same view regarding the siege and sanctions.
00:03:45The Saudis have not
00:03:49peacefully and through
00:03:52negotiations, both bilateral between Yemen
00:03:55and Saudi Arabia and trilateral with
00:03:59Oman's hosting,
00:04:01accepted these two logical demands. In addition,
00:04:05restrictions against
00:04:09Yemen were increased,
00:04:12meaning new pressures were imposed
00:04:16to the point that when the Yemenis wanted to receive
00:04:19a plane to land
00:04:23in Sanaa so that they could
00:04:26attend the farewell ceremony for the body of the martyred
00:04:30leader of the revolution in Tehran, the Saudis did not allow
00:04:34even one flight between Yemen
00:04:38and Iran to be established, and attacked Sanaa airport,
00:04:41so the flight was forced to land in Hodeidah.
00:04:44Therefore, the restrictions continued.
00:04:48Ansarullah came about two months
00:04:50ago and said that these two actions
00:04:54must happen. If the Saudis
00:04:57do not peacefully agree,
00:05:01we will reciprocate
00:05:05with similar actions against Saudi Arabia.
00:05:08That is, we will make
00:05:11this siege that is on
00:05:15Yemen directed at
00:05:18Saudi Arabia. We will put Saudi ports and
00:05:22export centers under siege or under
00:05:25military pressure. And so, they started
00:05:28actions in
00:05:31the Red Sea against Saudi oil export centers
00:05:34and also regarding
00:05:38airports, that since
00:05:40the airport here cannot be active,
00:05:44then Saudi airports can also be closed.
00:05:48And so, they started
00:05:51directing attacks at Saudi airports.
00:05:55And what's interesting is that in recent days, they
00:05:58have attacked three airport centers
00:06:01in three locations in Saudi Arabia
00:06:04symbolically. One of their attacks
00:06:08was on Abha Airport, which is on the border of Yemen
00:06:11and near the Red Sea,
00:06:15and another attack was on Dammam Airport,
00:06:18which is in the eastern part
00:06:22of Saudi Arabia and
00:06:25near the coasts of
00:06:28the Persian Gulf, and also on Riyadh,
00:06:32which is in the center of Saudi Arabia.
00:06:35That is, geographically, it is located in the
00:06:38center of Saudi Arabia, and they attacked these three points in a short
00:06:42time. And they practically disrupted flights at these three
00:06:45points in Saudi Arabia. That is, they showed
00:06:49that if Saudi Arabia does not lift
00:06:53the aerial siege of Yemen,
00:06:57the Yemenis have the ability to disrupt
00:06:59Saudi flights. Just in the past two
00:07:03days, Ansarullah announced
00:07:06that the sky of Saudi
00:07:10Arabia is not safe
00:07:13except for Mecca and Medina, and no flights should
00:07:16take place. A siege actually happened. Yes,
00:07:20and also,
00:07:23Ansarullah's warning led to
00:07:26a large number of flights
00:07:29to Saudi Arabia
00:07:32being canceled in the past two
00:07:35days. And even some
00:07:39reputable European airlines
00:07:42announced that they will suspend flights to Saudi Arabia
00:07:45until March 1. That is, from this Mehr
00:07:48until Esfand, which is about a five or six
00:07:52month period, they said they will not have
00:07:55any flights. Therefore, it is clear that
00:07:59the Yemenis have the ability to reciprocally
00:08:03impose a siege on Saudi Arabia. It is feasible for them. In addition to that, the issue of
00:08:06ending the war is also something the Yemenis
00:08:10are addressing with the attacks
00:08:12they have carried out in the past few days, both within Yemen. You see,
00:08:16in just the past day or two, the Yemenis
00:08:20fought in Ta'izz and made
00:08:23progress. Now, just tonight, there was news
00:08:26that they have gained control over the Jabal al-Arus heights, for example,
00:08:30and are completely gaining control
00:08:33over Ta'izz. They had attacks in Lahj
00:08:37which is adjacent to the Ta'izz region,
00:08:40and at the same time, in the south,
00:08:43they had operations in the relatively northern region of Yemen,
00:08:47and at the same time, while
00:08:50the Yemenis were engaged on these two
00:08:54or three fronts, they also
00:08:57carried out operations at Saudi oil facilities
00:09:00and also directed attacks at
00:09:03Saudi airports, including today's
00:09:07attack on King Khalid Airport. Therefore, it is completely clear that
00:09:10if the Saudis do not
00:09:12logically submit to
00:09:15these two humanitarian demands of the Yemenis,
00:09:19that is, lifting the siege, there is no justification
00:09:23for it against a nation. Or a foreign war against a
00:09:27nation is not justified. Ansarullah has no motivation
00:09:30to attack Saudi Arabia or
00:09:34to impose a siege on Saudi Arabia. It wants to live its own life,
00:09:37and in this situation where the Saudis do not want
00:09:41the Yemenis
00:09:45to live their normal lives, naturally the Yemenis also use their power to resolve these issues.
