as a regional power which is something they've done for the pa fewthey work through proxiese houthis, hezbollah, hamas. they try to use these proxy groups. so force their neighbors to establish action to drive competition in the region. host: i ran head pakistan and they responded today and iran says been killed. where does this go? will there be an issue? guest:zc it's another region whe there is a dispute between iran and pakistan and area of pakistan just south of iran. that area has been somewhat contested. they are trying to force pakistan to defend thatas well q and saudi arabia. this is their effort to try to expand its control in the middle east. it has decided to take action against a nuclear armed power. they are working with proxies against other countries but this direct attack on pakistan puts pakistan and direct confrontation. iran feels assembled and of his success oa l challenges. there have been a series of recent protest inside iran. they are succeeding overseas but at home is notat. host: let's talk about the red sea, how effective have the u.s. strike spend? guest: the houth

en hamas, on hezbollah, and on the houthi. . ~ . , hamas, on hezbollah, and on the houthi. . . ., , hamasmas, on hezbollah, and on the houthi. . . . , , houthi. iran certainly has a very close ties _ houthi. iran certainly has a very close ties to _ houthi. iran certainly has a very close ties to what _ houthi. iran certainly has a very close ties to what it _ houthi. iran certainly has a very close ties to what it calls - houthi. iran certainly has a very close ties to what it calls its - close ties to what it calls its proxy militias. right now they are the three h's. hamas, hezbollah, and houthi. fundamentally those organisations take their own decisions. so they are unlikely to take any strategic decisions without consultations with tehran. in the case of the houthi, for example, it's very unlikely that they would be angering the international global community, as well as the international shipping community, by attacking shipping in this way. driving up commodity prices. i can't see them doing that without first letting the iranians know what they're doing. it doesn't say that iran h

they workough proxies like houthis, hezbollah, hamas. they try to use these proxy a%groups.force their to establish itself as a country with freedom of action to drive competition in the region. host: i ran head pakistan and they respond today and iran says people have been killed. where does this go? will there be an issue? guest: it's another region where there is and pakistan and area of pakistan just south of iran. that area has been somewhat contested. lthey are trying to force pakistan to defend that border. as well as pushing back on iraq. this is their effort to try to expand its field of control in the middle east. g" decided to take action against a nuclear armed power. they are working with proxies against other countries but this direct attack on pakistan puts pakistan and direct confrontation. iran feels assembled and of his or a little bit on the defensive because of internal challenges. there have been a series of recent■$■> protest inside iran. they are succeeding overseas but at home is not so ground. eat. let's talk about the red sea, how effective have the

, for hezbollah, for— the same for the houthis, for hezbollah, for hamas - the same for the houthis, outside gaza, so— hezbollah, for hamas elsewhere, outside gaza, so i— hezbollah, for hamas elsewhere, outside gaza, so i think— hezbollah, for hamas elsewhere, outside gaza, so i think there - hezbollah, for hamas elsewhere, outside gaza, so i think there is. outside gaza, so i think there is definitely— outside gaza, so i think there is definitely a _ outside gaza, so i think there is definitely a connection - outside gaza, so i think there is definitely a connection there. i outside gaza, so i think there is. definitely a connection there. this is uuite definitely a connection there. this is quite striking _ definitely a connection there. is quite striking that amid definitely a connection there. tiiic is quite striking that amid all definitely a connection there. is quite striking that amid all of this you have south africa kind of really going for it against israel at the hague. south africa is a g20 democracy, leading democracy in africa, not doing what the g7 would have wanted t

houthi. — hezbollah, and the hooties, —— houthi. is — hezbollah, and the hooties, —— houthi. is it— hezbollahg of the _ palestinian issue, the supercharging of the abraham accords, processes to brin- of the abraham accords, processes to bring peace _ of the abraham accords, processes to bring peace and stability to the region— bring peace and stability to the region are underpinned by international resolve to confront iran's _ international resolve to confront iran's proxies wherever they threaten _ iran's proxies wherever they threaten our interests and our values — international resolve to confront of iran for ever they threaten our interests and values. cani can i thank my honourable friend for his work on accords. he is right that the behaviour of the iranian regime poses a significant threat to the safety and security of the uk and our allies and ensures regional instability where we want to see more peace and stability. i can assure him that we are keeping abreast of all the risks in the area and that is by the royal navy last year and the year before continues, for example, to intercep

