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00:00How do these strikes on the Houthis in Yemen impact the wider unrest in the Middle East?
00:06Yeah, it's an interesting one, isn't it? Because the West, frankly, has no interest in getting involved in the war in Yemen.
00:14We don't have time for the history lesson there, but Saudi Arabia has been involved in a long conflict there,
00:19but we're starting to come to some sort of peaceful accord. But it is Iran that's found the flames of this.
00:25And, of course, the West, ultimately, they didn't want to get involved, but they tried to deter the Houthis with threatening rhetoric.
00:33You know, if you start to attack shipping, we will attack you. That didn't work.
00:37So if deterrence doesn't work, the next thing you try to do is degrade the Houthis' capability.
00:42And that's what we've been seeing over the last few months.
00:45The ultimate is if they don't stop, you have to destroy them.
00:49Unfortunately, that means a massive escalation in the campaign.
00:53I see no appetite from the West to do that.
00:55What we are seeing, though, as I say, is an escalation in as much that rather than waiting for the Houthis to act and then punish them,
01:02now this is an intelligence-led operation.
01:05I have no doubt watching the movement of supplies from Iran and proactively protecting shipping.
01:10And let's face it, even though it's quietened down in the Red Sea,
01:13I understand over 50 percent of the normal shipping that goes through the Red Sea is now going round.
01:18I think it's the Horn of Africa.
01:19It takes longer. If it takes longer, it's more expensive.
01:23That has consequences for the prices of food around the world,
01:26particularly difficult for those poor countries that are starving.