The Houthis Have JOINED The Iran War

[00:00:00]What is your level of concern of a blockade of the Red Sea by the Houthi rebels opening up another front in the war?

[00:00:07]>> We see what happens. So far, it hasn't happened. Might happen. Uh but we take care of things. If something like that happens, we take care of it. You know, we've done that with the Houthis before and we haven't heard from them in a while.

[00:00:21]Well, I think it's safe to say that President Trump is certainly hearing from the Houthies now because uh the Iranianbacked Houthies have decided to escalate in this war against Iran. They have announced uh a blockade of Saudi oil shipments through the Red Seas Bob al- Mandeb strait and by doing so uh they are going to cause a lot of pain and suffering to the global economy um by closing off one of the Gulf's few viable alternatives to the straight of Hormuse uh for exporting oil and this is very much part of Iran's strategy and this was predictable which is why it's so devast devastatingly stupid that Trump decided to dissolve theou and reignite this war against Iran. Now the impact of the global econom on the global economy is no joke. Um this blockade would reduce global oil supply by 7% at a time when the closure of the straight of Hormuz has already halted 10% of global oil shipments. Saudi Arabia partly skirted shipping disruptions by piping oil uh to yanboo through the Red Sea instead. That was like their goaround uh the blockade in the straight of Hormuse. But a full closure of that alternative clearly is going to reduce global oil supply even more than it's already been reduced. Um and keep in mind that oil prices have already ticked up since Trump decided to reignite the war against Iran. The average price of gas in the United States hit $4 a gallon on Monday, the second time it has reached that mark since the war dis uh disrupted global oil supplies according to AAA data. The price of oil also briefly rose above $90 a barrel on Monday for the first time since June. So, um this is meant to economically pressure the United States to end the war. And I'm curious, Glenn, if you think that it will be an effective way in ending the war.

[00:02:25]>> I mean, I think that Iran has demonstrated an enormous amount of leverage that maybe they even didn't know that they had against the United States and have now discovered, which is one of the reasons why they so been so resolute in demanding terms they regard as favorable. I think one of the things that has gotten overlooked, Donna, is something that Trump said during the days after they signed that memorandum of understanding where he was being, you know, very vigorously attacked by not just Israelis, but a lot of the hawkish elements of the Conservative party for having entered into anou with the Iranians that most people considered excessively favorable to Iran, essentially lifting the sanctions, allowing them to trade their oil, getting billions of dollars, all the things that Trump accused Obama of allowing with the Iran deal. They they basically allowed with thatou and and one of the things that Trump said kind of a moment of unintentional cander was when he was defending himself from the accusation that he had capitulated to Iran. He explained and this is something I've been hearing for weeks now or had been hearing for weeks in the leadup to the MOU and I do believe it's very important and central to the considerations here which is that one of the reasons why despite this protracted blockade of the straight of Hormuz that gas prices you know that oil prices didn't go to say $150 or $200 a barrel or $300 a barrel we didn't pay $8 a gallon at the tanks or $10 or $12. they rose but not catastrophically is because countries all over the world including United States have strategic reserves of petroleum which are designed as specifically to prevent you know global economic collapse in the event that there's some disruption to the global oil supply was created after the OPEC crisis of 1973 when people had lines of gas going you know six seven hours and Trump said and it's absolutely true that because of the straight of horm disruptions it was basically closed for more than two months the world in the United states were getting dangerously low on the strategic petroleum reserves and once that happens there's no more oil. I mean the Iranians have proven they can keep the straight of horses closed. Now you have the Houthi threatening to do it with the Red Sea and that is major disruption. The world needs oil. The world relies on oil.

[00:04:35]Human beings need it for survival. And Trump was saying that if you allowed the strategic reserves to get too low, you would have global war. You would have global economic collapse and instability. and we didn't have nearly enough time to fill up those strategic reserves. Maybe we filled them up a tiny bit, but those have already been depleted. And so the leverage that the Iranians have is just as great now, if not greater, than it was that when when Trump agreed to that in the first place.

[00:04:59]So no one understands what the exit strategy here is.

