Transcript of Iran-Backed Houthis Seize Strategic Red Sea Territory as War Escalates (with Professor Mohammad Marandi)

Iran just did it. As this graphic shows, they put the pincer maneuver on the Trump regime and Trump regime-backed allies in the Middle East, like the Saudi monarchy and the Saudi monarchy-backed PLC in Yemen. Take a look at what went down. When I talk about the pincer maneuver here, you've got Iran controlling the Strait of Hormuz, the Persian Gulf, the Gulf of Oman on one side. On the other side, they got the Red Sea right now, with the Axis of Resistance, their allies the Houthis, who had that rapid advance on western Yemen, and now they're moving east as well, continuing to cover massive ground, and of course now having full control over the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. Take a look at this. This is what's just happened in the past 24 hours or so. Brett Erickson has a great summary. Everything that can go wrong for the Trump regime in the Iran war seems to be going wrong right now, right? 24 to 48 hours, we've seen successful Iraqi hits on the Saudi East-West Pipeline pumping station, which carries 5 to 7 million barrels of oil a day, the Houthis on Sirallah taking effectively complete control over the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, Iran striking 2 vessels crossing the Omani route despite claims from the Trump regime that would— they wouldn't be able to do that for at least a month.

You have Somali groups, resurgence of them in the Gulf of Aden, in the Somali basin. Diesel prices in the United States hit an all-time high at $6 a gallon. Gasoline in the US hit Labor Day highs. Brent and WTI crude trading above $100 a barrel. Iran striking anchored vessels off the ports of UAE and Iraq. Treasury bond yields breaking through the roof, record highs on 30-year and 10-year Treasuries. And oh yeah, we haven't even seen Iran's October surprise yet. So there's that too. Take a look at this map right here. You can see the Houthi-controlled area, and the Houthis are continuing now to move east after taking over all of western Yemen, uh, including, by the way, the Lesser Hanish Islands over there. Also over here, uh, right by Marad, The Houthis were able to take control of Param Island right here. So you take a look at the Strait of Hormuz fully under the control of the Houthis, part of Iran's Axis of Resistance. The Saudi Energy Ministry put out a statement yesterday confirming the east-west pipeline, which carries 5 to 7 million barrels of oil today, which is even more important right now since the Strait of Hormuz is controlled by Iran, they put out a statement saying that they believe that it was the Iraqi resistance which destroyed major portions of the East-West Pipeline, and the East-West Pipeline had to be shut down.

And we saw the damage spreading because one area caught on fire and the fire spread throughout more areas of the East-West Pipeline. If that takes off 5 to 7 million barrels of oil a day. That's further devastating. I mean, we could be talking $8, $9, $10 a gallon right now of gasoline if this continues down this path. And as Greg Karlstrom explains, once again, a Gulf leader, this time MBS, discovers that years of investing in Donald Trump and Jared Kushner and giving them money with these quid pro quos not only gets you nothing, it makes your life much worse. Also, sure, you're going to do airstrikes against the Houthis, but it's not going to fix the underlying issues. These Saudi-backed forces in Yemen are disorganized. They are retreating right now. The Houthis are emboldened. They saw Iran defeat Donald Trump and his regime. You're seeing the Saudis and the UAE not just having a conflict in the region, but you're seeing even in Yemen right now, as the Saudi-backed PLC forces were retreating into Aden, you had UAE forces there and they were even fighting with each other during the retreat right now. Now, as the Trump regime is flailing, they're now blaming China.

You know, although Donald Trump says Xi Jinping hasn't been giving Iran anything, they're saying, China, you gave all of these maps to Iran. It's your fault. It's your fault behind the scenes. That's what you're doing in advance of Xi Jinping's visit. We'll see if that trip ends up actually going down. And while all of this uh, is taking place. You have Iran getting a hero's welcome right now at the BRICS meeting that's taking place in New Delhi. Take a look right here. Iranian President Pahlavi arriving in New Delhi for the BRICS. That's the organization that was founded by Brazil and Russia and India and China and South Africa and other countries as well. Far from being isolated, Iran was welcomed as basically heroes at this BRICS meeting, and they were given a prime speaking spot already. President of Iran, President Puzheshkin, addressing, uh, the BRICS summit, talking about perhaps even moving toward a shared currency. Remember when Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said economic isolation is part of economic D-Day, Operation Economic Outcast? The only economic outcast right now is the United States that has outcasted itself. You take a look at Prime Minister Modi greeting President Pashinyan of Iran.

