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00:00with us here on set, Philip Turrell. Hello, Philip. This is the biggest U.S. military
00:05operation in the Middle East since Donald Trump took office. Are Trump's military actions
00:10likely to have any impact on Houthis? They're saying not so much.
00:15Well, yes, this is the biggest military campaign led by Donald Trump. He's only been in office
00:20for a couple of months since he came back to power on the 20th of January. But it's
00:23not the first time the U.S. has launched bombing raids against the Houthis. There have been
00:27several under the Biden administration and also there have been bombing raids launched
00:32by the British as well and also by the Israelis against Houthi positions in Yemen. So there's
00:37not this is not something new. This is the first time that Donald Trump has done it.
00:41And he's issued an ultimatum saying that if they don't stop, then they will see bombing
00:46raids that they've never seen before, which is typical of the language of Donald Trump.
00:49But on the ground, the Houthis are remaining defiant, as we've just been hearing, saying
00:54basically that that's not going to make any difference. I think where this has all come
00:59to a head has been that since the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, there have been no more
01:05attacks against shipping in the Red Sea. Basically, this is good news for all those companies
01:12that use the Red Sea to transport their goods from Asia to Europe because going around a
01:18different sea route for the southern coast of Africa is much longer and much more expensive.
01:24And I think there's general concern now that there will be a resumption of those attacks
01:29and that's not going to be good news for the international shipping industry. And that's
01:32why Donald Trump has come up right now and said why he's going to continue these bombing
01:36raids against the Houthi rebels.
01:39And Trump asked Iran to halt its support to the Houthis immediately. Can Trump interfere
01:45or dictate Iran's domestic politics?
01:47Well, that's the big question that no one can really answer right now. Remember that
01:51when Donald Trump came into office a couple of months ago, he wrote a letter to the Iranian
01:55supreme leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, saying that basically what he wants is a deal, which
02:01is what Donald Trump always wants, to try to stop Iran from pursuing its nuclear objectives,
02:09saying that if it doesn't do that, then there will be a lot to pay afterwards. What Donald
02:16Trump is also attempting to do is to push Iran to cut funding to the Houthi rebels.
02:21They're a proxy group, along with Hamas, for example, and also Hezbollah, which have one
02:27thing in common, and that is their refusal to recognise Israel and the right of Israel
02:31to exist. And that's why the Houthis have launched these bombing raids just over the
02:36past few months, since the attacks of the 7th of October, as a result, a direct result
02:43of the Israeli action in the Gaza Strip. So will Donald Trump's actions have any effect?
02:50Yes, they probably can have some effect. But judging from what has already happened with
02:55the bombing raids from the United States already under the Biden administration, the bombing
03:00raids from the United Kingdom, the bombing raids from Israel, the Houthis are still active.
03:05They're still pursuing what they say can be attacks against shipping in the Red Sea. It's
03:10going to take more than Donald Trump just saying he's going to give the Houthis a taste
03:15of their own medicine and they're going to regret it. I think that that is wishful thinking
03:20on the part of Donald Trump. We'll have to see how long these bombing raids the US is
03:24currently undertaking are going to last for and what the effect on the Houthi rebels is
03:27going to be after that.
03:29Thank you. That was Philip Turrell for us, our International Affairs Editor. Thank you, Philip.