[00:05:02]>> You're absolutely right about that. In fact, some of the more hawkish commentators in the media are kind of furious about the fact that there doesn't really seem to be a strategy here. and they're the the Trump administration hasn't clearly laid out what their goals are like why are we in this war to begin with Josh Hammer of all people um I think the editor over at Newsweek uh was on Pierce Morgan complaining about it and he is one of the biggest cheerleaders for war against Iran. Now, of course, as any good neocon, uh he calls for a mchavelian approach of declare what your goal is, go in quick, rip the band-aid off, basically cause as much pain and suffering and destruction as possible in Iran. And uh I don't know, he's under the impression that that will accomplish uh something that the Israelis want, something that the United States wants, but every military expert who isn't bought off by Israel or the military-industrial complex says that there really isn't a military option here for the United States to end the war. It needs to be done diplomatically.

[00:06:04]But Trump doesn't seem to have the capability of doing that. And to your point about the strategic petroleum reserve, you're absolutely right that us tapping into it has helped to keep oil prices relatively low. I mean, it would have been far more disastrous than what we're already experiencing at the pump.

[00:06:21]However, people forget that China also stopped importing oil and has just re-entered the market. they were tapping into their strategic petroleum reserves and that was also helping to mitigate the demand for the limited supply of energy oil um in the global market.

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[00:07:58]>> And so, we're in a lot of trouble. And I'm not entirely convinced that Trump is fully aware because all of the military movements that we're seeing in the Middle East right now appears to show that the United States intends to expand the war, escalate the war. But maybe my interpretation or my read of it is incorrect. I'm curious what you think.

[00:08:18]The problem with Trump is that he has so many different instincts and so many different factions that are constantly successfully manipulating him that it's almost impossible to know from one day to the next which of his many conflicting statements you're supposed to believe. And I don't even think he knows, frankly, until the decision is made. You know, we've seen this so how many times have we seen him saying, "I'm done with negotiations. We're going to obliterate their civilization. We're going to make, you know, unleash L on them." And then two days later there's some kind of a deal announced where he announces unilaterally that there's a pause in the threats or deadlines that he gave because Trump for whatever else you want to say about him. He does have a kind of like a lot a lot of narcissists do a a very kind of sharp almost instinctive understanding of self-preservation. He knows that a protracted war with Iran is extremely dangerous to his political interest, to his legacy, to everything that he wants to do. We're very close to the the November election. It's already an uphill battle for him. If this war is dragging on or gets worse or there's more people being killed from from uh American service members, he's almost guaranteeing not just the Democratic takeover of the House, but also the Senate, which means impeachment, investigations of all the little corrupt things or big corrupt things that he and his family and and Steve Whitco and their kids and Howard Wutnick and the rest have been doing. And I think he understands that on the one hand. On the other hand, although I'm not somebody who cares about what we typically call US credibility, like showing we mean business in the world and people better do what we say or there's going to be a consequence, the people in Washington care, Trump cares. Trump cares about not looking like he was had his ass kicked.

[00:09:52]>> And obviously, if they stop now, what do they have to show for it? You know, nothing. That was the reason why people got so upset at thisou because we were agreeing to give Iran most of what they wanted and we got nothing. We the United States got nothing of value in return.

[00:10:09]That formula hasn't really changed. So the scary part is what happens if Trump gets desperate? What if he just decide if he really gets convinced, oh well, you know what? I can just unleash our military and get rid of the restraint that we've been showing and scare the crap out of Iran and then they'll surrender. The problem is is that Iran has also been showing a great deal of restraint. They can destroy the energy infrastructure and gas infrastructure of these tiny little fragile US pro- US- dictatorships in the region and absolutely collapse the global economy to say nothing of closing the street of Hormuz and activating the Houthies. They have their own leverage. So, it's a really dangerous situation which is why it was such a bad idea to start the war in the first place because you might think you were going to get out of it quickly, but you don't get the only say.

[00:10:51]>> I wars in the Middle East uh don't end quickly. He should have known better. Uh but he or >> well you're so right about that.

[00:10:59]Exactly. Uh by the way um I don't know like what weird timeline we're living in where suddenly I'm supposed to defend al-Qaeda in Syria, but you literally have like Democrats defending like us giving weapons to al-Qaeda in Syria. It's amaz totally different story. But our involvement in these Middle Eastern countries has been disastrous.

