Iran Challenges Trump Over Control of Strait of Hormuz (with Hussain Albukhaiti)

0:00Ben Meiselas:Iran just called Donald Trump's bluff and Trump just revealed what a weak and pathetic hand he has. An IRGC spokesperson just held a press conference addressing Iran and the world press and said, Here's what we should do. We invite Donald Trump and his regime to the Strait of Hormuz. We will allow them to see the reality for themselves. Iran will cover their costs and expenses, and we will videotape their trip to the Strait of Hormuz and they can see and the world can see who really controls it, right? So if the Trump regime really controls the Strait of Hormuz and if it's true what the Trump regime says that more oil is getting out of the Strait of Hormuz now than before the war started, which makes very little sense, why is it that on Monday and Tuesday, the Trump regime announced that it will be offering up to 40 million barrels of crude oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, which could drive total inventories below 250 million barrels.

1:06Ben Meiselas:Currently, there's only about 283.8 million barrels left in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. That's the lowest level since 1982. And this marks the 27th consecutive weekly decline, putting inventories down more than 132 million barrels from their high. So why is that happening if more oil is getting out from the straight-up removes than from before the war? Also, why is the 30-year Treasury note yield rising above 5.6 % for the first time since June 2002? The bond market doesn't seem to be buying with the Trump regime is selling. All bluff, all bark, no bite, all fraud. That's the Trump regime.

1:57Ben Meiselas:That's another 36 basis points on the 30-year note yield this month alone. Folks, 8 % mortgages will likely be arriving next week, maybe the end of this week. Now, going back to that IRGC spokesperson's press conference. He also addressed the claims from the Trump regime and the Netanyahu regime that Iran is about to reconstitute its nuclear weapons program. Netanyahu has been meeting with MBZ, the president of the United Arab Emirates, and also top Saudi officials over the past week or so. Netanyahu saying, Iran is developing nuclear weapons at Pickaxe Mountain. Iran is about to strike Israel.

2:44Ben Meiselas:We need to do a peremptory strike against Iran immediately. And multiple people who have been at these meetings between Netanyahu, between the leaders of UAE and Saudi Arabia are saying this is what Netanyahu is telling the Trump regime and other leaders in the region. We need to strike Iran immediately. And the IRGC spokesperson is saying, how is it that Netanyahu and other American leaders have been saying essentially that we were going to be developing nuclear weapons imminently for the past multiple decades, yet we don't have the nuclear weapons. Does that make any sense at all? Also, top Iranian officials like Moshe Razai, who's the top advisor to Mojtaba Khomeini, the Ayatollah, and other top Iranian leaders are saying they see no chance of ever doing a deal with Donald Trump, not just before the midterm elections, not just this year, but ever.

3:43Ben Meiselas:They say that Donald Trump is someone who you are just incapable of doing a deal with. He lies. He commits fraud. He's a maniac. He's all over the place. He can't be trusted at all. And Iran told Qatari mediators, look, we're happy to go back to the memorandum of understanding that was previously signed between Iran and the United States. Donald Trump signed it. Iran's President Pazeskian signed it. We'll do the MOU, but we're not going to move away from those terms. We're not going to make concessions. Yeah, the United States media may be propagandizing the people in the United States who no longer buy it anymore.

4:23Ben Meiselas:And there's a lot of worldwide propaganda saying the U.S. controls the Strait of Hormuz, but the actual data reveals the contrary. And, you know, we just feel confident in our position is essentially what Iran is saying at this point. I mean, here's what we're learning about these Netanyahu meetings. Netanyahu is sharing purported Israeli intelligence with MBZ, the leader of UAE, showing that Iran is resuming nuclear progress, including new construction at Pickaxe Mountain, 140 miles south of Tehran. He also told this meeting, which included Saudi security officials, that he was going to be also dealing with issues regarding the Houthis, regarding Bab el-Mandab, regarding the Strait of Hormuz.

5:11Ben Meiselas:And so Netanyahu is at it again right there. And as this one account says, I have a question for all the geniuses out there. Look, if oil is flowing through the Strait of Hormuz and the Saudi East-West pipeline is operational, then why is Donald Trump releasing another 40 million barrels of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve? The math just ain't mathing. Can somebody help me understand this? And I also want to point out this story. It's getting more and more weird. The event that took place at the Royal Air Force Base in the UK at Fairford. Apparently, this purported plot was foiled when one of the alleged suspects phoned the police on himself.

