00:00Fresh attacks this morning in the Middle East that we saw by Iran on military bases and then Saudi and
00:06the U.S. launching those mutual attacks on eastern parts of Iraq.
00:11Are we expected to see those re-escalations and then calmness in the geopolitical scene every now and then for
00:20the foreseeable future, do you think?
00:25We just might, as you suggest, and I think as I've been suggesting since the ceasefire, that the aim possibly
00:34could be shifting what happened during the 40-day war into this low-intensity kind of simmering warfare in the
00:44region.
00:44One, simply due to the reason that there is not enough munitions, there is not enough weapons in order to
00:51sustain a high-intensity conflict that we observed in the first weeks of the war.
00:57And, in fact, the reason to this pause for a couple of day pause, which was suggested by the initiative
01:06of the United States, the most likely reason to it is also that it has been running out of munitions.
01:13So, again, the high-intensity warfare is unsustainable.
01:17This kind of outbreaks, until and unless a comprehensive deal is achieved, which right now seems highly unlikely, are said
01:27to continue.
01:30Julia, I want to talk about the new fronts that have been opened over the past couple of weeks or
01:34so.
01:34Now, there's no doubt that Iran has been militarily weakened over the past five months or so, but its proxies
01:40in the region seem to have been reactivated now.
01:44How do you see its leverage through those proxies evolving over the coming period?
01:52I think Iran has been using the so-called proxies or allied groups within the axis of resistance quite wisely,
02:01not getting in to the conflicts unless it was necessary,
02:05until it was necessary, like in the case of Lebanon or in Lebanese Hezbollah, and also how we've seen the
02:15Husis or Ansarullah in Yemen not stepping in until recently
02:21with a threat to, again, blockade the Bab al-Mandeb's trade and the access to the Red Sea.
02:28However, also, I think it should be added, despite the remarks by Donald Trump himself and the Secretary of War,
02:36Pete Hexet,
02:37I do not think that Iran's capacity and production capacity of weapons, in particular, has been obliterated, as was stated
02:46on a few occasions.
02:47And it has been able and is still able, as we can see easily, to sustain the warfare, to fend
02:55off attacks,
02:56and even exercise the attacks like this one on Jordan, provided also the targeting information that it's likely has been
03:05receiving from the allies.
03:08Yeah, and I want to get back to the military, the capabilities of Iran.
03:13But before that, we've been reporting on the Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, visiting D.C. earlier yesterday to
03:21meet with President Trump.
03:23So, outside of the headlines that we've been seeing out of that visit, what do you think he's trying to
03:29achieve being there,
03:30and what message is he trying to send to the United States?
03:37Indeed, since the media were not let in on this 90-minute meeting behind the closed doors, we don't know
03:44much.
03:44But Benjamin Netanyahu has been lobbying this meeting for quite some time.
03:49And as I understand, President Trump had nothing to say to him in person.
03:53So, the Lindsey Graham funeral served as a good occasion for the meeting of the two.
03:59And it was said that they discussed, in particular, Iran's nuclear issue,
04:04and that Iran should not have nuclear weapons, and the possibility of also attacking facilities,
04:11some of the facilities which Israel claims that Iran is developing as a new enrichment site.
04:18I think not much indeed is going on.
04:22That's why there's nothing to report on.
04:24Because Netanyahu, of course, would like the United States to keep pounding Iran
04:29without the need for Israel to be participating in it directly.
04:33So, Iran does not retaliate against Israel, especially on the eve of the elections,
04:39and Israel being engaged elsewhere, which is Gaza and Lebanon as well.
04:44And the reluctance of Donald Trump to go full in,
04:48with the understanding that indeed the munitions are running low.
04:52And we are hearing the reports about it from the United States,
04:55from the experts and officials themselves,
04:58that the munitions are indeed low, so it will be unsustainable,
05:02and something else needs to be done.
05:05I think there is a collision between the two,
05:07and there is also a collision between the desire to go for an all-out warfare,
05:12and the capacity to do so.
05:14And I think there is one of the things I want to do so,
05:14and I think there is always possible for an all-out refugee approach to protect
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