[00:11:25]uh for the civilian populations of these countries and I think Syria as a failed state is a perfect example of that. Um but just kind of getting back to what Trump is likely to do next. You know there are some who argue that Trump is signaling an escalation in war and I want to give you some of those statements right now. Um so is there a possibility of boots on the ground?

[00:11:49]administration allies believe that there are allegedly a number of military options that fall short of boots on the ground including escalating the US naval blockade which again going back to doing a blockade of Iran's blockade or a blockade of the Houthi blockade that's currently taking place um or attacks on Iranian infrastructure which has been happening is not working Iran is not going to respond in the way the US wants to these bombardments. Uh but military experts warned that Iran is unlikely uh to respond to those bombardments.

[00:12:24]However, a source close to the White House told Politico, quote, [gasps] "A good indicator of where Trump intends to go is his massive defense budget request to Congress. He wants to ensure the United States has more than enough capability to sustain any future operations if necessary. So, in addition to the $1.5 trillion defense budget that the White House has requested, they're also requesting an additional $67 billion to cover uh the current costs that have been inflicted as a result of this war. Uh Colonel Douglas McGregor also notes that Sentcom's air campaign looks to be designed to isolate Iranian ground access to western coastal and island areas. And so he thinks this is a prelude to a US ground invasion. And this is the reason why Iran has been carrying out um in my opinion incredibly intelligent and strategic targeted strikes against US military assets in uh the Gulf region and in Jordan. Uh because if they are preparing for a ground invasion, weakening these military bases would be critical. Um I'm curious what you think.

[00:13:35]Yeah, I mean I do think Trump is the kind of person and you know this comes even from all the decades he spent in real estate or negotiating Hollywood contracts writing that stupid art of the deal or getting someone to write it for him. But it captured his personality which is he believes that when you're, you know, in litigation, which is kind of like a war or a business deal, you have to threaten maximum destruction, show people that you don't care, that you're not really invested in the consequences, that you're kind of sociopathic. So, the fact that Trump is trying to scare the Iranians to believing that he may and he's even considering actively escalating fully doesn't necessarily mean he will for the reasons I described earlier. But again, the problem is is that this kind of game playing in war is unbelievably dangerous. I mean, you know, I'm sure most of your viewers know that the US and Russia came very close to destroying the world during the uh Cuban missile crisis through this kind of game playing, this like kind of misperception about that the other side intended.

[00:14:33]>> And you could easily see unintentional escalation happening very quickly. These kind of and and you know, this is not Iraq, this is not Afghanistan, this is not Libya, this is not Syria. All of which drag the US into horrible quagmires and and worse. This is a much more formidable serious country in terms of their military skill. I do believe China and Russia are helping them to some extent. I was kind of shocked by the capabilities they displayed and being able to successfully attack our military bases in Jordan and Bahrain and Kuwait. I mean, these are places where we've had military bases for decades.

[00:15:06]You can imagine how fortified those are.

[00:15:08]And they just shot missiles right into our army barracks like they were nothing. and you know also showing these other states that the these dictatorships that they can't rely on the US for protection. The one thing I do think it's uh really worth you know noting here is that uh the the political cost to Trump will come from this increased gas price but he's hoping to be able to get out of it or mitigate it.

[00:15:31]But also, if we start getting American service members coming back in body bags, that is when the public really starts to pay attention. And in and this is he's particularly vulnerable here because unlike the Iraq war, >> which was supported by 70% of the population, as you remember, when it began, this war was very unpopular from the beginning. It was supported by only a small portion of of the Republican party and Trump's base, and it's only gotten way more unpopular since. So if there are now real costs that Americans are incurring, not just economically, but in terms of, you know, seeing service members killed, which we're now seeing and we will continue to see because they do think Russia and China are helping them, why wouldn't Russia do it? We're helping Ukraine attack even deep inside Russia. Of course, they are likely to do that. That means Iran has even greater capabilities and that means the cost of our continuing is is even higher than it was say two months ago.

[00:16:18]>> Yeah, I I agree with you uh your assessment on that. And you know, just to go back to what you just said about, you know, a crisis involving possible nuclear war, um, you know, the US and Russia and our history is a good example. But what I thought was fascinating is what Joe Kent put out on X today because, uh, he kind of warned about what Israel has been hinting at and has increasingly become more vocal about, and that is the use of nuclear weapons. He writes, "Just last week, Netanyahu was hinting again publicly about Israel's nuclear capability, which has never officially been confirmed."

