Transcript [00:00] So, last night Iranian drones [00:03] uh struck Kuwait International Airport [00:06] terminal 1, heavy damage. There were [00:08] people wounded, the airport was shut [00:10] down, reportedly there was one person [00:12] killed, and this is part of a wave of [00:14] strikes against Kuwait that we've seen [00:17] over the last week or so. Now, you might [00:18] be asking yourself why specifically [00:21] Kuwait? Why Kuwait? Let me explain the [00:24] question. [00:25] Iran is at war with the United States [00:27] and Israel. There are American bases all [00:30] over the region. There's Saudi Arabia, [00:32] there's the UAE, there's Qatar. Why is [00:36] Iran repeatedly hammering Kuwait [00:39] specifically? That's what I want to walk [00:41] you through in this video. [00:43] That's what we're going to unpack. [00:45] I think when you understand the answer [00:47] to that question, you understand [00:48] something very deep, [00:50] a very clever, maybe, [00:53] about what the Iranian regime is trying [00:54] to accomplish right now in this war. And [00:57] it's not what most people think. It's [00:58] not just what's on the surface. [01:00] So, let's start with the basics. Let's [01:02] pull up a map and take a look at [01:05] Kuwait's location. [01:07] Okay, let's start with that. [01:09] So, here's a map. Here's Kuwait. We're [01:11] going to get to these specific locations [01:13] in there. Here's Saudi Arabia, here's [01:15] Oman down here. You see Oman, [01:18] Yemen, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, [01:21] Bahrain. Here's Kuwait in here, and [01:23] here's Iraq and Iran. Now, Kuwait [01:25] doesn't actually border Iran. [01:28] Iraq comes down here. [01:30] So, here's Kuwait. Okay? That is Now you [01:33] get Now you see Kuwait on the map. [01:37] It's tiny. It's smaller than the state [01:39] of Connecticut, but its location is [01:41] extraordinary. Right? It's right at the [01:43] top of the Persian Gulf. It shares a [01:45] border with Iraq, which as we know, Iran [01:47] essentially controls large parts of [01:50] through its militia proxies and also [01:52] through the fact that it's a Shiite [01:53] majority country, and again, we think of [01:57] Iraq as having been this American [01:58] protectorate. Saddam Hussein was a [02:00] Sunni. In the toppling of Saddam [02:02] Hussein, the Shiites gained a lot of [02:04] power. I've made some videos about this [02:05] in the past. [02:08] And basically, Iraq, while it still sort [02:11] of pretends to be in the American orbit, [02:12] is very friendly, [02:15] very cooperative with Iran. [02:18] Okay? So, they're right sitting on top [02:21] of Kuwait, and you see [02:23] how on top of Kuwait [02:25] Iraq actually is, right? [02:28] And Kuwait borders on Saudi Arabia here. [02:31] And then this is [02:34] This is all Iraq around it. [02:37] Okay, so keep that in mind. [02:40] What this means is that Iran's effective [02:43] military reach, [02:46] it it really touches Kuwait's borders. [02:49] Now, what does Kuwait have that makes it [02:50] so important? So, the United States [02:52] military is there in a huge way. [02:56] Consider this number. [02:57] Kuwait hosts more American troops than [03:00] any other country in the Gulf region. [03:03] A lot of people think it's Qatar because [03:05] that's where CENTCOM's major base is, [03:07] and the largest single base is in Qatar, [03:10] but there are more US troops in Kuwait [03:12] than anywhere else in the region. [03:14] Somewhere around 13,500 [03:18] personnel spread across multiple bases. [03:21] Now, let me show you where these bases [03:24] sit, cuz that's also part of the picture [03:26] of what we're [03:27] with these attacks. [03:30] Okay, so the blue spots here. So, this [03:32] is the airport that was hit yesterday, [03:35] right here. [03:36] And then we have these three bases here. [03:38] Let me Let me walk you through what [03:40] these bases are. Ali Al Salem is about [03:43] 37 km [03:45] from the Iraqi border. Okay, this is [03:49] uh [03:51] This is Ali Al Salem right [03:53] Okay? This is Ali Al Salem. It's an air [03:55] force base [03:56] right here. And this is only 37 km from [03:59] the Iraqi border. Or it's actually in [04:00] this direction. No, this direction. [04:02] 