Google Speech-to-Text API Automatic Transcription (Chirp). Treat it as a searchable index of what was broadcast, not a quotation record.
00:00:00'who can't even put
00:00:01of basic food on the table, on one hand there's their
00:00:04honor, but on the other hand, there's all the invisible
00:00:08unwaged work that women do, and women are really the
00:00:11pillar, you know, if the woman is doing well, the men will do
00:00:15a well,
00:00:16of
00:00:23of
00:00:34of of of
00:00:35of of
00:00:40of
00:00:49of
00:00:54of
00:00:56of
00:00:58of
00:01:16of
00:01:37of
00:01:42of
00:02:13of
00:02:21Four years, those of us
00:02:22of in the 11 to have watched wars, sponsored, armed and
00:02:26politically protected by Washington and Zinus Israel, turn our cities into.
00:02:30ruins our economies into wreckage and our daily lives into a permanent exercise
00:02:34and survival. We were told implicitly or explicitly
00:02:38that the consequences
00:02:38of these wars would remain
00:02:41of conveniently contained in our part
00:02:42of the world. Well, that
00:02:43of assumption is becoming rather expensive. Trump's west Asia adventure
00:02:47of aggression is
00:02:48in now feeding directly into a global energy crisis with a
00:02:52straight of hormouse disrupted and the Babilmendib be
00:02:56increasingly unsafe due to Trump's war against Iran.
00:03:00Iran and Yemen, two
00:03:01of the world's most important energy and shipping arteries have become
00:03:04casualties of war. Oil has climbed above
00:03:08$100 a barrel, while diesel in the United States of America has
00:03:12reached unprecedented levels, and diesel is not
00:03:15simply what trucks put in their tanks. It moves food,
00:03:19operates farms, power, factories, drives
00:03:23construction and keeps global supply chains alive. The
00:03:26result, higher transport costs, higher... food prices,
00:03:30higher heating
00:03:31of bills and another powerful accelerant for
00:03:34of inflation. In the United States of America, households are being warned
00:03:38of about soaring, heating, oil costs and dwindling fuel
00:03:42stocks. In Europe, already struggling with expensive energy and
00:03:46economic pressures, consumers and businesses face
00:03:49another bill for a
00:03:51of war that they did not start. And here is the
00:03:54a irony: a while ordinary taxpayers are being asked to absorb the economy's
00:03:58consequences, American oil refined. are enjoying
00:04:01extraordinary profits. Apparently, even
00:04:08of in a crisis, somebody gets the premium package. You see, the damage does not stop at the pump, disrupted refineries and fuel
00:04:11shipments, declining diesel exports and collapsing inventories are
00:04:15a tightening the global market. Add Trump's tariff policies
00:04:19to the equation,
00:04:20of and which raises the cost of important
00:04:22of goods and disrupt trade, and the global economy is being
00:04:25squeezed
00:04:26of from multiple directions at once. From where we stand. and in West
00:04:30Asia, this is painfully familiar. We have lived through
00:04:33a the bombs, sanctions, displacement, and economic
00:04:36devastation. What is new is that the econ financing it
00:04:40have discovered
00:04:42of inconvenient
00:04:43of truth.
00:04:43of There is no such thing as geographically contained
00:04:47war an interconnected world. The
00:04:51bill has
00:04:52of arrived, this time it is not being delivered to the Middle East
00:04:56alone. Welcome to the Mid East Stream. I'm Marsman.
00:05:05For years, the wars imposed on West Asia were presented as regional
00:05:09conflicts whose consequences could somehow be contained within the... region,
00:05:13but with the straight of hormoz and the straight of babel mandab under growing
00:05:16pressure due to continuous US and Zianous Israeli wars of
00:05:20aggression, the energy arteries connecting West Asia to the global
00:05:24economy have become strategic fault lines and the economic
00:05:28consequences are now being felt far beyond our
00:05:31shores. To discuss this issue with us from Beirot is Mr. Muhammad
00:05:35Zubaidi, yemeny political commentator, it's a pleasure having you with us, Mr.
