Former U.S. President Donald Trump kicks off his first Middle East tour of his second presidency in 🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia — notably leaving 🇮🇱 Israel off his itinerary. Trump boldly claims “victory” over the Houthis in Yemen, but questions remain over the true state of affairs. 🤔 Is this strategic diplomacy or political posturing? Dive into the full story. 📽️🗺️
#DonaldTrump #MiddleEastTour #Trump2025 #SaudiArabia #Israel #YemenConflict #HouthiRebels #Geopolitics #USForeignPolicy #TrumpNews #MiddleEastPolitics #Diplomacy #GlobalAffairs #TrumpInSaudi #PeaceTalks #StrategicAlliances #USIsraelRelations #TrumpPresidency #MENARegion #HouthiCrisis
#DonaldTrump #MiddleEastTour #Trump2025 #SaudiArabia #Israel #YemenConflict #HouthiRebels #Geopolitics #USForeignPolicy #TrumpNews #MiddleEastPolitics #Diplomacy #GlobalAffairs #TrumpInSaudi #PeaceTalks #StrategicAlliances #USIsraelRelations #TrumpPresidency #MENARegion #HouthiCrisis
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NewsTranscript
00:00Our top story this hour. The U.S. and Saudi Arabia have signed a strategic economic partnership agreement,
00:07as well as several other deals during Donald Trump's visit to Riyadh.
00:11It's the first stop on his four-day tour of the Middle East.
00:15Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, among other countries, are also due to roll out the red carpet for the American leader.
00:22Well, it's the U.S. president's first trip to the region since taking office for a second time.
00:26However, Washington's main ally, Israel, is absent from the itinerary.
00:32Mr. Trump says he will visit that country at some point.
00:36After Riyadh, Trump is expected to make a stop in Qatar.
00:40He's publicly thanked Doha for its efforts in organizing negotiations between the U.S. and Hamas
00:45on the release of the last living American hostage from Gaza.
00:50Eden Alexander was greeted by his family at an airport
00:53after the dual American-Israeli citizen spent some 19 months in captivity.
00:59The 21-year-old was released by Hamas as part of a goodwill gesture
01:03following direct talks between U.S. officials and the Palestinian militant group.
01:09Israel did not take direct part in that deal.
01:12U.S. Special Envoy Steve Whitcoff has praised Benjamin Netanyahu's efforts to bring more hostages home.
01:18However, Hamas says it's only thanks to the U.S. and mediators that the latest release took place.
01:26Eden Alexander's return is the result of serious communications with the U.S. administration
01:31and the efforts of mediators, and not the consequence of Israeli aggression
01:35or the illusion of military pressure.
01:38Netanyahu is misleading his people and has failed to bring back his prisoners by using aggression.
01:43Eden's release confirms that serious negotiations and a prisoner exchange deal
01:48are the best way to bring back the prisoners and end the war.
01:52Well, even the Western mainstream media has noticed that Israel is being sidelined
01:57as the country's spokesperson was grilled by a Sky News presenter.
02:01It does seem that there's a pattern developing.
02:05America has done this deal without Israel.
02:09They've done a deal with the Houthis.
02:11No Israel.
02:12They're talking to Iran.
02:14No Israel.
02:15Isn't this all humiliating for Benjamin Netanyahu?
02:20Yeah, that's again the story which Hamas wants you to share.
02:23But this war will end when the hostages come home and Hamas are gone.
02:27Simple as that.
02:28I'm merely stating facts and asking you questions.
02:31You can't answer.
02:31No, they're not facts.
02:33RT's Donald Carter looks into how Israel appears to be increasingly snubbed
02:38by its longtime ally and sponsor.
02:41As for Trump's recent hostage deal with Hamas,
02:44Tel Aviv didn't even have a clue until after it happened.
02:47Steve Whitcoff apparently found Israel's unwillingness to end its war on Gaza
02:52as a roadblock to any negotiations that would have had Washington's little brother at the table.
02:57So the Americans went behind the Israelis' backs and both Trump and the Arab world
03:02seemingly happy to see progress being made.
03:06I am happy to announce that Eden Alexander, an American citizen who has been held hostage
03:11since October 2023, is coming home to his family.
03:15This was a step taken in good faith towards the United States and the efforts of the mediators,
03:21Qatar and Egypt, to put an end to this very brutal war
03:25and return all living hostages and remains to their loved ones.
03:29The state of Qatar and the Arab Republic of Egypt welcomed the announcement by Hamas
03:34of its agreement to release American hostage Eden Alexander.