houthis. proxy fighters. hezbollah, the houthis, hamas , of course the houthis have done, they have found a way to inflict a cost on business as usual. so, the united states has to respond and it has to try to achieve escalation dominance. but, it also has to try not to let this spread out of control. that is a very delicate balance. it is trying to reestablish deterrence, while at the same time, not producing a widening of the war. there is a lot of danger here because the united dates could get drawn into precisely the thing that washington was telling saudi arabia to be careful of if you drag yourself into a yemeni civil war, that could go into a long time. on the other side, you have to make sure the shipping can go through the persian gulf. this is the lifeline of much of the world. >> assuming the houthis are rational actors, what's in this for them? they are saying this is about israel's war against hamas and what's going on in gaza, is it simply that or are they doing the bidding of iran, why would they be doin

you need to have the houthis, hezbollah, hamas in your rolodex and half the people you call the phone comes off the wall. what's it like for you, take us into the nature of your job today of managing weakness, not strength? >> so first of all, i way it becomes strength. first, president biden has made investments at home that people are seeing. they are seeing investments on construction, they are seeing investments in cutting-edge technology in chips and science. they've seen investment in climate change technology that is going to power the economy in the future. they know we are serious despite some of the dysfunction that maybe seen in the front pages. first thing to do roll up our sleeves, reengage with allies, reengage with partners, build new collections of countries and organizations that were fit for purpose to deal with specific problems and i think we've done that in such a way on big issues of the day how to deal with china and how to deal with russia areas like the middle east. here is what i'm hearing. i'm hearing from virtually every country, they want the united states

and all of this, frankly, houthis, hezbollah, hamas, they all begin with h, but the thing to remember they are all own and operated by iran. >> i was going to ask you about that. we were being told by those traveling with the secretary that iran is giving latitude to the houthis but is not necessarily directing these operations. what is your take? is the iranian regime behind this? are they going to become involved? we and they more drawn into this? >> i think the iranians will press through all three of these surrogates that they have created as well as the shia militias in iraq and syria. if you laid down a map of the ancient persian empire over today's middle east, you would see and could drop pins into each of these operations essentially coming out of the grand strategy of tehran. i don't see anything that will change that underlying fundamental, which also gets into shia versus sunni within the face of islam. look for more challenges. unfortunately, this latest turn of the wheel, to me, raises the chances for wider regional conflict. again, let's hope the houthis and their maste

well, and as if recently, that this can be done, that somehow suddenly some kind of iran, the houthi hezbollaher countries, which previously seemed to be exclusively the magic of high-flying countries, in this sense, the situation that is happening now, they can talk as much as they want, in my opinion, this is my point. talk about how we will prepare for war, we are now like ainn kolonen marchirt, we are all here now, we will do everything here now in practice , they just need to hold out for a while, because they don’t know what to say, they understand perfectly well that europe, certainly europe, it i’m not ready for this new world order, but there is one serious problem here, who is ready for it at all, at least on a theoretical level, no one, because at the global level, please, here is at least francis fukuyama, although i understand that this is the still a fool, but you see, he was there it’s like... that’s all, that’s it in reality, they understand perfectly well that the world order, which was not controlled, is crumbling, that it is necessary to make the country that wants to change

and you need to have the houthis, hezbollah, hamas, in your rolodex and half the people you call, the phone comes off the wall. what's it like? take us into your job, managing weakness not strength. >> i think we come at this in a region of strength in the big picture. first, president biden's made investments at home that people around the world are seeing, they've seen the construction, chips and science, technology. seeing investments in climate technology and related energy technology that's going to power the economy of the future and they know we're serious about it despite some of the dysfunction that may be seen on the front pages. second, in ways that we haven't done in recent years, the first thing i was told by the president was to roll up our sleeves, reengage, reengage with our allies, reengage with our partners, build new collections of countries that we're and organizations that we're fit for purpose to deal with specific problems. and i think we've done that in such a way that on some of the really big issues of the day, whether it's how to deal with china, how to deal

that we are talking about here, this axis of so-called resistance where they are backing the houthis, hezbollahgaza. what do you think they want to achieve? >> the organization has written extensively and researched the question of iran's influence networks in the wider militant -- wider middle eastern region. this extends to the countries we discussed a minute ago. all the way to afghanistan. and of course, it poses a question of sovereignty to a number of these countries, including pakistan. the patent of escalation we are seeing demonstrates a tempting picture whereby we would equate pakistan -- sorry, iran's escalation to be a blanket move across the region. or else on the conflict of the gaza war, or else some finely calculated as chelate -- escalation country. i think it is important to resist that particular blanket assessment. in the end, iran is surrounded by neighbors. and each neighbor has its own history with iran. samantha: we must leave it there. thank you. mps have started voting on the government's rwanda narrator: funding for this presentation of this program is provided by...