37 km from the Iraqi border. [04:06] Okay, Camp Buehring [04:08] is in the far northwest corner of [04:10] Kuwait. [04:12] That's right there. [04:14] This is Camp Buehring up here. [04:17] And Camp Buehring [04:20] is [04:22] it's in the desert triangle there where [04:23] Kuwait, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia almost [04:26] meet. [04:27] And then you have Camp Arifjan, [04:30] which is the one that's down there in [04:32] the south. This is Camp Arifjan. [04:35] Okay, so you have these these three [04:37] sizable US bases [04:40] in Kuwait. [04:42] And Camp Arifjan is the headquarters and [04:45] the logistics hub for the entire US [04:48] Army Central Command theater. [04:50] These aren't bases that are tucked away [04:52] safely in the middle of the Gulf. [04:54] They're not far inland cuz there isn't [04:56] much far inland in Kuwait. They're right [04:58] there. They're right on the doorstep. [05:01] And here's the thing. [05:02] There are documented reports that [05:04] American [05:05] HIMARS rocket systems have been firing [05:08] into Iran [05:10] from positions just 55 km northwest [05:15] of Camp Buehring. [05:16] Right right near the Iraqi border. So [05:18] when Iran says that these bases are [05:20] being used offensively against them, [05:22] they're not entirely wrong. Uh Iran has [05:25] struck uh Ali Al Salem 23 times, Camp [05:28] Arifjan 17 times, and Buehring has been [05:32] uh been hit six times. [05:34] Right? All together, that's What is [05:36] that? 46. [05:39] Now, Kuwait's taken 50 confirmed hits, [05:41] more than any other country in the [05:42] region. [05:44] And now they've hit the international [05:45] airport. [05:47] So this the obvious question. [05:50] If Iran is trying to punish the [05:51] Americans, if that's the whole idea and [05:54] that's why they're hitting Kuwait, why [05:55] not hit the bigger, more powerful Gulf [05:57] states? Why not hit Saudi Arabia? [06:00] Why not hit the UAE, which has massive [06:03] economic infrastructure? [06:06] And is very aligned with the US, right? [06:08] Why not you know, Dubai is one of the [06:10] global financial hubs of the world. Why [06:12] is Iran going after Kuwait specifically? [06:15] Meaning the other Gulf states are also [06:16] allied with the United States. They also [06:19] host US bases. [06:21] So, I want to give you two levels of [06:23] answer. The first is tactical, it's the [06:24] more obvious answer. And the second [06:26] answer [06:27] is what I think is really going on [06:29] strategically. [06:31] And that's the part that you're not [06:34] going to get in mainstream media. [06:36] And we're going to get into So, let's [06:37] start with the tactical, more obvious [06:40] surface answer. Saudi Arabia and the UAE [06:43] have invested enormously in their air [06:46] defenses. Multi-layered system, advanced [06:48] interception capability. They can hit [06:51] back really hard. That's the simple way [06:53] to put it. The UAE has dealt with over [06:55] 700 Iranian projectiles [06:59] uh since the war started. Really, it's [07:01] way more than that. Couple thousand. [07:03] But 700 but 700 serious, you know, [07:06] missiles. 165 ballistic missiles, lots [07:10] and lots of drones. They've knocked most [07:12] of them down. Sorry, that 700 number was [07:14] off. It's It's more like a couple [07:16] thousand. [07:18] And the UAE deals very well with them. [07:20] They've dealt quite effectively with [07:22] them. They have very advanced air [07:23] defenses. [07:25] Kuwait does not have that. Kuwait relies [07:27] almost entirely on just the presence of [07:29] the Americans there. [07:31] And its bases are geographically exposed [07:34] in a way that the Saudi and Emirati [07:36] assets simply are not. [07:38] So, that's tactical. [07:40] Then there's the diplomatic dimension. [07:43] Right, Saudi Arabia and Iran have back [07:45] channel arrangements. [07:48] The Saudis don't want the Iranian regime [07:50] to fall. I've talked about this at [07:51] length in other videos. They want the [07:53] regime weakened, not gone. [07:55] The Iranians know that. [07:58] Um the Saudis, just to reiterate the [08:01] point, a free pro-Western post-regime [08:05] Iran [08:07] where Christianity flourishes, emerging [08:09] from