00:05:39Muhammad, now from geopolitical perspective here, what
00:05:42does the disruption of both the straight of hormos and the straight of babal
00:05:46mandab mean to the global economy? mean, is this
00:05:50just another temporary energy shock because the war?
00:05:53or is the control and the vulnerability of
00:05:57both states now a fundamentally changing point
00:06:01the calculations, the policy calculations for the US, zianist
00:06:05Israel, the Arab world and the large economies the
00:06:08world. bismillah, شكرا للاستضافه,
00:06:12In the name of Allah, the most compassionate, the most merciful, thank you for having
00:06:16me. In reality, answering this question in full would require a
00:06:20great deal of time, because it is a profound and multi-faceted issue.
00:06:24But in brief, the transformations taking place around the world's maritime
00:06:28choke points, particularly the straight of hormos and Babelmandab, are
00:06:32placing these two waterways within a fundamentally changing balance of power. We are
00:06:36witnessing a shift and control and influence over these strategic passages.
00:06:39From a period of predominantly western and American control. toward new reality
00:06:43in which other actors opposed to American Hegemony are exercising greater
00:06:47influence. This has effectively transformed these two choke points into major
00:06:51strategic weapons and elevated geography itself into one the most
00:06:54powerful tools in the current phase of confrontation. If their disruption becomes part of
00:06:58a more advanced stage of an ongoing conflict, the consequences will clearly go
00:07:02far beyond the temporary impact. They could be deep, structural
00:07:06and long-lasting. For the United States, this carries several
00:07:10important consequences. We are: talking about the erosion of American dominance in the
00:07:14Red Sea, the weakening of deterrents, and what can be described as a loss of
00:07:18strategic focus. The United States had placed confronting China at the heart of
00:07:22its national security strategy, yet today a significant portion of its
00:07:26military presence, attention
00:07:27and strategic momentum is concentrated in the Middle East. This creates a
00:07:31major problem of strategic overstretch. There is also the issue the
00:07:35erosion of prestige and the implications that carries. For Zionist Israel,
00:07:39meanwhile, the maritime blockade is becoming increasingly.
00:07:43depth is being constrained, particularly is being constrained,
00:07:47particularly in the red sea and the Arabian sea. this has significant
00:07:51its strategic implications for both the economy and the security the Israeli entity.
00:07:55we have already seen the impact the confrontation between Yemen and the Israel
00:07:58entity, particularly on the port of known in
00:08:02substantial. as for Europe,
00:08:04it is among the actors most affected by this transformation surrounding the two choke
00:08:07points. Europe is becoming increasingly constrained because it depends heavily on
00:08:11these routes. particularly the straight of hormos for energy supplies and other
00:08:15vital commodities, any disruption to these two maritime corridors
00:08:19therefore carries extremely significant consequences for Europe. In
00:08:22short, the shift in the balance of control and influence over these two waterways is
00:08:26producing a corresponding shift
00:08:28in the political consequences and consequently in future
00:08:31strategic calculations. These two choke points coding straight of
00:08:35hormous and yemen in the case of. We are therefore facing
00:08:38major transformation in the strategic environment.
00:08:43Definitely this is where I want to take your opinion Mr. Mohammed about the
00:08:47role of Yemen. Yemen now sits at the one the
00:08:51world's most critical, most important
00:08:54uh routes for shipment, especially for a global energy
00:08:58shipment as a corridor to Europe, as you mentioned in your answer. How has
00:09:02this conflict really transformed Babel Mandab uh from
00:09:06this regional maritime passage into something that has
00:09:10a pressure point of consequences. for the prices of
00:09:13oil during this winter, what does this reveal about the
00:09:17strategic importance of Yemen in this specific
00:09:21point?
00:09:25indeed,
00:09:25what is happening around mandab is particularly significant, we are talking
00:09:29about major strategic choke point whose importance is comparable to that the straight of
00:09:33hormos, approximately 12% of global trade passes through this
00:09:37corridor, along with around 9 to 10% of global energy flows.