03:38They regard this as a gesture of goodwill and a positive step toward resuming negotiations
03:42aimed at reaching a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.
03:46Longtime buddies Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu are reportedly falling out.
03:50Everything from Iran talks to hostage negotiations seems to be exposing some deep cracks
03:57in the two leaders' long-time bromance.
04:00The relationship between Trump and Netanyahu has become strained
04:03as the two leaders are increasingly at odds over a strategy for tackling these challenges
04:08now that Hamas has been significantly degraded and Iran weakened,
04:12according to two U.S. officials, two Middle Eastern diplomats,
04:16and two other people with knowledge of the tensions.
04:17Based on Washington's recent actions, it definitely looks to be giving Tel Aviv the cold shoulder.
04:23Right before Pete Hegseth was supposed to make his first official visit to Israel,
04:28Trump had him hop aboard Air Force One to join his own trip to the Middle East instead.
04:33And Israel's not even on Trump's itinerary.
04:36A pretty big diss, considering the Israelis had planned for Hegseth to meet with their defense minister
04:42and even with Netanyahu himself.
04:44That's not to mention Trump's recent ceasefire with Yemen's Ansar Allah, which completely excludes Israel.
04:51There is an agreement between Yemen and the United States that means halting all the hostilities
04:56between the two countries in accordance with this agreement.
04:59But it does not concern Israel.
05:02We can't forget about Saudi Arabia and its quest for a civil nuclear program.
05:07The U.S. under Joe Biden didn't want to give Riyadh its approval without the Saudis normalizing relations with Israel
05:13under the Abraham Accords.
05:15Now the Trump administration scrapped that demand,
05:18and there are even media reports that Trump might recognize Palestinian statehood,
05:23something that nobody would have even considered several days ago.
05:26At the same time, renewed talks on Iran's nuclear program in Amman have been productive,
05:31with Tehran's foreign minister saying that he and the U.S. are finally beginning to understand each other.
05:39There's a better understanding now.
05:42I can say that the positions have gotten somewhat closer,
05:45and overall I believe the talks can be assessed as moving forward.
05:48We've decided that the negotiations will continue.
05:52Both sides are determined, and there's an agreement for the next meeting,
05:55though the date and location still need to be set based on both parties' schedules,
06:00which is a tough thing to do.
06:01We've left that task to the Omani foreign minister to coordinate,
06:05but I think it will probably be held in about a week, give or take.
06:08Washington and Tehran getting along, solving the Middle East's problems using diplomacy?
06:13Oh no.
06:14This is something that Netanyahu just cannot wrap his head around.
06:18Once they have the weapons of delivery, ballistic missiles, ICBMs, intercontinental ballistic missiles,
06:24they will threaten every city in the United States.
06:27That is a palpable danger to Israel and to the free world, and it must be prevented.
06:34The way to prevent it is to dismantle all the infrastructure of Iran's nuclear program.
06:41That is a deal we could live with.
06:44Equally, I think we should bring in the ballistic missiles,
06:47the prevention of the development of ballistic missiles into the deal.
06:52I think these are the two requirements.
06:55I said to President Trump that I hope that this is what the negotiators will do
07:00when close contact with the United States.
07:04But I said one way or the other, Iran will not have nuclear weapons.
07:11And on top of all these disagreements, all these divergences in foreign policy interests,
07:16both the U.S. and Israel are saying that everything's as right as rain between them.
07:22There is no rift between President Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu.
07:25There are those in both the U.S. and Israel who would like to see such a rift,
07:29and they are feeding false accounts to the media to achieve just that.
07:33But it's all fake.
07:34His first trip is about economic opportunity.
07:37That's where his focus is.
07:38What he's doing is not because he's snubbing Israel.
07:42So I would just say to people, relax, calm down.
07:45Donald Trump loves you.
07:47There's no doubt about that.
07:48And he's got your back.
07:50And he is the same Donald Trump that four years as president
07:55did more for Israel than any other American president.
07:59Deny, deny, deny.
08:00They could say what they want, but actions speak louder than words.
08:03So loud that Netanyahu's reportedly even wanting to wean his country off the billions of dollars he gets
08:10from the U.S. for weapons every year.
08:13It looks pretty clear that there's trouble in paradise.
08:16And adding fuel to the fire, reports are circulating in the Western media that recently ousted U.S.