00:09:49And the fact that Saudi Arabia is now under attack by Ansarullah of Yemen,
00:09:52but nevertheless it also takes retaliatory actions. Its attacks
00:09:56continue, and it is targeting Ansarullah's positions
00:10:00in various locations, even in a
00:10:03perhaps barbaric way. Some villages
00:10:07are experiencing what is described as a massacre being committed by Saudi Arabia.
00:10:10Despite the fact that Saudi Arabia
00:10:14faced that response from the Americans or sought help from other countries,
00:10:18it did not receive a very firm answer,
00:10:21and it knows what power Ansar is now dealing with.
00:10:30The Saudis have assumed something that is really a false
00:10:34assumption, and that assumption is that
00:10:37if the Yemenis gain strength
00:10:41in the south of the peninsula, Saudi Arabia,
00:10:44the UAE, Kuwait, Qatar,
00:10:47Bahrain, and this group of
00:10:50countries, countries that have lived
00:10:54in a quasi-federation under the
00:10:57influence and sovereignty of the West for about
00:11:0180 to 90 years (not all of them,
00:11:05Saudi Arabia for 80 to 90 years, some like the UAE
00:11:08for about 50 to 60 years)
00:11:12will no longer be able to maintain that cohesive
00:11:16federal state, and Saudi Arabia
00:11:19will not have its former
00:11:22power. Yemen has the capacity
00:11:25to take over
00:11:29Saudi Arabia's former role. In addition,
00:11:32this ideology of Yemeni resistance
00:11:36against the West and against Israel
00:11:39and against American
00:11:42and Israeli agents on the other side of the water,
00:11:45meaning towards Africa,
00:11:48in Somalia, Djibouti,
00:11:51Eritrea, Sudan,
00:11:55and throughout this entire
00:11:57region, has buyers.
00:12:01This ideology will definitely
00:12:04expand, and
00:12:07Saudi Arabia will be in a besieged
00:12:11situation. How is it besieged? Well, to the north of
00:12:14Saudi Arabia is Iran
00:12:18and Iraq. To its south is
00:12:21Yemen. To the west of Saudi Arabia
00:12:24are the countries on the western
00:12:27coast of the Red Sea, the African countries I mentioned.
00:12:31If these are in a relatively
00:12:34aggressive stance towards Saudi Arabia,
00:12:37Saudi Arabia's geopolitical position
00:12:41will severely decline, and
00:12:43events will
00:12:47certainly happen in Saudi Arabia, because it is impossible
00:12:50for a geographical environment
00:12:54from the north, which is Iran,
00:12:57and from its northwest, which is Iraq,
00:13:00and from its south, which is Yemen, and from
00:13:03the western coasts of the Red Sea, which are these African countries
00:13:06and now have this potential, to be under pressure
00:13:10and for this to have no impact on Saudi Arabia's geography.
00:13:14So why does it continue? Look,
00:13:17the Saudis have started a, in my opinion, stupid game.
00:13:21They feel that there is no other way for them,
00:13:24and they are choosing that. And you see,
00:13:28in just these few days, what has happened?
00:13:31What crazy things has Saudi Arabia done?
00:13:35For example, a $12 billion
00:13:38contract for the purchase of surface-to-surface
00:13:42and surface-to-air missiles. The Saudis pursued
00:13:45it, although its roots were in the past. They activated
00:13:49this contract. $12 billion
00:13:52purchase for war with Yemen. This is really
00:13:55while Ansar says, "Why do you want to fight? We
00:13:59have nothing to do with you. We want our own country. We want
00:14:03our own land." Even these Yemenis
00:14:06whose center is Sanaa, they don't say
00:14:09all of Yemen. That is, now they don't claim that they want
00:14:12to take Aden, to take Hadhramaut,
00:14:16to take Shabwah, I don't know, they don't want to take these regions
00:14:20at all. They have no motivation to expand
00:14:23their position in the eastern parts
00:14:26of Yemen. They say, "Why do you want to fight?