00:09:41the development surrounding. control and influence over Babel Mandab are therefore
00:09:45transforming the straight from regional maritime passage into a strategic
00:09:48confrontation point with far-reaching consequences. It affects the arteries of
00:09:52global trade, supply chains and western economic security. All
00:09:56these dimensions place Yemen within an extremely important, sensitive and
00:10:00strategically significant geographical position. The significance becomes even
00:10:03greater given the continuation the current regional international and global
00:10:07conflict. In this context, Babel Mandab gives Yamen major global
00:10:11pressure card. This leverage could force changes in supply chains and
00:10:15economic security across the west. If the conflict continues
00:10:18escalate, it could cause severe disruption to supply chains,
00:10:22global trade and other interconnected economic systems. This is
00:10:26particularly relevant if we assume that the conflict extends over a prolonged
00:10:29period. Under such circumstances, Yemen would have greater ability to
00:10:33utilize this strategic leverage. These considerations are also linked to the
00:10:37influence and control that have developed in recent stages, not only around
00:10:41Babelmandab itself, but also around the city of Almakha and
00:10:44consequently along this important coastal corridor. This has
00:10:47significant implications for western economic security, not only at the level
00:10:51of governments and economic systems, but potentially even at the level of... consumer prices
00:10:55and household costs affecting western consumers. This represents
00:10:59major shift in how the west approaches the separation between military action in the use
00:11:03of hard power on the one hand, and the economic consequences that may
00:11:07follow on the other. We are therefore witnessing a significant global strategic
00:11:11positioning by Yemen. This positioning has been enabled by its influence over
00:11:15major global pressure point, Babel Mandab. It gives us an
00:11:19indication the potential impact this strategic leverage could have on the
00:11:22transformations the coming phase, particular.
00:11:35a barrel and this has significantly impacted the
00:11:39citizens, the tax paying citizens the west who seem
00:11:43to be now paying the price of all the burden of wars that
00:11:47was brought about them by their regimes. now
00:11:50energy security, but now this is challenging what he's
00:11:53saying, and what are? the browder geopolitical consequences if the economic
00:11:57pressure continues, knowing that Europe might be
00:12:01looking a new front that might open against
00:12:04Russia as well, this will be devastating even more for the economy, what do you
00:12:08think, the impact on energy
00:12:12flows, supply chains and energy prices is particularly significant.
00:12:16In fact, throughout the conflicts we have witnessed in previous periods, we have
00:12:20not seen a transformation quite like the one taking place today. What we are witnessing
00:12:24challenge is the assumption. that the economic consequences of using hard power and
00:12:27military force can somehow be separated from the military action itself.
00:12:31when the west pursued different forms of confrontation in the middle east, it operated on the
00:12:35assumption that the use of military force would not necessarily produce major economic
00:12:39repercussions, particularly in terms of supply chains, energy flows and energy
00:12:43prices. this time, however, the situation is completely different.
00:12:47today, any use of military or non-military pressure produces
00:12:51economic repercussions for the states involved. we are therefore witnessing.
00:12:55fundamental shift
00:12:55and the consequences associated with the use of hard power. military action and
00:12:59military options can no longer be treated as separate from their economic
00:13:03consequences, and this is highly consequential because it forces these states to
00:13:07reconsider their calculations and reassess the circumstances under which they
00:13:10resort to military options. what we are seeing today is a
00:13:14sense a form of defiance, particularly from Donald Trump and the U.S.
00:13:18administration, and from the wider western camp, which continues
00:13:22to view the use of force as initial option, but this... approach carries major
00:13:26consequences. In recent stages, however, there have been significant
00:13:29reassessments, particularly among some European countries that recognize the
00:13:33potentially severe economic consequences, disruptions to supply
00:13:37chains, shortages of essential goods and materials, and beyond that, the shock
00:13:41of rising energy prices and other costs. This is producing major
00:13:45strategic shift. It is pushing these states toward a broader reassessment of
00:13:49military options and toward political solutions in negotiated settlements.
00:13:53The challenge therefore is how to absorb all these shocks, particularly the
00:13:57impact of rising energy prices and energy shortages.