Remember when Donald Trump attacked Prime Minister Modi? Yeah, Prime Minister Modi remembers right there. Take a look at the so-called family photo at the BRICS summit right there. Iran's President Pashinyan was presented with a shawl of affection from India's religious communities during a meeting with Indian religious leaders, elites, and businessmen over there. You can see while that was going on, there were gatherings of people in southern Tehran in support of Iran against its foreign enemies. There were massive celebrations also taking place in Sana'a, the Houthis' capital in Yemen. Fireworks, and we saw tens of thousands of people out as well. You have the Houthis chanting in celebration on the captured Bab el-Mandab coast. Many take a break to cool off with a dip right here. You can see the Houthis celebrating over there. And then you had Iranian President, uh, Masoud Pahlavi addressing Indian religious leaders. And here's what he said. Today, Iran has been able to successfully stand against Israel and the United States at the same time. They want to bully us and we don't want to be bullied. We never kneel down before them. If they push us, we push back. They claim that they are advocates of human rights.

In truth, they are the devils who are the true terrorists because they killed 168 schoolchildren in one instant. thanks to their modern technologies. You call us terrorists? What about you who kill human beings, bomb scientists, and attack schools and hospitals? If you are man enough, just fight with the soldiers, the military people. Why do you target infrastructure and people's livelihoods? The people of Iran will not surrender. We believe in human values, and we believe that all who live, all humanity, enjoy equal rights. That was right before he then spoke in front of the BRICS summit. You see photos of him and Prime Minister Modi, Putin, President Ramaphosa of South Africa right there all together. And by the way, while all of this is going on, on a somewhat unrelated note, but also related, you have Kim Jong-un just for the hell of it, launching ballistic missiles and bragging about all of his nuclear weapons just to extra give the middle finger to Donald Trump. Oh boy, here we, here we go. As one person noted. Now, I want to bring in Professor Marandi from University of Tehran to get his perspective. Professor Marandi frequently speaks with the top government officials of Iran.

He's in Tehran right now. He was with the negotiating team that negotiated the MOU, which the Trump regime immediately breached. So to have Professor Marandi's perspective right here, given that he's in Tehran and he speaks with the leadership there, I think is a valuable perspective to share. Right. right now with you. Let me bring in the interview I did with Tehran University professor, Professor Marandi, and let me ask him what he's hearing from the top government officials in Iran as we speak.

Now I want to bring in Professor Marandi of University of Tehran. Professor Marandi, great to have you back on the show. I want to talk about this week's developments earlier in this week. The United States struck 5 civilian oil tankers and then CENTCOM bragged about it like that was some major accomplishment to shoot civilian oil tankers. Iran responded and we saw those strikes. I mean, there were multiple salvos of ballistic missiles attacking the Muwaffiq Salty US military base and other bases there. The Jordanian government said, we intercepted everything. Donald Trump said, no damage at all. We beginning to hear about F-15s being damaged and A-10s being damaged and more damage to that military base. But I think it really projected that Iran still has a lot of weapons, contrary to what we're hearing in the United States. I mean, you're there in Iran. You speak with the leadership there frequently. You know what's going on. You're in the know. What's the strategic assessment of what's taking place in terms of the US and Netanyahu invasion of Iran?

Well, we always have to remind ourselves that this is a foolish war that Trump started and that Netanyahu imposed, Netanyahu and his people imposed on the American people. And Iranians and Americans, or at least Iranians, Iranians know the United States pretty well and US American American movies are watched here, American music is known here, and the Iranians do follow events in the United States. There's a very good book on Iran written by 2 former White House officials called Going to Tehran, Flint and Hillary Leverett, which I think if your viewers read, it'll help them get a— have a better understanding of the reality of Iran. It deals with a lot of the myths. and misconceptions and the anti-Iranian propaganda. And these 2 people who were in the White House, they were mainstream people, they were basically sidelined because of this book. The book ultimately said that if we do not move towards rapprochement with Iran, it's going to ultimately lead to conflict. And they turned out to be right. And no one listened to them. And if they had, we wouldn't be where we are today. So this whole tragedy that is unfolding, which is ruining the entire global economy, could have been prevented and could be stopped now.

