Episode Details

The most revealing development in Donald Trump’s war with Iran may not be taking place in Tehran at all. It is happening hundreds of kilometres away, on Yemen’s Red Sea coast. In the past week, the Iran-backed Houthis have seized strategically important territory across Yemen’s Red Sea coast. From there, they have greater capacity to threaten shipping through the Red Sea and, crucially, Saudi Arabia’s ability to export oil.

There are reports that the Trump administration is considering a large-scale operation against the Houthis. But how can the United States defeat the Houthis?

Plus, the latest on the Russia-Ukraine standoff. At what point does military attrition become a threat not merely to Ukraine’s army but to the viability of the Ukrainian state itself?

John Mearsheimer is professor of political science at the University of Chicago and the author of The Tragedy of Great Power Politics.