08:24National Security Advisor Mike Waltz drew Trump's fury over his alleged one-on-one talks with Israel's
08:30Prime Minister in plotting strikes against Iran.
08:33Journalist and Israeli politics expert Amir Oren says Trump wants Israel to stay out of his way
08:39in deal-making with key Middle Eastern players.
08:43The snub is real.
08:46It is not imaginary.
08:48And it derives of a certain attitude on the part of President Trump.
08:56The economy, business, finance is more important than the military.
09:01Israel cannot give him any value in what he is looking for.
09:06What he wants from Israel is to stop standing in his way when he is in the region.
09:14And his almost only wish, but his main wish for sure, is to make deals, to bring more manufacturing
09:23and investments into the United States.
09:27Israel is not on that page of music at all.
09:32And Netanyahu does not come forward to end the war in Gaza.
09:38The end result is that President Trump is leapfrogging or bypassing Netanyahu
09:48and is going to cut his own deals with the Arabs.
09:51Donald Trump's Middle East tour comes a week after he announced a deal with Yemen's Houthi militant group.
09:59The U.S. president claimed the month-long bombing campaign of the Arab country had been a success.
10:05But an American media report says Washington was forced to shut down the costly mission
10:10after the results fell far short of expectations.
10:13U.S. Central Command Chief proposed an eight- to ten-month campaign
10:18in which Air Force and Navy warplanes would take out Houthi air defense systems.
10:23Then, he said, U.S. forces would mount targeted assassinations
10:27modeled on Israel's recent operation against Hezbollah, three U.S. officials said.
10:32Saudi officials backed General Kurilla's plan
10:34and provided a target list of 12 Houthi senior leaders
10:37whose deaths, they said, would cripple the movement.
10:40But the United Arab Emirates, another powerful U.S. ally in the region, was not so sure.
10:47The Houthis had weathered years of bombings by the Saudis and the Emiratis.
10:52According to the New York Times report,
10:54the U.S. administration massively underestimated the resilience of the Houthis.
11:00The militants managed to retain both their defensive and offensive capabilities.
11:05After the 30-day U.S. bombing campaign brought virtually no results,
11:10President Trump was reportedly convinced to pull the plug.
11:13He allegedly agreed to leave the Houthis alone
11:16in exchange for their promise to stop targeting American ships in the Red Sea.
11:21Let's go live now to former Pentagon senior security policy analyst Michael Malouf.
11:26Mr. Malouf, thank you for joining us on the program.
11:28Always good to see you.
11:29So what do you make of this report that completely blows the U.S. president's claims of victory
11:35over the Houthis out of the water?
11:38Well, it depends upon what you determine to be victory.
11:41He at least got an agreement that the Houthis would no longer aim missiles at U.S. warships.
11:50But that did not mean at Israeli or other shipping that was going to Israel.
11:58Clearly, as your report states, Trump has other agendas.
12:04He has other imperatives right now.
12:07And certainly having a constant fight with the Houthis is not one of them.
12:13And he did recognize their ability to survive.
12:18They've been through a lot through the bombings of Saudi Arabia for years
12:24and then relentless bombing from the United States and England.
12:29And still they were able to fire ballistic missiles at Israel.
12:34But he's now moved on.
12:37And I think that also might be a signal that he's got something working with Iran.
12:42And this, of course, goes counter to what Netanyahu wants,
12:47and that is to overthrow the government in Tehran
12:52and to eliminate all nuclear capabilities by the Iranians, whether civilian or military.
13:02And this is absolutely contrary to what Trump is talking about.
13:08And being in Saudi Arabia, which has now renewed relationships with Iran,
13:13and the fact that the Saudi foreign minister just recently met with the supreme leader in Iran
13:19is indicative that something else is brewing behind the scenes.
13:23So, and because Netanyahu really has nothing to offer to this entire equation,
13:29but more war or to drag the United States into war,
13:32I think Trump is saying, OK, I'm stopping the trend we've been on and we're going to go in another direction.
13:39And that's the more commercial direction and to get countries working together economically.
13:45And to actually, I wouldn't doubt by the end of the day, proverbial day,
13:50that he offers to rebuild Yemen with construction.
13:55He's such a real estate mogul.
13:56Let's talk about the enduring force of the Houthis, because this group have proven to be so resilient,
14:03they're still able to launch long-range missiles into Israel,
14:06despite all the foreign bombing campaigns they've endured.
14:10What's the secret?
14:13Well, they've had an indigenous capability in the first place,
14:18but they also have gotten outside assistance, whether it's from Iran or from the North Koreans.