5:53Ben Meiselas:And so a farmer driving home in the early hours of Sunday morning saw the van surrounded by these men, alerted police at 1.36 a.m. However, the Times understands the authorities were already on the scene by then because the suspect had called nearly one hour earlier. It's why I said I want to monitor very carefully what's happening there because we heard a lot of international media and media here in the United States also trying to link this to Iran. It's very close, right, to the Air Force Base that's used by the U.S. to strike Iran. And so I said, I want to get more data here given all of the developments that are happening.

6:30Ben Meiselas:Now, as I noted before, apparently Netanyahu was speaking to MBZ of UAE and Saudi officials about Ansarala, the Houthis. And I want to see what's going on there right now. I mean, last we learned, the Ansarala, the Houthis, were moving east after pretty much taking all over western Yemen and controlling the Bab el-Mandaab Strait over there. We heard that certain schools in Riyadh had been canceled. There's been a lot of information that seems to be all over the place, let's just say, from officials saying, well, the East-West pipeline is working in Saudi Arabia, but when you actually look at the satellite footage, it looks like the pumping stations are still very seriously damaged.

7:16Ben Meiselas:And it's always like, sources close are saying. And so is this a massive effort for market manipulation? I want to bring in Hussein al-Bukhati. Hussein al-Bukhati is a pro-Houthi journalist reporting from Sanaa. His brother, also Muhammad al-Bukhati, is a top official in Ansarallah, who's a governor and is also part of the political bureau. And so Hussein al-Bukhati is very connected. And I want to ask him some questions about what he is observing in Sanaa, what his perspective of these developments are, what his perspective is of Donald Trump's United Nations visit and Xi Jinping's visit to the White House.

8:01Ben Meiselas:If the Houthis, if Ansar Allah are talking about that, the hint hint they are, they're paying very close attention to what's happening here in the United States. I want to bring in Hussein Al-Bukhati right now, pro-Houthi journalist. Here's my interview with him. Now I want to bring in pro-Houthi reporter Hussein al-Bukhaiti. We previously had Hussein on and we're getting another update of what's actually going on in Sanaa from Hussein's perspective. It's good to see you again. I want to get your perspective and you're also very well connected to the top level leaders within Ansarallah. We say Houthis here, but Ansarallah, I mean, your brother's one of the top kind of governors over there.

8:44Ben Meiselas:So you're in the know, you're in these discussions at the highest level and you're a top reporter out there in Sanaa. I want to get your perspective and what you're hearing, how Ansar Allah viewed Donald Trump's appearance before the United Nations and what you observed when President Xi Jinping of China visited the White House and Trump rolled out the red carpet. Is that something being discussed, both how Trump acted at the United Nations and President Xi at the White House? would be interested in the perspective for Monserrella. Yeah, I mean, it was clearly that Trump at the United Nations, he kept just repeating his lies.

9:22I mean, what war that he has stopped and as well threatening nations like Iran and the United Nations and totally ignoring. I mean, people around the world, I mean, they know what he has done. They know that he's the one who's affecting the lives of millions of people, especially in the Middle East. And we see him as well since he took power. He keep attacking countries like allies, like Britain, like as well Canada. But when it comes to China, we've seen that he's rolling like this red carpet. I mean, we can say this is like we can consider it as a state visit. But he looked like some of his behavior that actually made us a lot here like in some I laugh at Trump when he after the president of China has gone out of his plane.

10:16And then that B2 or I didn't know that the United States fighter jet or what they call him B2. I mean, Trump, he brought it there. He thought he was scared. That guy and Trump was looking at it like a child and trying to tell him, have you seen what we have? I mean, he totally ignored Trump. I mean, China knows everything about the United States. I mean, China is building their own army. So it's exactly what we say here. It's like a child now who is in control, a stupid child, actually, who is in control of the White House, one of the most powerful countries, someone who keeps threatening country that he will annihilate Iran, he will wipe out Iran, and as well keep lying about the uh uh his his uh peace process and ending war so i think that it should be like they they like the people in the united states actually they should uh at one point i don't know uh to change him through election or or buy from the uh congress or the um senate and one of the main thing that's actually damaging the united states just imagine launching a war without any green light from the Congress or the Senate.