But the Iranians, they were preparing for this war for a very long time, for decades. That's why they built all those underground missile cities. They knew that ultimately The Israeli regime, the Zionist lobby, would push the United States to war. And the most useful idiot of all was Trump himself. And so when the war started, the Americans couldn't destroy the missile bases or the drone bases, and they couldn't destroy the factories, the bulk of the factories that produced them, because they too were taken underground. And so basically all of Iran's key assets are deep underground, and that's why the missiles and drones don't finish. Meanwhile, the United States in this war of aggression, all of its assets are out in the open. All those bases that the Iranians have been striking in the Persian Gulf where they've destroyed them all, or now the new bases that they're stationed in Jordan. They're all on the ground. When missiles strike, they destroy helicopters and planes and other key assets of the United States. So the Americans are fighting a 20th century war. The Iranians are fighting effectively a 21st century war. But where the Americans are more advanced than the Iranians is in anti-missile missiles.

Which are very expensive, and firing them sometimes costs more than if they if they just let the missile go through and strike a target. Sometimes that's how expensive it is just to fire these missiles. So everything about the U.S. military, or at least many things about the U.S. military, are just. are inadequate for this war. But Trump keeps doubling down instead of walking away and declaring victory and just walking away, because I think his MAGA cult will, to a large degree, accept that as victory. He doubles down. Now, whether it's because he's compromised or whether it's because of the money that comes from the Zionist lobby or whether it's because of his anger or his arrogance, Or a combination of all these things, he fails to take the off round. But the Iranians are prepared to go and continue fighting this war until the end of Trump's presidency. And again, not a single missile base, not a single drone base has been destroyed in this war, in this war, because they're all deep underground. And Iran is a mountainous country. So when it's under a mountain, it's even more difficult to damage or destroy them, if not almost impossible.

What do the Iranian people and the top Iranian officials that you speak to regularly think about Donald Trump's behavior? For example, we saw at this midterm convention, they were calling it this past week, Trump saying, I'm calling it the Trump Strait. Him continuing to say, I control it, and then just the barrage of social media posts with the weird AI memes of blowing up Karg Island. I mean, obviously the issues— and I'm putting that very lightly— that existed frankly predate Donald Trump and go back a long time. And you and I have had and can have important historical discussions But Donald Trump's behavior is, uh, is, is, and the erratic nature of it appears to be a little bit different. Um, and I'm saying that as an understatement on the a little bit different. How is that behavior being perceived there versus, you know, just how is it being perceived there right now? Just, just this constant memeing and AI and weird and just weird stuff.

The longer the war lasts, the less people pay attention to what Trump says. And the same is true with me as well. I don't follow Trump unless something is sent to me or I see it in some news agency, a clip of Trump speaking about Iran. I don't really follow him. And when he says something, it usually doesn't impact Iranian society anymore. Early on, it would. But he said so many contradictory things. One day he says, you know, we're going to destroy Iran. The next day he says we're on the verge of peace. One day he says, I'm going to impose my own leader on the country. The next day he's talking about how chaotic it is and there's no leadership. One day he says that we've won the war. Then recently he said, we are going to win the war. He said so many different things and he's threatened Iran so many times with annihilation, sending Iran back to the Stone Age, wiping out a civilization that people are now, I can't say completely indifferent to what he says, but a lot of people, if not most people, are indifferent. Perhaps people, I mean, people like myself pay a bit more attention to what he says, but even I don't pay the sort of attention that I used to.

I will take note of, for example, what a military official in the United States says or someone else, but not Trump in his immediate circle. So they don't have any credibility among Iranians. And that is very bad for the United States because let's say Trump really does Finally decide that I can't continue with this war and it's wrecking the US economy. So he wants to solve the problem. No one in Tehran is going to believe him. I mean, he negotiated with Iran before the 12-Day War, and then he launched a sudden attack gloating that this was all a facade. Okay. Then at the beginning of this war, he negotiated with Iran again. Oman was mediating. That turned out to be just a fake facade. Okay. Then after the 40 days of fighting, there was a ceasefire and Lebanon was a part of that ceasefire. Netanyahu carpet bombed the country, killing hundreds of people in literally minutes. And then Trump sided with Netanyahu and said, no, no, Israel is not a part of the ceasefire. So he wrecked that ceasefire. Then he signed the MOU after 2 and a half months later, he signed it himself.