as trey said a minute ago all of these attacks on american forces in the middle east be it houthis, hezbollah, they are a iranian backed this administration has pulled it's a punchers it cannot do that anymore has to make a hard strike. here's the problem we have had with normalization. when you normalize activities you accept what's going on. now changing that dynamic is really hard you cannot just go tit for tat you have to go what's called the escalation of the latter make a significant strike be it on people, facilities, troops on the field with the iranians and has to be something the pentagon is going to come up with options going to decide where they want to go but my concern is this administration is going to take the hard option it needs to take and strike hard against the iranians does that mean personnel? shshort couldn't mean everything going after the current leader of the force or the current leader or going after facilities that build the drones within iran, take out their naval facilities. they are going to have to make those decisions that they don't strike hard they're makin

essentially, or escalating some of the attacks that the so—called axis of resistance, iran's allies houthis, hezbollahhe united states. i want to touch on the distinction between iran acting through its proxies than carrying out attacks and claiming them, essentially. we have seen more of that in this past week. what do you think that tells us, the fact that iran is clear about being behind these latest attacks. i think iranian officials, in policy and public statements, have made it clear that their absolute redline are attacks on iranian soil. this is something that a senior adviser to the supreme leader reiterated. assassination of commanders outside is one level of escalation, but attacks on iranian, that was one of the major redlines and isis claimed the last attack. the attack on iraq, the iranians said this was a safe house or a centre connected to mossad. some of the case may be accurate, some may not, but the political messaging was that these were some of the major redlines that had been crossed and therefore they retaliation for them is much more severe, as you also mentioned, missiles bein

they work through proxies like houthis, hezbollah, hamas. they try to use these proxy groups. so force their neighbors to establish itself as a country with freedom of action to drive competition in the region. host: i ran head pakistan and they responded today and iran says people have been killed. where does this go? will there be an issue? guest: it's another region where there is a dispute between iran and pakistan and area of pakistan just south of iran. that area has been somewhat contested. they are trying to force pakistan to defend that border. as well as pushing back on iraq and saudi arabia. this is their effort to try to expand its field of control in the middle east. it has decided to take action against a nuclear armed power. they are working with proxies against other countries but this direct attack on pakistan puts pakistan and direct confrontation. iran feels assembled and of his success or a little bit on the defensive because of internal challenges. there have been a series of recent protest inside iran. they are succeeding overseas but at home is not so gr

iran is backing the houthis, hezbollah, they're backing hamas. how do you degrade the capability of these three actors without going directly after iran and what more can you do short of actual military strikes? short of even boots on the ground? we're already basically strangling them economically. >> yeah, well, we have a strategic problem with iran. we have no strategic solution. a military strike against iran, frankly, is going to be more trouble than it's worth. the only real effective way is to basically get a new iranian government, and we're not very good at regime change. and not very good at all, i might add. and even if there were a change in regime, it may be a harder line regime. controlled by iranian revolutionary guard. and the security services. so i think this, again, it's a strategic problem without a strategic solution. i'd only point out the fourth month of this war, and you still have not seen what people fear the most, which is a real regional war, which is going to spike oil prices and lead to plunging financial markets, an

they are bringing those alliances together of the houthis, hezbollah, the pmf forces from iran and countries like syria and iraq. all of those things are growing in support of hamas. we're seeing one side deteriorate, the other side grow in strength. so it will be very difficult for the united states to continue to deter a growing alliance that's supporting hamas. that is the intent. >> since i have robin, what do you think in response to ukraine, they're trying to make sure the west stays resolved. how do you read the situation? is it dire? >> i think it is dire. and it's going to make it much more difficult for ukraine politically, diplomatically, most of all militarily to hold back vladimir putin's intention of taking more ukrainian territory. once the united states backs away, the question is can europe compensate? there are implications it can't or it won't. the war in israel has diverted attention, where are american interests in weaponry? where are they going to go? this is -- the two wars are being conflated as well in terms of where does the united states use its energy, its leverag

the problem is that by their analysis, iran are the ones pulling the strings behind the houthis, hezbollahu go about trying to tackle that? do you think the us and others can tackle the root cause of this? well, there's no silver bullet here, that's for sure. i think the easiest way to sort of knock the political winds out of what iran is trying to do is actually to do something about the situation in gaza and to get the hostilities to cease. this will obviously remove any political pretext for iran to continue targeting us and other forces and capabilities of the region. insofar as whether iran stands behind all of this, and what we know for certain is that there is a very high degree of coordination and orchestration among iran and its partners in the region across multiple theatres, so in iraq, in syria, lebanon, and now in yemen of the red sea, so this suggests a degree of strategic alignment, obviously, and perhaps orchestration by the iranians. we also know that iran is absolutely critical to the houthis ability to continue targeting shipping in the red sea. they provide the intellig