00:14:30Well, we have nothing to do with you. We say, lift our siege,
00:14:33and stop the war. You also go live your own life."
00:14:37But they came and made a $12 billion contract. They
00:14:41asked Syria and Afghanistan for military
00:14:44aid, meaning military
00:14:46forces
00:14:48that have a history of guerrilla wars
00:14:52to come and help here. They asked America to
00:14:56help them by air.
00:14:58They asked the UAE for help.
00:15:01They asked Turkey, Pakistan,
00:15:04and Egypt for help.
00:15:08They asked countries
00:15:11like Kuwait in their surrounding
00:15:14environment for help. They are trying
00:15:17to start a coalition
00:15:21and solve their problem.
00:15:25Well, you've done this before, and it didn't work.
00:15:28Yes, in 2015,
00:15:32when you waged war against
00:15:35Yemen, you brought 19 countries to the table. You
00:15:38got a UN resolution, and at that time,
00:15:41when you did all these things, these Yemenis
00:15:45were almost one-third
00:15:49or one-fortieth of their current power.
00:15:52There was no ability to launch ballistic missiles in Yemen
00:15:56in 2015. It didn't work then, and now that you
00:15:59came with 19 countries, it didn't
00:16:03work, and you failed. You fought for 9 years, and now
00:16:06you're doing it again in an environment where everyone
00:16:10is talking about the region being on fire. Let's do something
00:16:14to de-escalate the situation,
00:16:17to control it. Everyone is trying to control the fire,
00:16:21and you have come and are stirring up the fire in Yemen again.
00:16:25Well, this is clearly foolish and leads
00:16:28nowhere. Why does Saudi Arabia
00:16:32continue this? With a wrong analysis
00:16:35that this is a war of, as they say,
00:16:39life and death. If I don't win here,
00:16:42my death is certain. And in my opinion, the Saudis
00:16:46are orchestrating this foolish game
00:16:49against themselves. In addition, some
00:16:52countries like the UAE are very upset
00:16:56about this. That is, Bin Zayed is very upset about what
00:16:59is happening to Bin Salman. He is not at all happy.
00:17:03And the Saudis had a security defense agreement
00:17:07with Pakistan and Turkey, but apart
00:17:10from some advisory events and intelligence that may or may not
00:17:13be useful to them, they have not directly
00:17:17entered this matter. It seems that Saudi Arabia
00:17:20also made a wrong calculation regarding Ansarullah's capabilities,
00:17:23and relied too much
00:17:27on American support. The Saudis did not think that all
00:17:31the services they provided here would be
00:17:35without reward. Furthermore,
00:17:37both the UAE
00:17:41and Pakistan and Turkey
00:17:44and Egypt and even America
00:17:48and even the Zionist regime
00:17:52are extremely cautious when facing the Yemenis.
00:17:56All of them, in some way, at some point,
00:17:59have been struck by the Yemenis.
00:18:03That is, Israel has been struck.
00:18:07At one time, Yemen was its problem.
00:18:10In the Gaza War, the Americans were struck separately.
00:18:14In the incident of hitting the ship and Trump's retreat,
00:18:18it was the Yemenis who in a way,
00:18:21Turkey had previously been struck during the Ottoman period. It was defeated once by the Yemenis.
00:18:25The Egyptians were defeated once by the Yemenis.
00:18:28The Pakistanis were struck in some places and
00:18:31are still vulnerable. Therefore, everyone
00:18:35is being cautious. For example, they came
00:18:37and asked Syria for
00:18:41help. Well, Syria's situation is clear. The situation of this
00:18:44Mr. Mohammad al-Jolani is also clear regarding Saudi Arabia. They consider
00:18:48themselves sons of Saudi Arabia,
00:18:51but right here, when Saudi Arabia
00:18:54made a request, the spokesman for this movement
00:18:58announced that while we
00:19:01are with our Saudi brothers, no such request
00:19:05has been made to us,
00:19:07while it has been made, and they could not
00:19:10come forward. They know they are not a match.
00:19:14They are no match for the brave Yemenis. Therefore,
00:19:18everyone is being cautious. In my opinion, it is completely in the Saudis' best interest
00:19:21to respond positively to these
00:19:24signs of peace. Now, the Yemenis
00:19:28have repeatedly raised this in private negotiations
00:19:32and in public statements, just as you know, the Islamic Republic
00:19:35today or yesterday,
00:19:39Mr. Araghchi had a phone call
00:19:42today with Bin Farhan,
00:19:45the Saudi Foreign Minister, and said that we
00:19:48are ready to establish a peace process and dialogue between
00:19:52Yemen and Saudi Arabia, because
00:19:55this peace in fact
00:19:58entails those two points. That is, when
00:20:01the Yemenis talk about peace, or
00:20:05Iran talks about establishing
00:20:07peaceful relations between Saudi Arabia and Yemen,
00:20:10it means a peace without
00:20:13war, a cessation of war or an end
00:20:17to war, and a peace without siege. These are the two
00:20:20main demands of the Yemenis. And Iran, based on
00:20:23this, had this conversation with Bin Farhan.