14:24Both countries have ballistic missile know-how.
14:31And they've also had time to dig deep into the deep, dig deep bunkers in the countryside over the years
14:41to protect their military assets.
14:44And that's basically why they were able to continuously come up with firing off ballistic missiles
14:51and even what they claim was a hypersonic at Israel,
14:54even though both Israel and the United States had been crisscrossing the country
15:00for more than a month through constant bombing raids.
15:04So they've really dug deep.
15:08They have vast stores, military stores, it seems.
15:12And notwithstanding the destruction on the surface,
15:15they're able to continue to thrive militarily, at least somewhat, but not to the original capability.
15:24The fact that they have stopped hitting the United States,
15:27and the United States has basically said, OK, we're going to move on now.
15:30I think it's also a sign to the Saudis, who really did not want,
15:35even though they gave the list of top Ansah Allah officials as targets,
15:43they really were reluctant to get involved in any kind of project by the United States and the UK
15:51to go after Yemen after their many years of bombing.
15:54So they left it to the United States, but now the United States has got other designs.
16:01And I would not doubt that the Iran card is playing into this,
16:06even though we haven't publicly heard anything about it.
16:09Do you really think the U.S. expected to beat the Houthis using the same strategy
16:14the Saudi-led coalition applied against Yemen over a decade ago,
16:17while spending a lot less money on its campaign?
16:20Well, the Saudis didn't win anything.
16:24So for the United States to even think that their project was going to do anything better than the Saudis, no,
16:32because we helped arm the Saudis for years in that effort, and it amounted to nothing.
16:39In the meantime, the Yemenis have had an opportunity to dig deeper, get new technologies.
16:45As I said, they just built upon their indigenous know-how that they already had.
16:50They already had SCUDs and what have you before the Houthis had moved into Yemen.
16:58The military, which was predominantly Shia, did have that missile know-how.
17:07So they were able to keep that and build upon it and develop the ballistic missiles that they did.
17:13And they got assistance then from Iran.
17:16So I don't think the United States had really an endgame of defeating the Houthis, per se,
17:26even though they talked about it.
17:28But I don't think it was realistic, nor did they have the time.
17:33The United States doesn't spend much time, unless we get instant results.
17:36And Trump has that reputation.
17:38He doesn't like fights that go on and on and on and on.
17:42They've either got to be lightning strikes or a shock and awe, and then he's out.
17:50And we've seen this repeatedly.
17:51We saw it in Syria in his first administration.
17:54The U.S. has repeatedly accused Iran of arming the Houthis,
17:59something Tehran has always strongly denied.
18:01What do you think, Mr. Malouf?
18:02Do you think the Houthis are completely self-sufficient and independent?
18:08They have a capability.
18:10Yeah, they're going to get assistance from other countries, certainly the Iranians,
18:18as I said, the North Koreans.
18:19So I would not, because there's a whole string, a network there that exists in which they can get that kind of assistance.
18:28Plus, they have indigenous know-how.
18:30They have smart people, believe it or not, that are capable of taking on this military effort.
18:40And they've succeeded by shooting the ballistic missiles at Tehran.
18:45I mean, I'm sorry, at Tel Aviv.
18:49So it can be significant.
18:53It's significant enough that the United States had to respond militarily to a point.
18:59But one of the concerns that seemed to be coming was from our own chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff,
19:05worrying that by continuously pounding the Houthis,
19:09we were lowering our stockpiles of weaponry in case there's another flash crisis somewhere,
19:19such as Far East, let's say China invading Taiwan, for example.
19:26We wouldn't have the ability to quickly reassemble and move on that,
19:32which is one of the U.S. responsibilities.
19:34Do you think it's likely the U.S. and Israel might try to take another swipe at the Houthis in the foreseeable future
19:40and perhaps using a different approach?
19:45I don't think militarily, no.
19:47I think that the reports that we're hearing of Trump basically telling Netanyahu he's on his own are valid,
19:56notwithstanding all the denials, because I'm hearing it from many sources myself.
20:00So I think that there's something to that.
20:04And as I say, the fact that he's even in Saudi Arabia trying to make a trillion dollars worth of deals,
20:12that tells me that his interest and focus is elsewhere right now and not on war.
20:19Always good to speak to you.
20:20Many thanks for your time.
20:21Former Pentagon's senior security policy analyst Michael Malouf, thank you.
20:26Thank you, Indy King.