everyone is starting to better understand the alignment of people with iran, houthis, hezbollah in lebanon hamas in gaza. this challenge, we are all on the same line. israel may be first in line but we have to confront people and finish with it. i believe it will happen soon. we are not going to let off the pressure until we get it resolved and the white flag of hamas. >> i look at cosco, the chinese shipping giant. they decided to stop routing ships towards israel. i want to take you from there to a growing number of people who believe the prime minister's position is becoming precarious. is it just a matter of time before this government rakes down and we slide into a new election as soon as this year? min. barkat: everyone here understands that we are united and focusing on winning the war. and bringing home our hostages. with respect to the economy, every time israel had a war, there is a dip in the economy at least short-term. but after that, creativity of israel comes out. and you see a huge boost after the war of the economy. people understand our competitive advantage in technology

like a direct attack or raising our escalate and some of the attacks that iran's allies, like houthi hezbollahing as what they see as the upside —— opposite side like israel and the united states. i opposite side like israel and the united states.— opposite side like israel and the united states. i want to touch on the distinction _ united states. i want to touch on the distinction between - united states. i want to touch on the distinction between iran - the distinction between iran operating through its proxies and karen not attacks and claiming them, essentially will see more of that this past week as you said there, what does that tell us about the fact that iran is clear about being behind the latest attacks? i think irani and officials, _ behind the latest attacks? i think irani and officials, we _ behind the latest attacks? i think irani and officials, we also - behind the latest attacks? i think irani and officials, we also see i behind the latest attacks? i think irani and officials, we also see in| irani and officials, we also see in their policy and public statements, they have made

well, and as if recently, that this can be done, that somehow suddenly some kind of iran, the houthis, hezbollahs happening now, they can talk as much as they want, in my opinion, here is my point of view, to say that we.. let's get ready for war, we are now marching, we are all here now , we will do everything here now in practice, they just need to hold out for a while, because they don’t know what to say, they understand perfectly well that europe is certainly europe , she's not ready for this new world order, but there is one serious problem here, who is ready for it at least on a theoretical level, no one, because at the global level, please, here at least francis fukuyama, although i understand that he is still a fool, but you see , being there was like being weasel after a rock band. in fact, they understand perfectly well that the world order, which was not controlled, is crumbling, that it is necessary to make the country that wants sovereignty normal, changeable, even though in the end, this is indeed a serious problem, a serious challenge, even marxism orism, despite the fact that i p

the houthis, hezbollah, hamas, the hhh threat. thank you, general. appreciate your expertise. >> have a great day. >>> still to come, your best and worst social media comments and don't forget to vote on today's poll question, is the republican nomination already over? if you subscribe to the newsletter when you are there, you will get exclusive editorial cartoons from the legends. how about this from rob rogers this week. >>> all right. there's the results so far of today's poll question. wow. 26,000 and change. is the republican nomination already over. 52/48. 52% agreeing with my guest in saying, yeah. the voting hasn't bekbun, but it's pretty much a done deal. here is some of the social media reaction coming in during the course of the program. the 43% self labeling independent means the electorate is more sick of politics as usual than it was in 2016 when trump was nominated and later rejection. thomas, let me say this you know who is elated to see 43, which is a record high for independents as gallop has been doing this, tieing with a previous

you have hamas, hezbollah, the houthi rebels, they are all funded and backed by in, the number one state sponsor of terror. former president trump called out biden for his weakness on truth social saying "this brazen attack on the united states is yet another horrific and tragic consequence of joe biden's weakness and surrender," and speaking in south carolina yesterday biden had an opportunity to send a strong message to his friends, his pals, the mustll last in iran b instead he offered nothing but this tepid response. take a listen. >> i want for you to know that we had a tough day last night. -- they attacked one of our bases. they we shall respond. >> sean: we shall respond. this is pretty much par for the course with this administration. instead of using forceful deterrence, just had a simple message for iran all along. their message when asked what about iran? don't. don't. don't. watch. >> what is your message to hezbollah and its backer, iran? >> don't. don't. don't. don't. >> what's the message to iran? >> don't. >> president bide said don't. >> exactly. one word. pretty straig

we know that when iran gets any money, it fuels its proxies to hamas houthis, hezbollah, they always have. i saw that every day at the united nations. you got to put the sanctions back on. stop giving them money to kill our soldiers. >> political action committees supporting trump spent about $50 million last year to cover the republican front runner's legal bills and related expenses. the bills piled up as trump was indicted four times in 2023. >> that price tag could go higher. we should get a more precise figure in the coming hours from new filings to the federal election kmcommission. >> the question is that. whether the donors are happy with it. woour we're going to speak to the incredible images. they are facing criticism after they address civilians in a raid in a hospital. howe the idf is responding, just ahead. xfinity rewards presents: '1st and 10gs.' xfinity is giving away ten grand to a new lucky winner for every first and ten during the big game. enter daily through february 9th for a chance to win 10gs. with the ultimate speed, power, and reliability the xfinity 10g net