00:20:27Of course, they gave an arrogant answer. What
00:20:31Bin Farhan published
00:20:34was that yes, Mr. Araghchi called
00:20:38and talked about Iran's concerns about
00:20:41regional issues, while we,
00:20:44who are at the peak of honor and power, and the Yemenis are also
00:20:48at the peak of honor and power.
00:20:54Mr. Araghchi specified in his tweet, or statement,
00:20:57that it was only about Yemen, not about the region.
00:21:01And regarding the region, we have shown
00:21:05our friendship that Mr. Saudi,
00:21:08who is under pressure, well, accept these two demands of Yemen,
00:21:12and this war will end. In my opinion, the Saudis
00:21:16are in a position where they feel
00:21:20difficulty regarding this war. That is, they feel that they either
00:21:23have to win or they have to leave, and apparently they have gone
00:21:27and chosen between these two issues. Now, you mentioned
00:21:30a foolish act, as you described it, the purchase of $12 billion.
00:21:34In this incident of hitting
00:21:38King Khalid Riyadh, it was said that no
00:21:40air defense system worked. That is, Ansarullah's missiles
00:21:44passed very easily. This is also
00:21:47a strange incident. Despite
00:21:51all the investments Saudi Arabia made in buying equipment,
00:21:54especially from the Americans, these investments
00:21:56did not pay off today. Well, basically, the performance
00:22:00of the defensive air defense systems that have emerged
00:22:04in this war they had with Iran, neither THAAD
00:22:07systems succeeded, nor Patriot
00:22:11systems succeeded, nor F-35s succeeded,
00:22:14nor BDA systems succeeded. All
00:22:18defensive systems, even where there were multiple
00:22:21layers, Aramco itself, which was
00:22:24hit and today
00:22:28the Aramco CEO warned that the situation is getting worse,
00:22:31well, it had multiple layers of defense.
00:22:35This war with Iran showed
00:22:38that there is a power that
00:22:42can penetrate these layers. The Yemenis have also penetrated them,
00:22:46and you know that
00:22:49now the protective coverings of American,
00:22:52Saudi, and other facilities
00:22:55in the region have been weakened since before the Iran war,
00:22:59because these systems have been damaged.
00:23:02That is, over
00:23:0650% of the air defense systems that the Americans had
00:23:09established here, both individually and in multiple layers,
00:23:13have all been damaged. That is, they no longer
00:23:16have the air defense power they had before the war.
00:23:19And furthermore, there is no longer any trust
00:23:22in these air defense systems, and it is clear
00:23:26that neither Aramco is safe with these
00:23:29coverings, nor are airports safe, nor are military centers
00:23:32safe, nor are ships safe. There is no
00:23:35safe location in the region anymore.
00:23:38And of course, Iran is really not seeking war,
00:23:42and Ansarullah is not seeking war either. However, we are in a situation
00:23:45where we must defend ourselves, our interests,
00:23:49our existence, our rights.
00:23:52And if this defense is not met with a positive
00:23:56response, meaning if they do not peacefully
00:23:59accept our rights, well, we are forced
00:24:03to use force to achieve our rights,
00:24:06and the use of force is not in the interest of the Saudis,
00:24:10the Emiratis, the Kuwaitis, and these southern countries in particular.
00:24:13This is something that everyone understands
00:24:17and has been discussed many times.
00:24:20Right now, regarding the issue of Russia and that agreement they made with the Americans
00:24:23and Trump specifically, the Westerners are very
00:24:27disillusioned by this.
00:24:30That is, their feeling is that Trump sold
00:24:33Zelensky and all of Ukraine and Europe
00:24:37for Russia, for those 300 thousand tons of diesel. Now
00:24:41it is said that Saudi Arabia also has such a feeling towards
00:24:44Trump. That is, practically all those who were somehow supported
00:24:47by America or had a coalition
00:24:50with America have now come to the conclusion that he cannot be relied upon at all.
