Yemen’s drums of war
About this episode
The episode discusses the escalating tensions in Yemen as Iran and Saudi Arabia increase their support for their respective allies, risking the ceasefire in the ongoing conflict.
The drums of war are beating again in Yemen. A series of recent incidents suggests that both Iran and Saudi Arabia are more assertively supporting their Yemeni allies at the risk of shattering an informal four-year ceasefire in the kingdom’s war against Iranian-backed Houthi rebels. The recent incidents stand in stark contrast to the kingdom's tacit outreach to Iran. Saudi Arabia sent a delegation to this week’s funeral proceedings for Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s assassinated supreme leader, enabled the indirect sale of five aging Boeing 777-200ERs to an Iranian airline, and proposed a post-war regional security architecture that would include Iran. Moreover, Saudi Arabia, which intervened in Yemen in 2015 to counter Houthi military advances, has not closed the door on a negotiated resolution of the conflict. “The political solution remains on the table; power-sharing, which could save (the Houthis) from destruction. The Houthis remain a Yemeni player with the right to be a partner in power, not to dominate it,” said Abdulrahman al-Rashed, a Saudi columnist who often reflects official Saudi thinking. Fuelling the rising tensions are rival perceptions of windows of opportunity…
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- Twiddling thumbs in Tehran
- Trump orders new strikes on Iran. Are we back to square one
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