00:14:00Europe is already facing serious challenge as it enters the winter season,
00:14:04especially following the disruption of Russian gas supplies, given Europe's
00:14:08previous heavy reliance on energy from the east. At the same
00:14:11time, the transformations we discussed in the first and second questions,
00:14:15particularly the disruption the straight of hormos and Babelmandab, place
00:14:19Europe before even greater and more dangerous challenge. This could force major
00:14:23changes in its strategic choices. This is why we argue that economic
00:14:26pressure has become a major instrument of leverage. The pressure cards available
00:14:30to Iran and Yemen could produce significant changes in the choices made during the next
00:14:34phase. They could push these states to move beyond military options and toward
00:14:38political settlements and potentially force those pursuing military
00:14:41confrontation to reconsider their approach. This is particularly
00:14:45relevant to Donald Trump who continues to seek to place military power at the
00:14:49forefront, while moving away from consideration the broader economic
00:14:52consequences, consequences that are now...
00:14:57I want to thank you very much, Mr. Mohammed Zubaidi, political analyst and commentator for
00:15:01joining us to discuss this very, very crucial metal at the moment in the global economy.
00:15:05Thank you very much for your time and contribution. Ladies and gents, please do stay with
00:15:09us, because after this break we were talk about how Saudi
00:15:12Arabia is gambling with its
00:15:14security.
00:15:34Saudi Arabia has spent decades building its security strategy around
00:15:38Washington, yet the current regional war is exposing the limits of that
00:15:42partnership. With Yemen gaining strategic leverage over Babel Mandab
00:15:46and Saudi energy infrastructure under pressure, Riyadh is confronting a
00:15:50question that weapons alone cannot answer. Can regional
00:15:54security still be guaranteed from outside the region? More details
00:15:58in the following report. For
00:16:02decades Saudi Arabia poured billions into an alliance with
00:16:05Washington buying. american weapons deapening economic
00:16:09ties and placing its security in the hands the world's most powerful
00:16:13military. the promise was simple: boil for security,
00:16:17but now when the kingdom faces perhaps its most serious strategic
00:16:20predicament in years, Washington appears to be saying, you are on your
00:16:24own. the irony is difficult to miss. as the war with the
00:16:28Islamic Republic of Iran continues, Saudi Arabian oil infrastructure
00:16:32has come under attack, its east-west bipeline remains
00:16:36largely shut, and Kingdom faces growing pressure around the
00:16:39Red Sea and Babel Mandib, yet President Donald Trump has
00:16:43resisted direct military intervention against Yemen despite requests
00:16:47for assistance reportedly going unanswered. To put the dilemma
00:16:51bluntly, Riyad invested decades in its military partnership with
00:16:55Washington for precisely this kind of moment, and now
00:16:59Washington is not stepping up, and this is where Saudi Arabia's strategic
00:17:02conundrum becomes impossible to ignore. The kingdom has spent years
00:17:06acquiring. sophisticated American weaponry and strengthening its military
00:17:10partnership with Washington, yet weapons alone cannot guarantee security when the
00:17:14geography the conflict has changed. Yemen sits beside
00:17:18Bable Mandib, while Saudi Arabia's oil infrastructure stretches across a
00:17:21vast and vulnerable landscape. The east-west pipeline, once regarded
00:17:25as a critical alternative to the straight up or moves, is now
00:17:29itself under attack. Meanwhile, Washington appears reluctant to repeat its
00:17:33previous military campaign in Yemen. Trump may prefer to portray
00:17:37this. as Saudi Ansara problem, but the wider conflict has already
00:17:40connected Yemen, Iran, the Red Sea, and the global energy
00:17:44market. Soviad faces a choice that cannot be solved
00:17:48simply by buying another weapon system. It can continue relying on an
00:17:51American security architecture that has demonstrated limits precisely when the
00:17:55kingdoms needs it most, or it can recognize that geography
00:17:59cannot be bombed away and that sustainable security may ultimately
00:18:03require political agreements with its neighbors including Yemen and the
00:18:07Islamic. republic of Iran because of decades of military spending have
00:18:11not insulated. The question is why it keeps expecting weapons to solve
00:18:14geopolitical
00:18:15problem.
