00:00We have a new front, a new choke point, and in many ways it's an old choke point, an old
00:04front,
00:04an old problem. We have experience dealing with the Red Sea. Can you describe our experience in
00:08the last several years, how difficult it was to counter the disruption caused by the Houthis and
00:12how difficult it might be this time around? We had to spend quite a bit of assets actually
00:18helping out Saudi Arabia in that region, specifically not only from an air defense
00:23threat from the Houthis themselves, but also then offensive capability supporting Saudi Arabia in
00:27that region, to be able to take them and bring them down to a level where, from a military
00:33capability perspective, we would call that a degraded capability. And so the U.S. was involved
00:38in that with the Saudis, and it got to a point where we think it was almost ready state operations,
00:45if you will. And then obviously then when the Iran conflict came up, this is something that I've been
00:49keeping a close eye on because I was actually worried that this was going to be a pressure point
00:54that was going to be pressed by Iran and by the Houthis. And now you're starting to see that as
00:59part of Iran's strategy going forward right now as an additional lever against the U.S.
01:03When the president says, I'm considering a massive attack, bigger than ever before,
01:07what does that mean in DOD speak? Are these different targets that the United States is looking for?
01:14Yeah, I would say it's going to be both, not only different targets, because up until now,
01:18I think there's been certain ones that you would call almost like restricted targets,
01:21targets because of how high the operational and strategic risk may be for hitting some of those
01:26targets. But due to the casualties, the U.S. service members who were killed in Jordan,
01:32I think this is one of those times where then you start to accept some additional operational risk.
01:36So you're going to see some, you know, your standard IRGC Navy bases, mis-production facilities,
01:42drone manufacturing, and all things air defense. But what you probably may see now is the IRGC
01:47command and control centers that may be closer to Tehran. You may see something against Natanz,
01:52Isfahan, and Fordo, and just creating a deeper crater in the ground during that area.
01:56Strategic energy production sites may be in there. And now as we're sitting here talking
02:00about the Red Sea, long-range missile sites in Yemen could be another one of those pieces.
02:05Coastal forces at any time, anything that's going to try and help the Houthis in this blockade
02:10is going to be something that would be a target in that area.
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