the ashes of this regime, would be [08:12] a geopolitical nightmare for Saudi [08:14] Arabia. It would make them far less [08:16] strategically important to the West, and [08:18] it would threaten them domestically in [08:20] all kinds of ways. So there's a certain [08:22] cold logic to the Saudis wanting Iran [08:26] to remain but be weakened. And there's [08:28] also a cold logic to the Iranians not [08:32] pushing the Saudis' buttons. [08:35] Not pushing them too far. So they don't [08:37] really want to attack the Saudis at this [08:38] point. The Saudis they're too powerful a [08:42] a bear to be poking [08:45] in the context of what they're trying to [08:47] do to the United States. [08:49] Now Qatar, they're not going to attack [08:51] Qatar either, even though Qatar has, you [08:53] know, the largest US base. It's the [08:55] CENTCOM [08:57] center. [08:59] But Qatar is Iran's friend in the Gulf. [09:01] They're definitely not going to hit [09:02] them, right? Qatar holds Iranian frozen [09:05] assets. They've maintained these this [09:07] working relationship with them even [09:09] throughout this. Iran knows that Qatar [09:11] is trying to help them. [09:13] And they're not going to bite the hand [09:14] that's feeding it. [09:15] So tactically [09:18] Kuwait is actually the softest, most [09:20] exposed target, and it has those the [09:24] the most US personnel. [09:28] So that's all on the tactical level. I [09:30] mean tactical militarily, but also [09:32] tactical in terms of the immediate [09:34] diplomacy. You don't want to antagonize [09:36] Saudi Arabia too much. There's no reason [09:39] to attack Qatar, who's your friend. The [09:42] UAE has very strong air defenses. They [09:44] don't want to do that, either. [09:46] Kuwait makes the most sense. [09:49] But, here's [09:50] here's what where I want to go deeper, [09:52] because I don't think it's just about [09:54] picking the softest target. [09:57] I think Iran is specifically trying to [10:00] punish Kuwait [10:02] for choosing a side or scare them off of [10:06] choosing a side too closely. [10:08] I have to explain this. [10:11] Let me say it another way. I think Iran [10:13] is trying to send a message [10:15] to every smaller Gulf state [10:18] that choosing America comes with [10:20] consequences, and they're using Kuwait. [10:23] Let me give you some background, because [10:25] Kuwait's position in the Gulf is [10:26] actually quite unique and fascinating. [10:29] Let's take a look again at the map. [10:31] Let's look at the Gulf states [10:32] side by side. [10:35] Okay, we're looking at the map here, but [10:37] let's pull it back a little bit so we [10:38] see them. [10:39] All right, so you have [10:42] you have Oman, who's sort of a Gulf [10:44] state, and they're unique. I made a [10:45] video about Oman last week. You got to [10:47] watch it. Oman is so different than all [10:49] the other countries here, and you got to [10:51] you got to watch that video. So, they're [10:52] sort of not in this whole category. But, [10:54] then you have Bahrain, Qatar, UAE, Saudi [10:57] Arabia, [10:59] and Kuwait. That's the that's the Gulf [11:01] states, right? [11:02] Okay. [11:05] So, [11:06] Kuwait has historically been [11:10] the hedger of the Gulf, right? Every [11:13] other GCC state [11:15] has staked out a clearer position. The [11:17] UAE and Bahrain, they signed the Abraham [11:19] Accords, right? They normalized with [11:21] Israel. Saudi Arabia is clearly in the [11:24] American strategic orbit, even if they [11:26] play both sides a lot. [11:28] Qatar is the outlier on the other end of [11:31] the diplomatic spectrum. [11:33] Uh they're the ones aligned more closely [11:35] with Iran. They're very closely aligned [11:39] with Turkey. They host Hamas leadership. [11:42] They house Iranian financial financial [11:44] assets, right? So, they're much [11:47] They're They're They have a clear [11:48] position, let's say. But Kuwait has [11:52] tried to be everything to everybody. [11:55] They were the Gulf mediators when Saudi [11:57] Arabia, the UAE, and and Bahrain [12:00] blockaded Qatar back in 2017. There was [12:02] almost a war between a Saudi-led [12:05] coalition with the UAE and Bahrain [12:07] against Qatar [12:09] in 2017, kind of off everyone's