00:18:21To discuss this issue with us, ladies and gents from Rome is
00:18:25Dr. Tim Anderson, political analist and author of many
00:18:29books about West Asia, last of which is his book called
00:18:33Understanding Yemen. Thank you very much for being with us, Professor
00:18:36Anderson now. geopolitically speaking, has Yemen's growing
00:18:40control over the Red Sea and the Babel Mandab
00:18:44fundamentally really altered the strategic balance facing Saudi Arabia and
00:18:48its American partners, I mean with the uh Saudi kingdom's east-west
00:18:51pipeline being vulnerable, being hit, how much has the geography of
00:18:55Yemen really transformed what was once presented as a
00:18:59manageable Saudi security problem into a wider regional and global
00:19:03strategic challenge? Thank you for inviting me, yes I...
00:19:07think the consolidation the answer revolutionary
00:19:11government's control the red sea coast right down to the babal
00:19:14mandab has significantly changed things in
00:19:18the region. also I might draw attention to the fact that the
00:19:22attacks that unser forces have made on the Saudi's
00:19:26facilities, infrastructure oil infrastructure in
00:19:29relation to the siege against siege um
00:19:32strategy of Arala um and it's coordination with
00:19:36other. resistance forces is very important, it's notable I think that the
00:19:40Iraqi resistance was involved in disabling this
00:19:43east-west oil pipeline the Saudies.
00:19:47Well, Professor Anderson, we're seeing more challenges coming from that
00:19:51area and from other areas against the European taxpayers
00:19:54and the American taxpayers, the west in general, and we're seeing lot of public
00:19:58anger there. How much do you think that Yemen's role now
00:20:02is basically just uh dictating what
00:20:06the uh security. the global energy should look like in the
00:20:09world, well it's very important because before February the
00:20:1328th this year when the war was launched against Iran, they
00:20:17said something like 25% the the world's
00:20:21oil trade was coming through the straights of and then another
00:20:257% from
00:20:27the the or 7% from the red sea, now when
00:20:30the um when the ancerolla forces
00:20:33effectively consolidate their control over b
00:20:37and these attacks on the oil infrastructure at Yangu port and the
00:20:41East-West pipeline began because the Saudis had a had an option to
00:20:45plan C if you like to export oil in smaller ships
00:20:49through. the sewis canal north in the red sea, that is now gone now,
00:20:53so effectively the the oil sales and the finances from
00:20:57Saudi Arabia are now zero, and that's really
00:21:01bring to ahead a type of crisis for the
00:21:04soudies as result their hosting the US
00:21:07bases, so really the the the the choke
00:21:11hold on oil exports, so it's say over 30% of
00:21:15oil experts on in the world, because there's something like the trade
00:21:19was... like 100 million barrels a day, um, so more than
00:21:2330% of that is coming from this region, which is now, oil reserves have
00:21:27come down substantially, there are few countries that have bigger reserves than
00:21:31other like China has bigger reserves, but really prices are steadily
00:21:34going up and we're facing a situation which
00:21:38can't be improved in the short term at all, even by release
00:21:42of reserves or some additional production from some other quarter, so
00:21:46really this is a slow building process, "there is not going
00:21:50to be any relief from it really, unless the war in the
00:21:54region, the siege of Yemen, the the war on and and the siege on
00:21:58Iran are lifted, there's not going to be any possibility of
00:22:01rapid, I hear you very well, Tim, but Saudi Arabia has
00:22:05invested enormous political, economic and
00:22:09military capital in its partnership with Washington to try and
00:22:12avoid all that, yet the United States of America now appears reluctant even
00:22:16interven directly against Yemen, does this moment?" they
00:22:20expose a deeper limitation in the traditional oil for
00:22:24security, if you will, relationship, and could Riyad ultimately
00:22:27be forced to reconsider whether lasting security can be achieved through military
00:22:31alliances and weapon purchases rather than political accomodation with Yemen
00:22:35and the Islamic Republic
00:22:37of Iran. Yes, of course, I think that's happening already. It seems
00:22:41that the the countries were the the lead player in
00:22:44trying to develop some talks with Oman, and the Saudis
00:22:48didn't want to participate because... It's really difficult for family
00:22:51dictatorship to change things around and they're so used to
00:22:55spending such lot of money that this pressure on them of course is going to force