He undermined it in hours, within hours. So who is Iran going to negotiate with? What can Trump possibly say which would make Iranian leaders say, okay, we can sort this out with this person? Nothing.

Talk to us about how significant these developments in Yemen have been. We've been following it closely here on the network. Houthi advances in a very rapid period of time through Western Yemen, taking over Mokka, then going further south, now controlling Bab el-Mandab, the Hamish Islands. And what I was trying to explain to the audience also is that in Yemen, it's very tribal too. And there's the fact that you're seeing even a lot of Sunni support as well from some Sunni tribes, which is an interesting thing as they're shunning the Saudi monarchy. And so, There's what's happening, which is an extraordinary development to observe, but there are deeper issues too that are kind of the next in order, which is the weakness of the Saudi monarchy, what we're seeing, the weakness of a lot of these monarchies, the Jordanian monarchy, seeing lots of people in metropolitan areas celebrating, it appeared, some of the Iranian strikes on the bases. You could see that was happening. The royal family in the UAE is all kind of watching this. So That to me is obviously what's happening is significant, but there's some even bigger issues that I think is happening.

What are you seeing from the ground and from all you know about the region?

Well, we all know that the money is not with the Houthis, as they call them in the West, or Ansar Allah, or the Yemeni army, the Yemeni armed forces, because they're the ones who control the capital and 80% of the population of Yemen, 75 to 80% live in territories that have been controlled by the Houthis or Ansarullah. And now it's of course expanded because they went all the way down to the Bab el-Mandab, as you rightly pointed out. So they're basically in control of the government, but in the West, they like to call them the rebels. I mean, they've been running the government in the capital for well over a decade. Yet Western media still calls them rebels. They pretend that they're not the government. And in fact, the government is a mixture of different tribes and different religious sects. So it is actually a very— it has a broad base in the country. But one thing that— and so while the money is with the Saudis and the Americans and the West, have been supporting the Saudis in the slaughter and basically genocide. They've been killing, they've been doing to Yemen what the Israelis were doing to Gaza for many years.

And everyone supported them. These regional Arab regimes were supporting them. Everyone was on board, but they still failed against Ansar Allah, against the Houthis. But what has changed now is that since Ansar Allah or the Houthis, were alongside Hezbollah and the Axis of Resistance, the only people who would defend the people of Gaza during this ongoing genocide. They blocked the Israeli regime shipping from the strait, even though— and from the Red Sea, even though the Americans bombed them, the Israelis bombed them. And of course, the Arab regimes assisted the United States in bombing them. Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the Emirates, all of them allowed the United States to use those air bases to bomb Yemen. And they provided the jet fuel and they facilitated the bombing of Yemen. So everyone saw, despite all the media being against them, because the media is owned by the despots, the Arab family regimes in the Persian Gulf and other despots across the region, despite the anti-Houthi or anti-Ansar Allah or anti-Yemeni propaganda, they became very popular because they were seen as heroic in standing up against the genocide. They were talking about implementing the Genocide Convention and they were getting killed as a result, like Hezbollah.

And so their stature grew across the Arab world and beyond. And then in this particular war, which the Saudis started, ironically, I mean, Mohammed bin Salman is like Trump. He simply hasn't— he has no wisdom at all. But in this war, what happened was that while the Saudi-backed forces were much better funded, and had much better equipment, they had very little incentive to fight because they were fighting against the force that was standing up against the Israeli regime that was supporting the Palestinian people. And they were being backed by the Saudis who were an ally of Trump. So the motivation to fight, they didn't exist. The morale of the soldiers was almost nonexistent, and many of the tribes did not want to be a part of this anymore because Ansar Allah had achieved moral victory during the past few years. And so you— and that's why the collapse of the Saudi-backed forces was so sudden and so spectacular. They just didn't fight, even though, as I said, they had far better equipment, their wages were far better, and they had air support, but they wouldn't fight.

