While another lull in direct combat between the United States and Iran has come into effect, other fronts begin to expand and threaten to drown the region in a much broader conflict. In the latest episode of The Target, Robert Inlakesh examines the ever expanding battlefield, its impacts on oil and gas.
Yemen’s Ansarallah led government, based out of Sana’a, has launched strikes on at least four different oil facilities inside Saudi Arabia, following airstrikes carried out against major Yemeni cities. Riyadh was put on standby that all aggression would be matched in kind, as the spokesman for the Yemeni Armed Forces Yahya Saree affirmed that the newly imposed Red Sea Blockade will continue.
Donald Trump again backed down from his threats to launch a major air campaign targeting Iranian civilian infrastructure over the weekend, which has been covered in the corporate media as if the move to halt strikes represents a de facto cessation of hostilities. The Target livestream delves into what is really going on behind the scenes and how this indicates a desperate attempt from Washington to manipulate the price of Brent Crude oil Futures.
With the absence of direct American strikes on southern Iran and a lack of strikes from the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in return, the issue has faded from the media cycle. Meanwhile, the Strait of Hormuz is now completely closed, the Bab el-Mandeb crossing has also just been sealed by Yemen for Saudi shipping, all as oil and gas facilities go up in flames.
The US President is also threatening to attack Yemen directly, as his allies in Kiev also targeted an Iranian vessel in the northern Caspian Sea over the weekend. All as the pressure mounts on Syria to invade Lebanon in order to go after the weapons of Hezbollah and Kurdish-Iranian opposition groups continue to suffer pre-emptive blows.
Contrary to the regional conflicts portrayed by the White House, the US finds itself in a difficult position whereby it continues to suffer major economic blows, as its strategic petroleum reserves diminish, all as Iran no longer needs to endure airstrikes. Supporters of the Trump administration have posited that the President’s decisions are tantamount to five-dimensional chess moves, when in fact they appear to be desperate bids to delay an inevitable show down.
What is truly happening on the battlefield? Is there a reason why we aren’t being informed about the true nature of the Yemen-Saudi War, could the Ukraine War merge with the US’s War on Iran? All of this and more are addressed in this Monday’s episode of The Target.
Robert Inlakesh is a political analyst, journalist and documentary filmmaker currently based in London, UK. He has reported from and lived in the occupied Palestinian territories and hosts the show ‘Palestine Files’. Director of ‘Steal of the Century: Trump’s Palestine-Israel Catastrophe’. Follow him on Twitter @falasteen47