. >> all of thieves attacks on american forces in the middle east be it houthis, hezbollah, anybody else. they're iranian-backed. the administration can't pull its punches anymore. they need to strike back. >> dana: let's get jennifer's update. >> a senior u.s. defense official told me this weekend we haven't been this close to regional war in the middle east since 1973. defense secretary lloyd austin's first day back in the pentagon today since he was hospitalized two weeks ago -- two weeks following prostate surgery. he will be meeting with nato secretary general at 10:00 a.m. we'll see him then. this weekend secretary austin updated the president on options for responding to this attack on u.s. forces, quote, iran backed militia's are responsible for these continued attacks on u.s. forces and we'll respond at a time and place of our changes. president and i will not toll rat attacks on american forces and we will take all necessary actions to defend the united states, our troops and our interests. three american soldiers were killed, 34 wounded and eight medically evacuated taken to a

houthis. these are proxy fighters. hezbollah, the houthis, hamas, of course. and what the houthis have done is they have found a way way to inflict a cost on, you know, business as usual. so the united states has to respond, and it has to try to achieve escalation dominance as wesley clark was saying. but it also has to try to not let this spread out of control. and that's a very delicate balance, and it's trying to re-establish deterrence while at the same time not itself produce a widening of the war. i'm not sure -- there's a lot of danger here because the united states could get drawn into precisely the thing that washington was telling saudi arabia to be careful of, which is drag yourself into a yemeni civil war, siding with one side, attacking the houthis. that could go on for a long time. so there's that danger. on the other hand, you've got to make sure that shipping can go through the persian gulf. this is the lifeline for much of the world. this is where oil flows to a lot of places all over the world. >> fareed, assuming the houthis are rational act

you need to have the houthis, hezbollah, and how mass in your rolodex and half the people you call, the wall. what is _ call, the phone comes off the wall. what is it— call, the phone comes off the wall. what is it like for you? —— himars. dacres— what is it like for you? —— himars. dacres to _ what is it like for you? —— himars. dacres to the nature of yourjob today, — dacres to the nature of yourjob today, managing not strength. first of all, i today, managing not strength. first of all. i think— today, managing not strength. first of all, i think we _ today, managing not strength. f “st of all, i think we come at much of this from a renewed position of strength in the big picture. first, president biden has made investments at home that people around the world are seeing. they are seeing the investments we have made in our infrastructure, the investments we have made in science, climate technology and related energy technology and related energy technology that is going to power the economies of the future. so they know we are serious about ourselves despite some of the dysfunction t

look who is on the side of the houthis, on the side of the houthis syria, on the side of the houthis hezbollahhouthis not so long ago, somehow took the place of such a neutral one in this conflict, so we see that, in general, two such military-political fists will be formed, but the question is, now yes, american ships are hitting the territory, destroying their positions. but for some reason the world forgets how many houthis are under arms today in this country of thirty million, they say several million, yes, there are 30 million , while some are counted as 25, but the houthis themselves, who today have put together about 200,000, and these are not boys for beating , you see what knocked down the missile, it’s an anti-ship missile, they have it. missiles of different classes, there are middle class missiles, there are missiles that fire at 300, at 500 and so on, so yes, at 1200 there is, so quickly bring the houthis to their knees, who , by the way, have recently grown quite tightly into their own society, you know, we say the houthis, and there in general the yemeni people begin to rise up

with we need to prepare accordingly. >> it's a lot to process, the houthis, hezbollah, hamas. thank you, general. >> have a great day. >> still to come, your best and worst social media comments and don't forget to vote on today's poll question at smerconish.com. is the republican nomination already over? if you subscribe to the newsletter when you're there, you'll get exclusive editorial cartoons from the legends. how about this from rob rogers this week? (vo) fargo, is the new virtual assistant from wells fargo. (woman) oh, come on! come on! (vo) fargo lets you do this: (woman) fargo, turn off my debit card. i found it! i found my card! (vo) and also, this: (woman) fargo, turn on my debit card! (vo) do you fargo? you can, with wells fargo. (vo) meet fargo, the new virtual assistant from wells fargo. fargo makes banking faster, and easier. (woman) fargo, turn off my debit card! (vo) lets you pick up the tab, even if you forget your wallet... (kaz) i got this. (ben) fargo, send kaz $145 dollars with zelle®. (kaz) smooth. (vo) fargo puts important information at your fingertips

