Saudi Arabia Always Pursues Political Solution in Yemen in Spite of Wrong Interpretations 

A general view of Sanaa, Yemen. (EPA)
A general view of Sanaa, Yemen. (EPA)
TT

Saudi Arabia Always Pursues Political Solution in Yemen in Spite of Wrong Interpretations 

A general view of Sanaa, Yemen. (EPA)
A general view of Sanaa, Yemen. (EPA)

Observers of the situation in Yemen find that Riyadh has used diplomacy to reach a solution to the war-torn country’s crisis and end the coup of the Iran-backed Houthi militias. 

Saudi Arabia has remained committed to its allies in Yemen. It has not abandoned them, making it difficult for the Houthis to achieve their ambitions. Throughout, the Kingdom’s strategy in Yemen lies in resolving the crisis through political means. 

The Kingdom has backed the United Nations’ solution to the crisis. UN envoys have come and gone, but the Saudi support has remained unwavering, whether in facilitating the envoys’ mission, positively approaching suggestions or using its international relations to ensure their success. 

Moreover, Saudi Arabia has opened back channels, establishing communication with the Houthis and Saudi officials have even met with militia officials, such as in Geneva shortly after the coup and later in Kuwait in 2016. 

Observers find that Saudi Arabia has no reservations over all efforts aimed at ending the crisis in Yemen. It constantly has the interests of the Yemeni people at heart, which is reflected in its political efforts, as well as its development and humanitarian work in Yemen. 

Furthermore, Saudi Arabia has also pursued direct dialogue with Iran. Saudi officials have confirmed the talks whenever they are asked about them by the press. 

Regardless of whether these talks make progress or not, the fact that they are being held is significant for Yemen seeing as Iran is the main cause for the prolongation of the crisis through its support to the Houthis. 

The political predicament facing these efforts, whether the Saudi or the international ones, is tied to several factors, the most prominent of which observers believe is the wrong interpretation of the diplomatic efforts. 

The wrong view believes that Riyadh is targeting the Houthis, while the reality is that its greater goal is to achieve security and stability for the Kingdom and Yemen and the interests of the Yemeni people. 

The Yemeni people are not surprised with Saudi Arabia’s openness to various tribal and political powers in Yemen. One of the Kingdom’s key strengths is its good relations with these parties that allow it to act as a trusted mediator during times of disputes. 

It is evident that Riyadh will continue to back the Yemeni government and people in their goal to reclaim their state.  

Saudi Arabia has not only provided political support to its neighbor, but also economic backing to the government and people. Positive economic development in Yemen, in line with Vision 2030, will not only impact the country, but the region as a whole. 

Major investments are being unveiled in Arab countries. They are part of Saudi Arabia’s leading role in becoming the example and moral and financial motivator to all countries so that the region will set its sights on the future, economy, growth and quality of life, away from ideologies, sectarianism and narrow politics that have impoverished nations and dashed people’s hopes and dreams. 



Iran Holds Military Drills as it Faces Rising Economic Pressures and Trump's Return

A handout picture provided by the Iranian Army media office on October 4, 2023 shows locally-made drones during a military drill at an undisclosed location in Iran. (Photo by Iranian Army office / AFP)
A handout picture provided by the Iranian Army media office on October 4, 2023 shows locally-made drones during a military drill at an undisclosed location in Iran. (Photo by Iranian Army office / AFP)
TT

Iran Holds Military Drills as it Faces Rising Economic Pressures and Trump's Return

A handout picture provided by the Iranian Army media office on October 4, 2023 shows locally-made drones during a military drill at an undisclosed location in Iran. (Photo by Iranian Army office / AFP)
A handout picture provided by the Iranian Army media office on October 4, 2023 shows locally-made drones during a military drill at an undisclosed location in Iran. (Photo by Iranian Army office / AFP)

Iran is reeling from a cratering economy and stinging military setbacks across its sphere of influence in the Middle East. Its bad times are likely to get worse once President-elect Donald Trump returns to the White House with his policy of “maximum pressure” on Iran.

Facing difficulties at home and abroad, Iran last week began an unusual two-month-long military drill. It includes testing air defenses near a key nuclear facility and preparing for exercises in waterways vital to the global oil trade.

The military flexing seems aimed at projecting strength, but doubts about its power are high after the past year's setbacks.

The December overthrow of Syrian President Bashar Assad, who Iran supported for years with money and troops, was a major blow to its self-described “Axis of Resistance” across the region. The “axis” had already been hollowed out by Israel’s punishing offensives last year against two militant groups backed by Iran – Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon. Israel also attacked Iran directly on two occasions.