And Professor, I have to also imagine there is a relationship as well between the US losing the war and the catastrophic invasion of Iran, seeing across the region US backs Saudi and Saudi backs PLC and US loses to Iran, that perception of the US as the superpower, as having all of these weapons and having a commander-in-chief who would actually be able to do the things they said they were going to do and not post memes and deranged photos, you know, all day. I have to imagine that there's a level of that too in the region that says there's, there's a, there's a new order, there's a broader order taking place. And we've been analyzing, you know, the trip of Xi Jinping to Egypt and military exercises there, talking about a new multipolar order, uh, where Arab nations, uh, should take their own power back. Um, nations in the region, Arab or not, should take their own power back. Um, and China stepping in, not in the same form, but in a different format. But I have to imagine this is all still related to— this doesn't happen necessarily in a vacuum without US losing the war, and then the dominoes are falling and maybe more dominoes still fall.

You're absolutely correct. A number of things have happened. One is that this genocide in Gaza has wrecked the moral stature and moral status of the West. I mean, people like myself have always been highly critical. I never believed that Western governments were moral. I mean, I survived 2 chemical attacks during Saddam Hussein's war. The West gave Saddam Hussein those chemical weapons. But that aside, many people, especially among the liberal elites, still had some sort of attachment to the West, more or less. Many of them would get their information in Tehran, in Iran, and elsewhere across the world from CNN or the New York Times, or at least partially. But the genocide in Gaza had a very significant impact on that. But then the 2 wars against Iran, that cemented that in a way in which I have not seen before. And I guess since the beginning of the revolution, I haven't seen this sort of revolutionary fervor so powerful in Iran. I'm not saying everyone is a part of it. You'll find people who dislike the Islamic Republic or who just want this to end or who believe Iran is the problem or whatever. You'll always find these people.

We have these discussions all the time on campus or, well, campus now is closed for summer, but in public and here and there. But overwhelmingly, the public sees the United States as an aggressor and supported by the Israeli regime, which is carrying out genocide. So all of these are sort of mixed together. And then the dislike therefore for the United States and even the liberal media, because the liberal media, They did not condemn it. The Democrats did not condemn it. European parliamentarians didn't condemn the US assault. Everyone was quiet and indifferent. They saw what happened to Venezuela. So the mood towards the West, perceptions of the West have grown more negative. It's always been critical for them, but you did have a significant segment of Iranian society which some, let's say, a liberal segment. I can't say the percentage because it would change. A lot of polls are done. It grows sometimes, lessens sometimes. But this narrative that is sympathetic to the West has collapsed. That's evident. It's not that it's nonexistent, but it has collapsed. And on the other hand, Iranians have traditionally been skeptical of Russia because we have a bad history with Russia, the wars of past, and no need to go into history.

But you do see perceptions of Russia changing even among those liberal elites. And the same is true with China because we have been Western-oriented since more than a couple of hundred years. For at least a couple of hundred years. Second language in our school, English. At university, English. Most academics who do not get their PhDs in Iran, they study abroad, let's say, for their PhD. Or if we go on sabbatical, it's usually to Western countries. So, and Iranians who do immigrate, it's usually to Western countries. So we are, we've always been deeply influenced by Western media, even if we're critical of it. Because we're bombarded. So our understanding of China, our understanding of Russia, our understanding of BRICS or the Shanghai Cooperation Organization nations is influenced, has been influenced by the West. That is falling apart. I don't know the numbers, but you can— it's obvious that the mood towards China today has changed. People's perceptions of China have enhanced. Their perceptions of Russia have enhanced. Now, we didn't have a negative history with China, even though we've had thousands of years of relations. The Silk Road, as people have heard, that went between Iran and China.

But China was not— we were split from China for hundreds of years. And so, but what has happened is that despite this Western orientation, even after the revolution, Because of the wars and the ongoing war and the genocide in Gaza and in Lebanon and so on, and the US support for ISIS and Al-Qaeda, perceptions of the United States have gone negative and perceptions of China and Russia and other countries have become more positive. And so now you see significant numbers of young Iranians going to Russia, to China and other places to study, whereas 15 years ago this was almost nonexistent. There were very few in number, very few students. So, and imagine 10 years down the road, 15 years down the road, when all these students gradually come back, more students go, how that will change Iranian society. As we speak, we have a shortage of translators in Mandarin. But the numbers are growing. So what, you know, when 10, 15 years down the road when you have more people who speak Mandarin, who've traveled to China, who understand the language, Russia, the West is automatically marginalizing itself, not just at the military, political, uh, level and economic level, but also its cultural influence is declining.