11:31This is actually against the institution of the United States and all that to help a foreign country like Israel in their war. So United States, it cost them billions of dollars and it damaged their reputation in those acts of war that are totally illegal.

11:46Ben Meiselas:Let me ask you, you mentioned the US constant attacks of Canada and of NATO. Has that surprised you and others in Ansarallah that that would take place this way? You know, you mentioned, you know, does that, how does that make Ansarala perceive the United States from your discussions when Trump attacks Canada and attacks NATO and countries that the U.S. used to be allied with? Actually, what was clearly that Trump, he, which is like leading the United States, he doesn't care about his ally and the only thing he cares is not even that he cares about the people of the United States. He only cares about himself.

12:32He keeps like the statement targeting countries like Canada, China and European country and the Navy and I mean the NATO and always keep saying is us who protect you. If we leave you, this can happen. and the taxes on goods that come from that country. He keeps increasing it, keeps threatening the country, threatening Mexico. So here, actually, to be honest with you, for us, it's good. As Yemeni, as Ansarullah, as a country that has been affected by Trump and its support to the Saudi and its war effort against Yemen during the Prosperity Guardian, because it exposed the United States and shows everyone what the United States is about.

13:19And as they say here, Trump actually exposed what was hidden within the United States. It's controlled by lobbyists. It doesn't care about its own people. So for us and for Ansarullah, actually what Trump is doing is damaging the United States' reputation, either politically, military, and as well the human right that the United States does not respect. They have formed sanctions on the on the International Criminal Court. So this shows expose the United States and is good for anyone who consider the United States as an enemy of them.

13:58Ben Meiselas:You know, we were hearing that MBS, Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, was requesting help from Donald Trump. And apparently first Trump said no. And then Trump said yes, in terms of striking Ansarallah, striking, you know, within a lot of these cities, some of the advances that have been made in the West by Ansarallah. And then I guess a lot of the planes were being loaded up, you know, to do potential strikes. Then at the last minute, Donald Trump, according to all the reporting, kind of said, no, we're actually not going to be doing those strikes against Ansarallah. but then Saudi Arabia has been striking Thais and other areas, killing a lot of civilians also.

14:41Ben Meiselas:And then we've been seeing Houthi strikes in, you know, near Riyadh and other areas since you and I last talked. So talk to us about where we are now. I mean, there were supposed to be those U.S. strikes. Are you hearing any other reasons about why you believe those strikes didn't take place with the U.S. joining Saudi Arabia? Let's start there and then let's go over to then we'll spend next. We'll talk about the Saudi Arabia strikes and then what you're hearing the Houthis are doing. Yeah, I think we've seen it like really strange since Trump like got into power. This always this leaks in the Reuters, The Washington Post.

15:18It says like almost everything about what's going in the White House that they were about to attack and then it was canceled. I mean, I didn't think this happened before with any president. And those things or those talks should be secret. Shouldn't go out to the media. But I think Trump actually is behind. And his media team is behind that. They keep leaking this information. He's trying to blackmail Saudi Arabia. I mean, his allies. I mean, if you blackmail your enemy like he's considered Iran his enemy, there's something that we can understand. But I think with those statements, he's just trying to blackmail Saudi Arabia to get more money from them.

15:55even when he visits Saudi Arabia in his first term and the second term, we keep talking. We take their money. They have a lot of money. We should take it. I mean, a country have the right to have money. You don't have the right to take their money to blackmail them. And I think that those release of statehood against Trump as well, try to manipulate as well the price of oil. I'm sure that he have a big businessman or he have a company there's a link to him that when he keeps releasing statement, we will attack, we are not going to attack it, affect the oil price. And they could buy a lot of oil if it go down and then they will sell it if it go up and the gold as well.

16:35So he's making profit for him and his family from those kind of statement. But to be honest with you, I don't think that Trump wants to launch a war against Yemen, but he didn't say this clearly to the Saudi, to his allies, because he knows that if he launch a war, it will be exactly the response from Yemen, like the response against the Prosperity Guardian, who was trying to protect Israel. Yemen will target the United States battleship, commercial chip, and they will block the Ritsi in front of the United States. And I'm sure this actually will affect the United States effort and its war against Iran.