00:24:54That is, when you need him, he only thinks about his own interests,
00:24:57even if it's for 300 thousand tons of diesel, which practically
00:25:01doesn't even have much utility for your economy and energy,
00:25:04but for those same 30 thousand tons, he is willing
00:25:08to break off his relationship with Ukraine and Zelensky or
00:25:12even with Europe. Exactly. If you put the statements
00:25:15of Zelensky and the statements of Bin Salman
00:25:19next to each other, they are very similar. That is,
00:25:22the language of despair, complaint,
00:25:26criticism regarding the type of cooperation
00:25:29that should be with them, regarding the fact that
00:25:32a coalition cannot be formed. Countries that claimed
00:25:36support have taken a step back.
00:25:39Consider these things. Then, besides this issue,
00:25:43something else bothers them, and that is
00:25:47that the Islamic Republic, unlike
00:25:50America, strongly supports
00:25:53its allies, because the first
00:25:56clause of the Islamabad agreement was very powerful.
00:25:59Iran, with all its power, supports Hezbollah.
00:26:03Now, Hezbollah is
00:26:06a revolutionary organization. It is not
00:26:10a government, it is not a country,
00:26:12in a way. It supports Hamas, which is not a country,
00:26:16with all its power, as much as it can.
00:26:19This retreat by the Americans
00:26:22creates an image in the region
00:26:26that the Islamic Republic strongly supports its allies.
00:26:30This image creates a question of who
00:26:33can be trusted and who cannot be trusted. In my opinion,
00:26:36this bothers them more than the first issue
00:26:39for countries that have connected themselves
00:26:42to America. And now, what is America's situation?
00:26:46On the one hand, if it wants to come to the aid of Saudi Arabia
00:26:50against Ansarullah, well, they say one of the reasons for the Americans'
00:26:53reluctance to intervene is that they do not
00:26:57want to lose their focus on Iran in this matter, because if they get involved,
00:27:00then they might have problems regarding Iran.
00:27:04If they get involved with Ansarullah, we will face problems on this side. If they don't get involved,
00:27:08well, Ansarullah is putting pressure on them on that side.
00:27:11What is America's situation in these circumstances, in your opinion? Exactly, you have pointed
00:27:15to the main issue, the contradiction
00:27:19in America's situation.
00:27:21The Americans have 24 or 25
00:27:25years of experience of war in our region.
00:27:28All of them are failed experiences.
00:27:31Failure in Afghanistan and that
00:27:35disgraceful escape in 2021. Failure in Iraq,
00:27:39they failed twice in Iraq and
00:27:42fled. Once they fled in 2009.
00:27:46From 2009 to
00:27:492011.
00:27:51And once they fled this October, this current
00:27:54October. On October 8th, they
00:27:58withdrew all their military forces from Iraq. A very great achievement
00:28:02for
00:28:05this, for example, their experience in Iraq. Their experience in
00:28:08Lebanon, that incident that happened
00:28:11in 1984,
00:28:14or 1984,
00:28:18when the American center in Beirut was hit,
00:28:21and more than 240 American
00:28:25Marines were killed, and America fled
00:28:29Lebanon and has not returned to this day.
00:28:33America's defeat in the war with Iran, America's
00:28:36defeat in the conflict with these Yemenis
00:28:40in the past year, where America withdrew,
00:28:44well, these are experiences of failure.
00:28:48This experience of failure tells the entire ruling establishment
00:28:51of America, both the Republican Party, which
00:28:55is in power, and the Democrats, who are in the Senate
00:28:59or elsewhere, their experience is that they should not get involved.
00:29:03Involvement brings no benefits
00:29:06for them. This is America's experience. Another point is
00:29:09that the Republican Party and Trump himself,
00:29:13who is in power, for the elections that will be held
00:29:17in
00:29:19front of him. He needs
00:29:23peace for those elections. And so you see that
00:29:27the Israelis are under pressure
00:29:30to fight for their survival.
00:30:12In this atmosphere, as you see the big contradiction
00:30:15in the behavior of Americans and Europeans regarding Ukraine today,
00:30:18on this side, Americans are trying to lower
00:30:22the flames in Ukraine, and on the other side,
00:30:25today, Europeans announced 300 new sanctions against
00:30:28Russia. This shows how much distance there is
00:30:32between positions and how much tension
00:30:35and trouble there is. What is this due to? It is due to
00:30:39defeat. In the Ukraine case, the Westerners
00:30:42were defeated. They could not do anything for Ukraine,
00:30:45and also in the case of the
00:30:48Iran war.