That's something that I see in Iran, and I'm pretty sure that it's happening elsewhere too.

Professor, before we go, what we hear often here in the United States, because it's repeated by Trump and the media repeats him and they repeat it from other places as well in the US government, is, look, the rial is falling, uh, you know, inflation is so high in Iran, you know, Trump— no one, no one believes what Trump says, but the media here does make it seem like there's a dire situation over there. Trump will say there's about to be collapse any day now, maybe right after the election is his new one. Iran's going to give up right after the election. You speak to people at all levels, from government officials to students, and you've given us, um, a picture before of what's going on. So when our Trump regime here, or when the media here, is saying Iran is months away or days away— I mean, they've been saying that now for the past 6 months, um, but what, what's, what's the— what can you tell us about what's going on before You know, I, I had this Al-Mayadeen Television.

It's an Arabic news channel. They once asked me to do a series on Iran. And I once, I did a half an hour show where I just talked to the audience. It was called Demystifying Iran. And it ended with the war. But one of those 30-minute or 20-some-minute sessions, I compare the narrative on Iran today or last year before the war with the 1980s and the 1990s and so on. And the interesting thing is if you go to the New York Times headlines in the 1990s and the 1980s or the Washington Post or other media outlets, you will see that They're the same as today. Iran is about to fall. It is imploding. There are deep divisions in the regime. They love to call it a regime. They don't call Saudi Arabia a regime. They don't call Israel a regime. They don't call anyone a regime except for the chosen few, especially Iran. But this narrative has been— Iran has been about to implode because it's corrupt, because the regime is despised and all that for decades. And nothing has changed. You can put those headlines to an article today and put today's headlines at the top of articles back then, and you won't notice the difference.

So the West is stuck in a narrative that it is partially its own creation, but it's also, it also has roots in the past, Orientalism, and so on, which impeded from understanding Iran. And of course, the Zionist lobby and those who are in power, they have an incentive to reinforce this narrative. But Iran was supposed to collapse during the 12-Day War. It didn't. It was supposed to collapse at the beginning of this war.

It didn't.

The United States will no doubt try to make people suffer as much as possible, which is a war crime in itself. And I'm sure that they're trying to create unrest or insurrection. And perhaps in the weeks or months ahead, they'll have some success here or there, but it's not going to work. And Iran will persevere because Iranians know that this is a fight for their survival. And beyond that book, Going to Tehran by Flynt and Hillary Leverett, there's also another good book about Iran called Resistance by Alistair Crook. I think it's the essence of this, Resistance, the Essence of the Islamist Revolution. And it says a lot about why Iran is a particularly resistant and resilient country, the whole axis of resistance. And it has a lot to do with, of course, it being a civilizational state, but a lot to do because of its religious identity. Shia Islam being supportive of the weak, the oppressed, the marginalized, and resistant against the oppressor. the grandson of the Prophet, his martyrdom in Karbala, the role that his sister played in this revolution. So there is a certain resilience among Iranians. And I have no doubt that the Iranians are going to fight until the United States gives up.

And what Trump is doing basically is that he's just making it worse for himself. He's making it worse for the American people. He's making it worse for the Iranian people. He's making it worse for the entire world. But the outcome is not going to be what he wants. It's just going to— what he's doing is just going to make the world a worse place for everyone.

Professor Mehrandi, thanks for your time. I always find it fascinating and a reflection of our shared humanity that I could be here in Los Angeles as a professor over here, you could be in the University of Tehran as a professor over there, we can have these discussions in this way and discuss all of these issues and get information out and have a conversation, uh, even in these times. And so that's one of the things that I always take out of these conversations, in addition to the information that you shared about, um, what, what you see is going on there. So thank you so much.

Thank you. I, I agree completely, and I hope that civil society, ordinary Americans, ordinary Iranians, they do their part in creating greater awareness so that those who have a vested interest in violence and death and destruction are forced to stand down.

We'll leave it on that. Thank you so much. And everybody hit subscribe. Let's get to 7 million subscribers. Hey, if you want the full story, how democracy got here and how we take it back, preorder our new book, WTF America, Just scan the QR code or click the link in the description. Let's do this.