look, i don't think anybody iran, the united states, the houthis, hezbollah, i don't think they're interestedto a full-scale war. they'll pay a heavy price if we go into a full-scale war. at the same time, it is very clear that as they continue to make these kinds of targeted attacks. one kind or another, that the united states and our allies cannot simply stand by. and not take action. so, is this a tense moment? you bet it is. is there a danger of escalation in the middle east? you bet there's a real danger. particularly now. but at the same time, we have a responsibility to send a clear message that the united states and our allies are not going to simply stand by and allow these attacks to take place without a response. >> and, finally, a senior official said today that secretary blinken is heading to the region today. and we're at a peak moment of tension between this administration and israel over the progress of the war. and the civilian casualties. we've got israeli cabinet members saying things that are being -- you know, broadly criticized from the podium at the state department jus

again, at the end of the day, iran is behind the houthis, hezbollah, hamas, you name it. and eventually there is going to be -- we have to confront the iran problem at some point in time here. >> secretary mark esper, thank you for your time tonight. >> thank you , abby. >>> and donald trump is taking his campaign into the courtroom, complete with what felt like a campaign speech. that's next. to duckduckgo on all your devie duckduckgo comes with a built-n engine like google, but it's pi and doesn't spy on your searchs and duckduckgo lets you browse like chrome, but it blocks cooi and creepy ads that follow youa from google and other companie. and there's no catch. it's fre. we make money from ads, but they don't follow you aroud join the millions of people taking back their privacy by downloading duckduckgo on all your devices today. >>> iowa votes in just four days, but tonight the former president is commandeering the headlines after he took control of a new york courtroom. and with it the red lights and digital recorders of the political world. >> this is a political

when you go at it over 130 times and iran is backing this, don't put in houthi, hezbollah, it is irant and not suffering consequence from losing lives or cutting off economic sanctions. they are not doing it, everybody takes it as united states will not do anything. this will play in heavily. it is sad to see our shrinking on the national stage when international stage when you have other countries not willing to join in coalition in the red sea, they don't want to be under u.s. command, that is a problem we have not seen before. >> emily: just sticking to our words, why can't this administration do that? >> leslie: doug is right, i agree on sanctions, that was done during the obama years. it can't be the united states doing this in vacuum. we have an international communities, we have the u.k. and saudis and yemeni people have been victims for eight years of these strikes and they are hurting. i believe united states and international communities, we need to empower financially with weaponry, etcetera, yemeni military to fight the houthis. it may help regarding international shipping

according to western experts, the houthis allegedly enjoy hidden military and financial support from iran and its allies, represented by the lebanese hezbollahement. massive strikes by britain and the united states on houthi positions in yemen are the third military attack on the movement. this is the first time this has happened. v 2004. i will add that hussism can be called a reformist islamic teaching of the new wave of the postmodern era, that is , reformers in the 20th century tried to break the bone traditions of islamic societies, turning to primary sources in order to give rise to modernity in the form of westernization. and said hussein, the founder of the movement, tried to revive the role of the koran as a quality. a self-sufficient source of not only spiritual, but also socio-economic development of islamic societies, putting a barrier to the influence of western ideology, as well as deeply connected with him the materialistic interests of israel, declaring it imperialist and hostile to islam. vladim franich, what do you think is iran’s own attitude towards the houthis? i would say rationally, in general, this is the main term th

amna: they back hezbollah in lebanon and the houthis in yemen. elationship with those groups different and how is it the same? karim: hezbollah is the crown jewel of the iranian revolution, the most powerful of iran's proxies and part of iran's revolutionary guard. it is a subsidiary of the iranian state. the houthis are being trained by hezbollah. over the last decade their relationship with iran has grown much closer. at the end of the day, iran doesn't micromanage these proxies, doesn't call up hezbollah or the houthis or she'll a militias in iraq and tell them what to do on a daily basis. but they macro-manage those groups. those groups share strategic objectives about trying to evict america from the middle east. amna: we have seen a ramping up of houthi attacks and hezbollah attacks. is that coordinated through iran in any way and could they call them off if they needed to? karim: there is no doubt it is being coordinated with the iranian government. the leader of hezbollah has said all of hezbollah's funding comes from iran. a giant chunk o

houthis are going to escalate into a wider conflict. i do think that if we don't see the decimation of hamas and continue pushing back on hezbollah, if all of those things interconnected aren't kept under control, it is quite possible we see escalation, but i don't see it just simply with these attacks on the houthis. >> in a cnn debate witness that dana bash and i moderated, governor nikki haley said she disagrees with calls from some of the extreme right wingers in netanyahu's cabinet in israel that hundreds of thousands of palestinians should be forcibly removed from gaza. governor ron desantis said basically he would support any move by israel if they felt like they needed to do that to avoid a second holocaust. where do you come down on the issue of these calls from extremists in the netanyahu cabinet to forcibly remove hundreds of thousands of palestinians from gaza? >> well, i would disagree with a forcible removement of those palestinians, but what i would say is that hamas is widely supported by a number of the palestinians that live in the gaza strip. this group needs to be deradicalized. unfortunately many of those palestinian