[00:16:54]Now, we all know that they have nuclear weapons. They stole our nuclear secrets.

[00:16:58]They stole our enriched uranium. We all know the truth. Uh but in the last 24 hours, reports from Israeli intelligence claim that the Iranians have moved their enriched uranium to the heavily fortified pickaxe mountain, providing Israel with a with justification for for potentially using a nuclear weapon. And just to elaborate on that a little further, um there have been reports about how the US has been striking Iran and how we've been using our quickly diminishing stockpile of weaponry, including missiles and missile interceptors. And Mortaza Hussein from Dropsite um in a conversation with Ryan Grim just today uh talked about how the US military has been using incredibly difficult to produce uh missiles like they've been using it against like granite mountains in Iran. Now don't get me wrong Iran has been just pummeled with our missiles and we've caused a lot of damage which I'm not celebrating. I don't think that's a good thing, especially when it comes to their uh civilian infrastructure.

[00:18:06]But the ham-handed way in which this war is being carried out does not bode well for US national security. Because what it's kind of projecting on the global stage, Glenn, is that what was making us a global power was the perception of our strength, but we're not really that strong. I mean, Trump gave up on fighting the Houthies not too long ago.

[00:18:29]I mean, we couldn't fight a proxy of Iran. What What makes Trump think that you're going to be able to beat Iran militarily in a direct conflict? Like, it's crazy.

[00:18:41]>> You know, one of the things that I think has not gotten anywhere near the attention it's gotten, and it's because our government operates in total secrecy. The national security state in particular is fortified with all kinds of anti-transparency mechanisms. They punish people who talk to reporters about these things. But if you have any contacts in the national security world at all, you know that for example, even last year when the Israelis stopped their war with Iran that the United States briefly joined for that one night but was of course a participant. I'm talking about the last war in 2025. The reason the the Israelis had to stop that war short of achieving their goals was because they had to. They were running out of anti-missile defense systems and leaving Israel increasingly vulnerable.

[00:19:19]And not just Israel but also those other Gulf state dictatorships. The US has been handing those out to Ukraine, had been using all kinds of them to protect Israel over all these years uh during the the destruction of Gaza. And they're very difficult to produce. They take years of of manufacture. And it's unbelievable because we all know these statistics that we spend, you know, now Trump wants to spend $1.5 trillion.

[00:19:43]We've close been spending close to a trillion dollars every year on a military for a long time. you know all the statistics, four times more than any other country, more than the next 18 countries or 14 countries combined, depending on what it is. And yet we don't have munitions to even give to Ukraine. We don't have anti-defense systems or patriot systems. We have to take them from from from South Korea and other places to which we had promised them and still don't have enough. It is amazing that despite how much we spend on our military, one of the reasons why we haven't been able to defeat Iran, which is at best a middle power, is because well, I guess in part it's because Americans won't accept ground troops in in Middle East countries given the the horrible history of those over the last 25 years. And and that really hamstrings your ability, but also, you know, it's probably a saving grace for Trump that that's the one thing preventing him from really getting sucked into a protracted conflict with thousands of casualties and American soldiers. But also, we just don't have the equipment. We built a military that Rathon wanted, that enriched General Dynamics and Boeing, but that really didn't prepare for the kind of warfare that we've been seeing, for example, Ukraine and Iran, Russia fight, or that Iran uses with drones. We've built these gigantic battleships and these very advanced, you know, uh, fighter jets that really aren't usable or don't have much utility in the current expression of modern warfare. American taxpayers have totally been swindled uh by our Pentagon, by these defense contractors.

[00:21:07]Um and you know, despite all that spending, which has sucked us into a tremendous amount of, you know, federal debt, we're not safer. Uh we're actually less safe today as a result of the way we fund the Pentagon and these defense contractors. And it's important for Americans to wake up to that reality because that's our money, okay? The government's taking it from our pockets in order to funnel it to a small group of already incredibly wealthy defense contractors. And uh the fact that we're running out of interceptors and we're still barreling toward escalation in this war against Iran is absolutely insane.

[00:21:43]>> Every time you ring the bell below, an angel gets his wings. Totally not true, but it does keep you updated on our live shows.