The Houthis Won

Edited by Zeteo and Sam Thielman

MY ZETEO COLUMN from Saturday took stock of President Trump backing down from an escalation in the Red Sea and northwest Yemen that he initiated. It was peak War on Terror: a triumphalist expectation of easy victory in a war of choice that quickly displayed American weakness instead. Also, yes, I was high on Knicks fumes when I wrote the lede you'll read after the paywall. Losing Game 3 hasn't dropped me down to earth, since that was a must-win for Boston. We'll see what happens tonight in the Garden.  

I'll admit that when I wrote this column, part of me wondered if deescalation in Yemen might be part of a broader diplomatic initiative that would unlock something in the fourth round of U.S.-Iran denuclearization negotiations in Oman. Recall that in mid-April, following the first round of talks, U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff suggested that Iran could enrich uranium to 3.67 percent, a major concession. Readers with long memories recall right-wing opposition to provisions of the 2015 nuclear deal that permitted any Iranian uranium enrichment. But Witkoff spent nearly a month walking that back, and the Iranians emerged from Sunday's negotiations saying dourly that the discussions were "difficult but useful." Doesn't seem like the Yemen separate-peace-ceasefire unlocked anything. 

Witkoff has returned to saying that conceding an Iranian right to enrich uranium is tantamount to permitting Iran a nuclear weapon just in time for Trump to arrive in Saudi Arabia, where he is expected to announce U.S. support for a Saudi nuclear program that will quite likely permit the Saudis to enrich their own uranium. All the coverage of this potential development has gone to Trump’s stripping away the requirement that the Saudis recognize Israel, which is unquestionably a major development, since it abandons the Abraham Accords formula. But it seems not to have sunk in that Mohammed bin Salman will be on the verge of a nuclear weapon. Last year, I wrote a different column for Zeteo about that, so I'm going to republish it here, as a two-for-one for subscribers. The column ran practically a year before Haaretz began freaking out about an MBS bomb. Subscribe to FOREVER WARS and get next year's news today.