radar, [12:13] but Kuwait refused to join [12:15] that coalition. [12:17] They stayed neutral, and then they tried [12:19] to broker a deal. [12:21] Now, there's a cultural part of it or [12:23] religious part of it, too. Kuwait has a [12:25] significant Shiite minority. About 30% [12:28] of their population is Shiite. [12:31] And they're right there with Iraq, which [12:33] is a Shiite majority, and Iran, which is [12:35] right next to them, which which is, of [12:36] course, the Shiite [12:38] HQ. [12:40] And Kuwait has this 30% Shiite minority. [12:44] That's a pretty significant population, [12:45] which makes them very cautious about [12:48] anything that looks like [12:51] choosing sides in the Sunni-Shiite [12:53] sectarian conflict. [12:56] And on Israel, Kuwait has been the most [12:58] resistant to normalization of the Gulf [13:00] states. [13:01] Well, other than Qatar, but, you know, [13:03] they That's a different category. They [13:05] never joined the Abraham Accords, even [13:07] though they like They have all these [13:08] American bases, right? And they seem to [13:10] be [13:11] in that orbit, but they never joined the [13:12] Abraham Accords. Their parliament has [13:14] repeatedly passed anti-normalization [13:17] with Israel measures. [13:20] The Palestinian cause is actually deeply [13:22] embedded in Kuwaiti political culture. A [13:24] lot A lot don't know this, but if you go [13:26] all the way back to 1959, [13:28] when Yasser Arafat and a circle of [13:31] of his buddies, most of them living and [13:34] working in Kuwait at the time, that's [13:37] where they founded Fatah, which is the [13:38] beginning of the PLO. [13:40] Kuwait was literally the birthplace [13:43] of the modern Palestinian national [13:45] movement. And even after the PLO [13:47] backed Saddam Hussein's invasion of [13:49] Kuwait in 1990, [13:51] which was obviously a betrayal of the [13:53] country that had sheltered them, [13:55] Kuwait still didn't let go of their [13:57] pro-Palestinian [13:59] stance. [14:00] It runs very deep in Kuwaiti politics. [14:03] So, Kuwait was [14:06] Back to the point, Kuwait was basically [14:07] the neutral one [14:10] trying to just [14:12] get along with everyone. They don't want [14:14] to They don't want to inflame their [14:15] Shiite minority. They've got Iraq [14:18] breathing down their neck and Iran right [14:20] there and [14:21] they're just trying not to make enemies [14:23] with anyone. [14:25] And then this war starts. And Kuwait, [14:27] because of those US bases, because of [14:29] that deep military relationship with the [14:31] United States, going back to 1991, they [14:34] found themselves right in the middle of [14:37] this war. [14:38] Now, here's my theory. [14:40] Here's my theory about what Iran is [14:41] doing. [14:42] Iran isn't just hitting Kuwait because [14:44] it's easy to hit them. [14:47] There could be multiple reasons once. [14:49] I'm not saying that's not part of it. [14:51] But Iran is hitting Kuwait because [14:53] Kuwait is [14:55] is is a prize [14:57] that they're trying to win. [15:01] Think about this. [15:03] If Iran could pressure Kuwait into [15:07] backing away from being so cozy with the [15:10] Americans, [15:11] into maybe even asking the Americans to [15:14] leave, because it's too costly to have [15:16] American assets on their soil. [15:19] Like if if the Iraq This is I'm not [15:21] saying the Iranians are going to are [15:22] going to win here. In fact, I don't [15:24] think they're going to win. I think they [15:25] messed up. I'll get to that in a minute. [15:26] But I think Iran's calculus is [15:29] wanting it to be costly to house [15:31] American bases. Let's put it that way. [15:33] Not They're not going to ask them to [15:34] leave, but they want Kuwait to feel that [15:37] it's costly to be so aligned with [15:40] America. [15:41] To say to themselves, we can't do this [15:43] anymore. This is too much. The airport's [15:45] destroyed. Our people are getting [15:46] attacked. We're scared. [15:49] And they've got the Shiite minority. [15:51] They want it to hurt to be aligned with [15:53] America. [15:55] And if they attack the UAE, the UAE is [15:56] not going to move out of the US orbit, [15:58] right? They're not going to. [16:00] The same thing with