Article: Suspected US airstrikes kill 7 in Yemen, Houthis say
This article cites the recent casualty toll from US strikes on Yemen’s Houthi rebels, which is part of the Trump Admin’s maximum pressure campaign on Iran. The Houthis are the last major proxy of Iran, as Hamas and Hezbollah have been weakened through Israel in prior months. While Trump’s campaigning strategy for his now second term prided itself on ending global conflicts and reducing the US’s foreign entanglements, these air strikes on the Houthis, an Iranian Proxy, seem to be a necessary advancement. It is especially necessary to have increased leverage over a weakened Iran, which has shown to be somewhat stubborn, to ultimately reach a nuclear deal program. Talks between Iran and the United States have already begun, so it may be safe to assume that once a tangible deal has been met, or at least the talks have progressed to some sort of terms and conditions for a solid nuclear deal, these air strikes on the Houthis will decrease accordingly. One concern, as this CNN article cites, is that the Houthis have proven to be a very resilient group, and Trump’s aims to fully eradicate the group will likely require an actual ground offensive, which is not something the Trump Admin would likely want to delve into. This is where I would advise not to go by the words of Trump when he has stated his wants to eradicate the Houthis, because everyone is aware that this isn’t possible without a ground offense, because the ultimate goal is to weaken them to a point that prohibits their havoc with shipping in the Red Sea. Whatever chaos and military operations they carry out within Yemen or regionally, so as it does not affect US imperatives of reaching a nuclear deal with Iran and stabilizing Red Sea shipping, is irrelevant to the United States. This severance of what the politician or his administration says versus what they actually intend to carry out is the distinction between politics and policy. But what does remain true is that the Houthis are still far from being weakened as the US hopes. Despite about 80 Houthi generals and officials having been killed, the central military apparatus is still relatively intact. This gives Iran some leverage, if at all, with US negotiations. It is likely that an eventual nuclear deal with Iran would still leave Tehran with some sense of control of a primitive program, and I think that is what the Iranians have to lean on at this point.