. >> malign influence, they back the houthis, hezbollah, hamas, we know about their influence. we have given them a clear message what needs to happen, that has not been heeded and why we have taken the steps today. >> houthis might not have gotten the message. a short while ago, word of another missile fired at a ship off yemen. no injuries reported. back to you. >> sandra: greg, thank you. john. >> john: sandra, continuing coverage as president biden faces backlash from people in his own party over the retaliation strikes. peter doocy is live at 1600 pennsylvania with the latest. do we know why it took president biden so long to reach out and smack the houthis? >> peter: we are told president biden wanted to make sure first u.s. allies were on board with the strikes. >> this wasn't a decision we made lightly or quickly. in fact, if you go back to november, and walk your way through up until just last night, i mean, everything we have done, diplomatically and militarily, has been designed to keep the tensions down and to convince the houthis not to continue these deadly attacks

hezbollah, in lebanon. maybe not at the scale that they expect. the houthis have, in some sense, led, they are iranian proxy coalition here. against the west with their attacks on global shipping in the red sea. now, these attacks, they're starting to threaten u.s. personnel as well. we put together a global coalition, we have warned the houthis that this had to stop. it didn't stop. we have a responsibility to respond. >> whether the houthis, or hamas, or hezbollah, the root of these grooves is iran. they would not be able to carry out what they do without support from iran. this is, we should point out, according to international inspectors, have put its nuclear program on steroids. should the united states take a more aggressive stance against iran? >> we don't want a larger conflict with iran. that is clear. at the same time, the iranians have spent a lot of time, effort, money to get other groups like the houthis, or hezbollah to do their bidding in the middle east. and when it threatens our interest, we rely, as a country, with oceans on both sides, we

houthis’ attempts to attack american ships. vladimir konstantinovich, well, what do you think, could there be a situation where even hezbollah orouthis could independently go for a serious escalation, even if the leadership iran will insist on greater caution? i don't think the iranian leadership will insist on greater caution, but again they will agree. their policy, the possibility of further aggravation is dictated by more than one side, and hezbollah and the houthis will not unilaterally increase aggression, this will happen with a mutual increase in aggression, western countries will behave aggressively, these are these shiite countries, which are, as it were, united by each other with a friend, not even countries, but groups, organizations, will raise level... we will observe in this region, as in others, an increase in confrontations, but the trend is inevitable: a decrease in the influence of the united states. thank you very much, at the end of our interesting discussion, i would like to say this: the famous writer mark twain once joked: god created war so that americans would study geography. and how did he turn out t

from iran and hezbollah they are looking for a regionwide war however, the core issue here is israel and gaza. as long as israel continues to bomb gaza in the way that it has been, the houthisions and military and other shipping in the red sea or against american military bases whether or in iraq. american military bases whether or in iran. ., ., american military bases whether or in ira. . ., , american military bases whether or in ira. ., ., , , in iraq. iran, of course, denies involvement — in iraq. iran, of course, denies involvement but _ in iraq. iran, of course, denies involvement but their- in iraq. iran, of course, denies involvement but their proxies, j in iraq. iran, of course, denies- involvement but their proxies, they have we have we have been talking about the houthis, you have mentioned hezbollah in lebanon, there are daily exchanges across that border and that situations is to be getting worse and it's pretty critical now, how dangerous is it currently given what we have heard from israel puzzled by mr in the last 48 hours? 50. from israel puzzled by mr in the last 48 hours?— from israel puzzled by mr in the last 48 hours? so, what's going on is that those

troops and the houthis, hezbollah, other areas in yemen, syria have lobbed some missiles as well. this is certainly continuing to escalate, feeding a very big concern, not only hear in israel, but globally that this could develop into another front in this war, something i don't think anyone wants to see right now, francis. >> that's what we're watching closely to see how it may be affected. jay gray, thank you. >>> we're joined by retired general steph twitty. i appreciate you being with us on the first day of the new year. let's start with this. we have a lot to cover. prime minister netanyahu says israel needs many more months to destroy hamas. what do you think the next few months will look like and how will that differ from what we've been seeing now. >> good to be with you, francis, and happy new year. i think we'll see much of what we've seen the past couple months. keep in mind that prime minister netanyahu has said destroy hamas. in order to destroy hamas you have to relent lesley go after hamas. as you can see, the israelis are doing just that. it's going to take a while