17:10Ben Meiselas:Where are we right now in the war with Saudi Arabia? Saudi Arabia. I'm seeing within Ansarala statements about these daily strikes that are, you know, seemingly hitting a lot of areas under the authority of Ansarala with these, you know, F-15s and fighter jets. And then Ansarala has, you know, responded. There was news about Riyadh schools being closed for a few days. And obviously there's not a lot of information that's getting out even from Saudi Arabia. And, you know, and so everything we are hearing is either coming from kind of Ansarallah videos that are being released or Saudi videos that are being released.

17:54Ben Meiselas:And so it's hard for us to truly know what's going on and what's being hit. We saw videos two weeks ago in Saudi Arabia, looked like a storage facility and by the airport that was hit by Ansarallah near Riyadh. And then we know the east-west pipeline seemed to have been struck as well. And Saudi Arabia claims the east-west pipeline's back open, but its sources that say would seem like a lot of perhaps market manipulation. Because when I look at some of the satellite imagery, the pumping stations still look pretty damaged. So from your perspective, of what's the status right now of the war? I mean Saudi Arabia, I mean we know that it started the war against Yemen in 2015 and it was announced by Saudi ambassador in Washington in 26th of March 2015.

18:45And that war lasted until 2022 when we had a truce with Saudi Arabia. They have destroyed the entire country using American weapons and launched more than 300 ,000 air strikes. But when they have broke the ceasefire in mid July by targeting the San 'a airport. Saudi Arabia has been conducting attacks and strikes against Yemen, even though the leader of Ansarullah has warned Saudi, even before they have broke the ceasefire and targeting San 'a airport, that any attack or any violation of Yemeni airspace, that Yemen will respond. And he said, we will target all your oil Aramco facility. So this is the first time, I think, in history of a war that someone will target you.

19:27He decide what we're going to target. That's why Yemen actually they are hitting really badly, I mean strongly those Saudi oil Aramco facility across Saudi Arabia because they want to enforce a blockade embargo against Saudi Arabia because we have been under blockade since 2015. I mean, around 400 ,000 Yemeni civilians have died because of preventable diseases, severe malnutrition malnutrition lack of food lack of water malaria cholera so that's why we focused on saudi first to form a blockade in the ritsi because what damage yemeni most is the is this blockade the closure of the airport the obstruction of ship going to hodeidah port so saudi has actually threatened the navigation by not allowing yemeni ship to go freely uh to our report and we've seen saudi has expanded all their attack and strikes against yemen they have targeted the market in a few days ago, clean and injuring dozens of civilians, including women and children.

20:28They have targeted schools, targeted, they targeted bridges in Yemen in the last week. And as well, they are focusing as well in targeting communication towers across the country. But what's funny and what's silly for the Saudi, they still keep denying that they are the one who conducting this attack. They say it is their back government or the so-called internationally recognized government. We know that government, they don't have those fighters yet. They don't have the ability to conduct any type of airstrike. So Saudi Arabia, we just shut down a week ago, an F-15. And Saudi are crying now out loud to the Omani, to some other country like Egypt.

21:09They want to know the fate of those two pilots. Of course, some Ansar leadership here has announced they have those pilots, two pilots, but they didn't say their status. Are they dead? Are they alive? Are they injured? So it's clearly that Saudi, they cannot actually defend themselves from Ansar al-Dhouti, or as we call it in the Yemeni army in Sana 'a. That's why they try to have pressure on the Yemeni civilians by targeting all infrastructure or what's left of it. And we see them crying out loud toward the United States and Pakistan, Turkey. They are even using those Wahhabis to release, as they call fatwa, to say that Ansarullah or the Houthi are not Muslim, that jihad should be like up on them.

21:59And there is a clerk from Pakistan who said that we are not Muslim. We want to target the Mecca and anyone who's fighting Saudi Arabia is not Muslim like as capital as they say infidel. So show you that the Saudi I'm sure at one point they will use ISIS Al-Qaeda and all those fighters and they will bring them from all around the world to Yemen to fight Ansarullah the Houthi. But I'm sure that they will fail because now we have the upper hand that they could actually damage the Saudi infrastructure more than they have done already.