According to The AP, an Iranian Revolutionary Guard general based in Syria offered a blunt assessment this week. “I do not see it as a matter of pride that we lost Syria,” Gen. Behrouz Esbati said, according to an audio recording of a speech he gave that was leaked to the media. “We lost. We badly lost. We blew it.”

At home, Iran’s economy is in tatters.

The US and its allies have maintained stiff sanctions to deter it from developing nuclear weapons — and Iran's recent efforts to get them lifted through diplomacy have fallen flat. Pollution chokes the skies in the capital, Tehran, as power plants burn dirty fuel in their struggle to avoid outages during winter. And families are struggling to make ends meet as the Iranian currency, the rial, falls to record lows against the US dollar.

As these burdens rise, so does the likelihood of political protests, which have ignited nationwide in recent years over women's rights and the weak economy.

How Trump chooses to engage with Iran remains to be seen. But on Tuesday he left open the possibility of the US conducting preemptive airstrikes on nuclear sites where Iran is closer than ever to enriching uranium to weapons-grade levels.

“It’s a military strategy,” Trump told journalists at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida during a wide-ranging news conference. “I’m not answering questions on military strategy.”

Iran insists its nuclear program is peaceful, yet officials there increasingly suggest Tehran could pursue an atomic bomb.

Europe's view of Iran hardens. It's not just Trump or Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a longtime foe of Tehran, that paint Iran's nuclear program as a major threat. French President Emmanuel Macron, speaking Monday to French ambassadors in Paris, described Iran as “the main strategic and security challenge for France, the Europeans, the entire region and well beyond.”

“The acceleration of its nuclear program is bringing us very close to the breaking point,” Macron said. “Its ballistic program threatens European soil and our interests."

While Europe had previously been seen as more conciliatory toward Iran, its attitude has hardened. That's likely because of what Macron described as Tehran's “assertive and fully identified military support” of Russia since it's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

France, as well as Germany and the United Kingdom, had been part of Iran's 2015 nuclear deal with world powers. Under that deal, Iran limited its enrichment of uranium and drastically reduced its stockpile in exchange for the lifting of crushing, United Nations-backed economic sanctions. Trump unilaterally withdrew America from the accord in 2018, and with those UN sanctions lifted, it provided cover for China's to purchase oil from Iran.

But now France, Germany and the United Kingdom call Tehran's advances in its atomic program a ”nuclear escalation" that needs to be addressed. That raises the possibility of Western nations pushing for what's called a “snapback” of those UN sanctions on Iran, which could be catastrophic for the Iranian economy. That “snapback” power expires in October.

On Wednesday, Iran released a visiting Italian journalist, Cecilia Sala, after detaining her for three weeks — even though she had received the government's approval to report from there.

Sala's arrest came days after Italian authorities arrested an Iranian engineer accused by the US of supplying drone technology used in a January 2024 attack on a US outpost in Jordan that killed three American troops. The engineer remains in Italian custody.

- Iran holds military drills as worries grow

The length of the military drills started by Iran's armed forces and its paramilitary Revolutionary Guard may be unusual, but their intended message to the US and Israel — and to its domestic audience — is not. Iran is trying to show itself as capable of defending against any possible attack.

On Tuesday, Iran held air-defense drills around its underground nuclear enrichment facility in the city of Natanz. It claimed it could intercept a so-called “bunker buster” bomb designed to destroy such sites.

However, the drill did not involve any of its four advanced S-300 Russian air defense systems, which Israel targeted in its strikes on Iran. At least two are believed to have been damaged, and Israeli officials claim all have been taken out.

“Some of the US and Israeli reservations about using force to address Iran’s nuclear program have dissipated,” wrote Kenneth Katzman, a longtime Iran analyst for the US government who is now at the New York-based Soufan Center. “It appears likely that, at the very least, the Trump administration would not assertively dissuade Israel from striking Iranian facilities, even if the United States might decline to join the assault.”

There are other ways Iran could respond. This weekend, naval forces plan exercises in the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz. Iran for years has threatened to close the strait — a narrow lane through which a fifth of global oil supplies are transported — and it has targeted oil tankers and other ships in those waters since 2019.

“Harassment and seizures are likely to remain the main tools of Iranian counteraction,” the private maritime security firm Ambrey warned Thursday.

Its allies may not be much help, though. The tempo of attacks on shipping lanes by Yemen's Houthis, long armed by Iran, have slowed. And Iran has growing reservations about the reliability of Russia.

In the recording of the speech by the Iranian general, Esbati, he alleges that Russia “turned off all radars” in Syria to allow an Israeli airstrike that hit a Guard intelligence center.

Esbati also said Iranian missiles “don't have so much of an impact” and that the US would retaliate against any attack targeting its bases in the region.

“For the time being and in this situation, dragging the region into a military operation does not agree (with the) interest of the resistance,” he says.