the proxies, whether the houthi, hezbollah, hamas, they can only do what at the do because of enablementmmunition and frankly approval and guidance from the regime in tehran. so if we're going to kin contain wars from escalatings the focus has to be on iran. and of course if you can isolate iran, diplomatically and economically, that also isolates russia from a key source of drones. >> okay. thank you so much. appreciate it. >>> turning now to the southern border where texas is facing off with the federal government over border being assess. the state refusing to comply with a cease and desist letter from the biden administration. texas has blocked border patrol agents from reaching a part of the border. julia ainsley is with us this morning. great seeing you. so is this a confrontation between state and federal? >> it is heating up. we knew have heard from the attorney general from texas saying that texas will not com apply with the cease and desist order to allow border patrol access to shelby park. this is a place where they have processed thousands of migrants. just last week a mothe

the houthis follow hezbollah, a shiite armed group in lebanon. it is hezbollah, according to the available data, that trains and divides the houthis by experience the khoshites consider iran an ally, as saudi arabia is their common enemy. iran is suspected of supplying weapons to the houthis, and the us claims that it is with the help of iranian intelligence that they can successfully attack ships. bbc security columnist frank gartner analyzes. the houthis greatly overestimate their political weight. all this time they were fighting, but this conflict was within the borders of yemen and a little further abroad. when they hit targets in saudi arabia. and in several cases in the united arab emirates, but they decided to join the gaza war at the behest of hamas, they declared it part of the iranian-led all opera, along with hezbollah, hamas and all other iranian allies in the region. they decided that, in fact, they would control a large part of the coast of the red sea and choose which ships to let through. which are not, many ships that have nothi

they allow $6 billion to go to the iranians who fund the houthis, hezbollah and hamas.lso gave millions of dollars to hamas right before they attacked israel. so you have an administration who's emboldening them through their policies and giving them money when we should be standing strong for the american people and against terrorism across the world. stuart: it's not going away, is it? >> no. stuart: they keep attacking, we keep responding. that's not quite a permanent war, but it's going to go on for a very long time. i mean, do you approve of that? >> no. we need to strike hard, and if we financially went after iran and all these other terrorist organizations, you wouldn't be seeing this. you didn't see any of this under the trump administration because he stood strong with the american people. and when you have strength coming from america, you don't have to fill the voids with other countries. since biden's been in office we've had service members in iraq, a hundred different strikes, 60 of them have been injured, and there's no strong response from this white hou

they're doing the past couple decades and they've been working through proxies with the houthi in yemen and hezbollah hamas and some of the sympathizers in iraq. ■group. so force their neighbors to establish itself as a country with freedom of action to drive competition in the region. i ran head pakistan and they and iran says people have been killed. where does this go? guest: it's another region where a dispute between iran and pakistan and area of pakistan just south of iran. thatthey are trying to force pakistan to defend that border. ■1as well as pushing back onraq and saudi arabia. this is their effort to try to expand its field of control in the middle east. it has decided to take action against a nuclear armed power. they are working with proxies against other countries but this direct attack on pakistan puts kistan and direct confrontation. iran feels assembled and of his success or a little bit on the defensive because of internal challenges. there have been a s protest ins. they are succeeding overseas but at home is not so ground. ehost: let's talk about the red sea, how eective h■oave t

instead of playing whack a mole with the houthies, hezbollah, hamas, these militiaths and i'm telling you, i'm talking to soldiers downrange right no w ,we are bombing empty warehouses in the middle of the night. so middle of t that this adminn check the box and say they're doing somethiny thg and they're doing nothing that is meaningful. and now we have four more gold star families because of it. and it's infuriating bec. >> it is infuriating. and, you know, at some pointurig they attack our troops nearly 200 times. pete hegseth, you know, when we hegseth, you know, when come to the conclusion that the only thing that they're going to listen to i e goinistes force.ponent now, add one other component to this, and that woul d be is, and that woul keep reading and i keep talking to sources, and they keeg p telling me that iran is a lot closer to nuclear capability than they've ever been. maybe just months away. yes. and i can't imagine a world where that radical ideology is marriedr to to nuclear weapo. i don't think mutually assured destruction woulrld wherd actually deter them. mutual

it's particular galling given that those who are attacking israel, hamas, hezbollah, the houthi as well as the support of iran continue to call for the annihilation of israel and the mass murder of jews. in this trip i came to israel after meeting with the leaders of turkey, greece, jordan, qatar, the united arab emirates, saudi arabia, all those leaders share a concern about the spread of the conflict. all of them are committed to using their influence and using the ties they have to prevent it from escalating and deter new wars from opening. in addition, all express great concern about the dire situation and the number of civilians killed in gaza. we know that facing an enemy that embeds itself among civilians, who hides in and fires from schools, from hospitals makes this incredibly challenging and the challenge particularly to children is too high. it increases the amount of aid getting to gaza including opening pathways. and they continue to face food insecurity according to the united nations. for children, the effects of long periods without sufficient food can have lifelong cons