00:22:59them to reconsider, but amongst the uh the Arab dictatorships
00:23:03the Persian gulfound that's the important thing in that factor and of course the
00:23:06Saudis have been so arrogant they think they control the whole Arabian
00:23:10peninsula and that they they're entitled to control the other GCC
00:23:14partners and and Yemen of course and they've really come hit hit a brick wall
00:23:18with Yemen basically they hit it. 'a few years back and
00:23:21there was a cease fire and they haven't really been able to improve things at all
00:23:25recently, rather they tried to reimpose the air, land and
00:23:29sea bloccade on Yemen, after there was that brief period
00:23:33of respite where there were a couple of um Mahan air flights into
00:23:36sana, so really uh the Yemenis have responded in
00:23:40very strong way and the Saudis don't have a good option
00:23:44and but the they don't really have any flexibility either in in
00:23:47reconsidering their position do they'. "historically they've been this
00:23:51situation where they've served effectively as slaves for the
00:23:54anglo-americans, and changing that equation is going to be very difficult
00:23:58for them, it may be that the system in Saudi Arabia is not
00:24:02possible to not able to change,
00:24:06well I want to talk about after writing about Yemen's history, society and
00:24:09political dynamics and its energy as well,
00:24:13what do you hope European audiences will understand differently about
00:24:17the country today, and does the current? crisis demonstrate why
00:24:21Yemen can no longer be treated as a peripheral actor in the region but must
00:24:25be understood as a central player in the geopolitics of esta
00:24:29and the global economy as well? yes, and the problem really is
00:24:32that hardly anyone in the world, hardly any states,
00:24:36even our our friends in Russia and China and Latin America have
00:24:40really recognized
00:24:41that there was revolution in Yemen in 2014, there is revolutionary
00:24:45coalition governmentts, an extremely uh broad and inclusive
00:24:49government of... It's not based in one clan in the north of
00:24:53Yemen, as people say the rebels, that's
00:24:56really misleading people immediately when that terminology is used, and
00:25:00of course the consequence of not recognizing what's happened in Yemen and the
00:25:04fact that have
00:25:05we revolutionary government which now controls and
00:25:08provides services for probably now more than 80% the
00:25:12population means the the UN security back siege
00:25:16on all of Yemen is really.
00:25:50all powerful, it can't get its way, the so-called security guarantees with
00:25:54the US are not worth very much. this is an important lesson, not just
00:25:58to those that the US is attacking, but also those that consider themselves
00:26:01allies. under security umbrella the US, so that sort of
00:26:05reconsideration I think is going on in in such disperate places
00:26:09as Europe with their concerns about that
00:26:13NATO and relying on the US there, the
00:26:16so-called approach to security in Europe, it
00:26:19affects South Korea, it affects Japan, it affects so many countries, and of
00:26:23course the the the arab states the Persian gulf, so
00:26:27that sort of reconsideration I think is really starting to reshape the
00:26:31world. actually and it's it's a one the additional signs
00:26:35the decline the dominance the US in the
00:26:38world, definitely, ladies and gents, I would like to
00:26:42advise you to look at the social media platforms of Dr.
00:26:46Tim Anderson, especially on Twitter and on telegram to get more updates
00:26:50about his books, where you can find them,
00:26:52how you can buy them, and please do follow us on telegram and on next to get more updates about the
00:26:56region of west Asia right here on Press TV's uh the medies
00:26:59stream, thank you very much Dr. Tim Anderson for being with us. Thank you very much, ladies and
00:27:03gents for being
00:27:04with us, have a great week
00:27:05ahead,
00:27:10assalam alaikum.
00:27:43From the Asian silk road to modern industry, East
00:27:47Azerbaijan has long connected Iran with the
00:27:50world,
00:27:56with rich mineral resources, thriving industries and
00:27:59agriculture and breath taking landscapes. historic sites
00:28:03and cultural heritage, what opportunities does this
00:28:07northwestern province offer to investors and
00:28:10travelers?
00:28:48Your headlines on press TV Iran says it remains determined to
00:28:51defend this national interest and prevent the US from exploiting the straight
00:28:55of humous to threaten the country. Iraq's
00:28:59Katib Hezbollah urges Iraqies to support Iran
00:29:02economically uncounted