22:30Ben Meiselas:And Hussein, finally, you know, when we last talked, Ansarallah had made these advances that we can see in MoCA throughout all of the West. And the question was, how far East would Ansarallah move? I haven't really heard much since you and I spoke last about kind of advances to the East. I mean, obviously, the prime real estate, if you will, is the West because that's by Bob El Mandaab and that controls, you know, all of the Red Sea. So all of that area. But I guess the question is, I mean, are you hearing anything about potentially moving into Aiden or Manib or some of these other areas, you know, kind of to the to the east?

23:12Ben Meiselas:Or do you envision that this is kind of where it stays right now? I just want to figure that out before we go. Yeah, for the Ritzi, to be honest with you, when they have liberated the areas in the Ritzi like Mocha and Bab el-Mandeb and all islands in that area, it was not because that those areas are important to control the Ritzi. We know that Ansarullah were in control of the Ritzi since 2023 when they blocked the shipping of the of Israel in the Ritzi and as well targeting the United States ship after the Prosperity Guardian attack against Yemen. So they do need to be by the sea. They launched missiles from inland, from the mountains.

23:50But it was an area that should be liberated. And the main goal for that area to be liberated is because it was the largest Saudi and United Arab Emirates-backed forces bases there. They built four airports in a small area. Just imagine what they want to do. As well, they are actually advancing in Marib. Marib contains 14 districts. What they are under the control of Sana 'a forces or Ansarullah is 12 districts. It's only the city that's left the city itself and the so-called Sahara or the Wadi district. But regarding to the south and to the east, like Aiden, Lahaj, Abiyan, Hazramawt, Al Mahra, and Sarulah before any attack, conducted attack even, they have asked those commanders that belong to Saudi Arabia, Tariq, Saleh, Moka, and Azul Al-Irada, which is in Marib now, they have requested them.

24:39You can have your weapons. You can have the area that you are in. We will not attack you. but don't allow us to fight the Saudi don't stop us in the back. But of course they refuse that initiative because they do want to fight with any Yemenis. So we had actually to fight against it because the Saudi are using them. But regarding to the south and to the east, this area is mainly is under the control, the so-called the southern separative, which were supported by United Arab Emirates. They didn't attack Sana 'a forces. They haven't released, they haven't joined any attack against Sana 'a forces.

25:14That's why Sana 'a, they are not gonna go into those areas. They know if we defeat the head of the snake, this means that Yemeni at that point, we could all sit together and we could all talk, we could find the solution. Yemeni has gone through many coups, through many assassination of president, through many wars between each other. But at the end, we sit with each other. There was no intervention like the Saudi have done against Yemen. There was no coalition that was built by the Saudi and most richest country in our region against one of the poorest countries. There was no, the United States was not involved.

25:51That's why at the end they believe that now Ansarullah has come to a conclusion. There should be no negotiation with Saudi Arabia. They have used the truce since 2022 to rebuild their bases to try to destroy Yemen. And they were waiting actually for Trump to end his war with Iran. And we believe that if that had happened before, that the war against Yemen will come. That's why it was thanks to God that the Saudi who broke the ceasefire. And that's why Yemeni army has has advanced. And I believe it could be a matter of days or maybe one or two weeks that as well will be liberated because Yemeni is forming a blockade against Saudi Arabia.

26:32They are forming a target in Saudi infrastructure. And I believe one of the stages and escalation, it will be to target all Saudi ports or as well to form an air blockade, like to announce that Saudi airspace is a no go zone by targeting their airport. And I believe they can do that, but they still give a chance to Saudi Arabia. If it will withdraw from Yemen, if it will leave us alone and let us talk with each other without any involvement. Yemeni actually in Sana 'a, they will welcome any act from the Saudi regard to leaving Yemen alone and withdrawing from Yemen.

27:05Ben Meiselas:Well, you know, for those here who believe what Trump and others are saying, that there's some easy solution and that things are somehow de-escalating, I'm definitely not hearing that. But I think, you know, it's important to get perspectives and to hear what you're seeing from Sanaa, what you're hearing from Sanaa. I think it's an important perspective to share. Hussein Al-Bukhati, we appreciate you sharing that perspective and we will keep following the developments over there. Thank you for having me. It was a great time. Everybody hit subscribe. Let's get to 7 million subscribers. Before you go, our book, WTF America is available for pre-order now.

27:48Ben Meiselas:It's the story of how we got here and how we fight our way back. To pre-order, scan the QR code or click the link in the description. Let's do this.

28:01Thank you.