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The Houthis have demonstrated an immense amount of resilience · THE DAILY BRIEF

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  Speaker 1: Let's bring in retired U.S. Army Major General James Spider Marks.
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  Speaker 1: General Marks, the progress that the Houthis have made really
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  Speaker 1: within the last week is rather stunning. I was under
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  Speaker 1: the impression that Iran has not been able to provide
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  Speaker 1: a whole lot of support to its allies, its proxies.
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  Speaker 1: But the Houthis all of a sudden seem to be
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  Speaker 1: claiming a lot of key installations there.
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  Speaker 2: John, thanks for having me on.
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  Speaker 3: When you look at what the Houthis have been able
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  Speaker 3: to accomplish, the first and foremost thing we should realize
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  Speaker 3: is that they've demonstrated an immense amount of resilience over
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  Speaker 3: the course of years. Saudi Arabia really began a concerted
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  Speaker 3: effort against the Houthis back in 2015. That's been ongoing
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  Speaker 3: for the course of these 13 years. There's been a
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  Speaker 3: ceasefire in a regnum now over the course of the
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  Speaker 3: past few months.
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  Speaker 2: Obviously, the Houthis have picked it up.
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  Speaker 3: And you're absolutely correct that they get their support from
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  Speaker 3: the IRGC in Iran.
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  Speaker 2: That has been diminished considerably, obviously, as a result.
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  Speaker 3: Epic fury but the stockpiles that the hooties have and
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  Speaker 3: their ability to locally maintain and manufacture and get some
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  Speaker 3: capabilities together has not been diminished and so that's what
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  Speaker 3: we're seeing right now a push by the hooties really
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  Speaker 3: should not surprise us and again to be very very
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  Speaker 3: frank it's very difficult to bomb somebody like the hooties
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  Speaker 3: back into the stone age when that's where they live
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  Speaker 3: right now.
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  Speaker 2: Wow.
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  Speaker 1: Obviously, as you mentioned, Saudi Arabia has been battling the
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  Speaker 1: Houthis for a long time. President Trump has some thoughts
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  Speaker 1: on who's responsible for the attack on a Saudi pipeline
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  Speaker 1: this week.
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  Speaker 2: Listen.
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  Speaker 1: Is Iran responsible for the attack on the East-West pipeline?
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  Speaker 4: And what do you think.
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  Speaker 3: Saudi Arabia is going to be able to do?
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  Speaker 2: Well, I think they are. Probably they are. You know,
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  Speaker 2: they're on the balls with their feet right now. But
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  Speaker 2: I think they are.
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  Speaker 4: They've been in charge of that for a while. We've
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  Speaker 4: had discussions. The Houthis called us, and they don't want
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  Speaker 4: to fight with us. They let us know they don't
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  Speaker 4: want to fight with us. They don't want me to
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  Speaker 4: go after them.
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  Speaker 2: They don't want us to go after them.
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  Speaker 4: But they've called and they've talked to us and they
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  Speaker 4: don't want us to... They would much prefer not having
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  Speaker 4: us involved.
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  Speaker 1: So the Houthis don't want the U.S. involved, but what
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  Speaker 1: about Saudi Arabia? Why doesn't Saudi Arabia do more to
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  Speaker 1: root out this problem that is causing trouble for Saudi Arabia?
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  Speaker 3: Well, I think Saudi Arabia is doing what they can
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  Speaker 3: right now, John. It's very obvious that this target, the Houthis,
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  Speaker 3: where they are, their capabilities... The control that they have
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  Speaker 3: is really dependent upon the fact that they are deeply embedded.
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  Speaker 3: They're in an incredibly mountainous piece of terrain. They've been
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  Speaker 3: there for years. As indicated, they've gotten a lot of
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  Speaker 3: support from Iran. So the Saudis are working at this problem,
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  Speaker 3: but they not only need to work against the Houthi problem,
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  Speaker 3: they have to be able to harden the facilities that
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  Speaker 3: they have because the Houthis will still be able to
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  Speaker 3: pop up and conduct some operations that will be very
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  Speaker 3: destructive against the Saudi Arabians. They, the Saudis, will continue
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  Speaker 3: to work on that effort. I think they're going to
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  Speaker 3: ask the United States, if they have not already, for support.
