00:00Rawia, what ramifications would a strike have on the overall region as a whole and regional stability?
00:07Well, quite serious ramifications.
00:09I think the way the Gulf states, the regional states here in the area around Iran,
00:19the way they've been behaving, all the advice that they've been giving to the American administration
00:25signal that there are real fears that any American strike on Iran could lead to a regional conflict, maybe a regional war.
00:34Now, that could happen in many different ways because Iran definitely has warned that it will retaliate if the U.S. strikes it.
00:45And at the same time, Iran, we all know it has allies in the region, whether it be in Iraq, in Syria, in Lebanon,
00:52you know, through Hezbollah, or even in Yemen through Houthis.
00:56Now, some of them have been weakened, like Hezbollah considerably, and even the Houthis,
01:01by Israeli and Iranian, sorry, Israeli and American strikes.
01:07Yet they are capable of targeting different targets here in the region and starting up new conflicts.
01:15At the same time, the Iranians could also retaliate against American forces in the region.
01:24We have so many different military bases, American military bases in the area.
01:31You have in Qatar, Al-Odeid's military base was actually targeted by Iran during the 12-day war.
01:40You have also, in Iraq, also military bases, those could be targeted.
01:44And also, the Iranians could launch missiles against American allies like Israel.
01:53We have also some, not just militarily or military ramifications, but we could have also economic and financial ramifications.
02:03Now, the Houthis, they control the Strait of Hormuz, through which 20% of the world's oil pass.
02:10So, therefore, if that is threatened or blocked, that's definitely going to affect the oil supply,
02:17and therefore the oil prices, and will cause some kind of economic shock.
02:23So, yes, a lot of ramifications that could happen,
02:26and that's why a lot of regional states have been warning against striking Iran at this stage.
02:33Even Israel, at some point, they were saying Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with Donald Trump,
02:40or at least on the phone, when the pressure was becoming heightened on Iran,
02:47and there was a real possibility of a military strike.
02:51Like Netanyahu told Trump at the time, that he doesn't think this would be a good idea,
02:58that there will be ramifications, because he doesn't believe that the regime was weak enough,
03:05or have been weakened enough, to be toppled by an airstrike.
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