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  Speaker 3: We certainly have presence in the vicinity of the Bab
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  Speaker 3: el-Mandeb Strait right there in the Red Sea. And with
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  Speaker 3: the GW in the region and the additional carrier strike group,
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  Speaker 3: which is on the way, we'll have increased capacity to
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  Speaker 3: provide some support.
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  Speaker 2: As necessary.
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  Speaker 3: But the number one target still remains the straighter-whore moves
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  Speaker 3: and free passage in and out.
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  Speaker 2: That's what's being contested, I think, primarily.
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  Speaker 1: Listen to Jay Clayton, the director of national intelligence, on
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  Speaker 1: the Iranian nuclear threat. It was obviously concerns over their
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  Speaker 1: development toward an ICBM, a deliverable nuclear weapon, that caused
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  Speaker 1: President Trump to launch this war.
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  Speaker 4: Listen.
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  Speaker 5: What if that country that's funding the Houthis, that is
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  Speaker 5: funding terrorists around the world, what if they had a
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  Speaker 5: nuclear weapon? I think every American has to recognize that
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  Speaker 5: they just can't. I am convinced that the leaders of Iran— now,
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  Speaker 5: we're not talking about the Iranian people. I am convinced
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  Speaker 5: that the leaders of Iran would do whatever they could
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  Speaker 5: to harm Western civilization, harm Americans.
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  Speaker 1: Has that ability been degraded or even eliminated, do you think, General?
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  Speaker 3: I think it's been delayed, absolutely, as a result of
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  Speaker 3: the attacks last summer and the attacks that are ongoing
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  Speaker 3: right now attendant to Epic Fury.
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  Speaker 2: It has been tremendously delayed.
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  Speaker 3: But, John, the difficulty is if Iran wants to get
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  Speaker 3: its hands on an ICBM, a long-range missile, whether it's
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  Speaker 3: nuclearized or not.
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  Speaker 2: They can get one from Russia. They can get one
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  Speaker 2: from China. That's the primary concern.
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  Speaker 3: What the Iranians want to do is have an organic capability.
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  Speaker 2: To produce that. I got that.
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  Speaker 3: That has a much longer horizon than simply getting a
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  Speaker 3: delivery from Russia. That's the primary concern. So you add
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  Speaker 3: that to what Mr. Clayton said. Absolutely correct. If you
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  Speaker 3: add the fact that they could have a long range
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  Speaker 3: missile pretty quickly based on relationships with others, then you've
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  Speaker 3: got to look at the development, the nuclearization of their military.
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  Speaker 3: Do they have the capacity to put a nuclear warhead
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  Speaker 3: on the top of that? The combination of those two
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  Speaker 3: is what is existential. So you have to continue to
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  Speaker 3: apply pressure both on the missile development, the internal militarization
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  Speaker 3: of nukes, and the economic sanctions that we see right now,
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  Speaker 3: because the primary focus on those economic sanctions, certainly, is
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  Speaker 3: to dry up the Iranian regime ability to execute and
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  Speaker 3: support proxies like the Houthis and Hezbollah.
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  Speaker 2: But the real issue is.
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  Speaker 3: If you can apply and have effective secondary and tertiary sanctions,
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  Speaker 3: you now can begin to really affect the economics of
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  Speaker 3: the regime and their ability to conduct these kinds of
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  Speaker 3: manufacturing and development capabilities that really are an existential threat,
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  Speaker 3: not only to the region, but certainly to our partners
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  Speaker 3: in Europe and the continental United States.
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  Speaker 1: Retired Major General James Marks, we appreciate your time. Thank you.
• 6:36
  Speaker 3: Hey everyone, I'm Emily Campagno. Catch me and my co-hosts
• 6:39
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