Bahrain. [16:02] Saudi Arabia, there's too much to say. [16:05] They could make being aligned with the [16:08] US hurt Kuwait. [16:10] And that would be a big strategic [16:11] victory. [16:15] Right? So, [16:17] there's but there's a window for that to [16:19] work because In Kuwait's political [16:21] culture, it's Shiite minority, this [16:24] tradition of this tradition of hedging, [16:26] all of that made it plausible that [16:29] Kuwait might crack under pressure. I [16:31] think that's what the The Iranians saw [16:33] them as like a weak link. [16:36] But I think that they made it I think [16:37] that they miscalculated. I think Iran [16:39] got it wrong. [16:40] Because the airport attack, hitting a [16:43] civilian airport, injuring civilians in [16:45] a country that had a 30-year history of [16:47] trying not to make enemies, [16:49] it's actually made Kuwait enraged. It's [16:53] angered them. [16:54] It's not causing them to back down. [16:58] And it's also done something that Iran [17:00] really really didn't want. It's It's [17:01] actually pushing Kuwait closer to the [17:05] Abraham Accords camp. [17:08] I want to show you something because I [17:09] don't want you to just take my word for [17:10] this. I want you to hear it from a [17:12] Kuwaiti voice. Take a look [17:15] at this. Okay, this is from the Middle [17:17] East Media Research Institute from [17:19] memory and this was published just a [17:21] couple weeks ago, May 19th. [17:23] I mean, they did the translation on May [17:25] 26th, but this is a translation of a [17:28] piece done a piece written in May May [17:30] 19th just a couple weeks ago. They [17:31] posted this a week ago. [17:33] Kuwaiti columnist, the US Israel war [17:36] against Iran is justified. It is the [17:39] result of the flawed Iran nuclear deal [17:42] signed by Obama in 2015. Think about [17:46] that headline, criticizing the Iran [17:47] nuclear deal, criticizing Obama. [17:52] Okay, but that's not the headline of the [17:53] that that was not the original headline [17:55] of the piece. Let me tell you a little [17:56] bit more about what we're reading and [17:57] then we'll read this. [17:58] This is a report again from memory, the [18:01] Middle East Media Research Institute [18:03] memory.org, you have to follow them. [18:06] They translate Arabic media, both video [18:09] and and print media. [18:12] And they translated this column that ran [18:14] on May 19th. [18:16] Just just 2 weeks ago. [18:18] And it ran in an outlet called Al-Qabas, [18:21] which is Kuwait's most respected, most [18:23] widely read independent [18:26] daily It was founded and now [18:28] independent. It was founded in 1972 and [18:31] I want to emphasize that word [18:32] independent because in a region where [18:35] almost every newspaper is either a [18:37] government mouthpiece or it's owned by [18:39] someone close to the palace, Al-Qabas is [18:43] genuinely independent. It's owned by [18:46] Kuwaiti merchant families. It's not [18:48] owned by the government. It doesn't get [18:49] any government subsidies. In fact, when [18:52] Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait in 1990, [18:55] one of the first things he did was he [18:57] shut Al-Qabas down and seized its [19:00] offices to run Iraqi propaganda because [19:03] it's independent. [19:06] Right? He had to silence it. So, a [19:09] columnist in this paper [19:12] wrote this piece that we're going to [19:14] look at. The piece was titled "Obama is [19:17] not Trump." And the writer is a [19:19] journalist named Faisal Muhammad bin [19:21] Sabt. [19:22] And here's what he said. I'm going to [19:23] read you what memory translated here. [19:28] Here's what it says. [19:30] This is an ex- These are excerpts from [19:31] the article. Since the outbreak of the [19:34] US-Israel war on Iran, some have [19:36] condemned US President Donald Trump and [19:38] accused him of misconduct for declaring [19:41] war on the Iranian regime, supposedly [19:43] without any justification. Yet, his [19:45] action is nothing more than a response [19:47] to Iran's aggression, which crossed [19:49] every line and began threatening US [19:51] interests in the Middle East, the Arab [19:52] Gulf, and Israel's security, which is [19:55] more important to the Americans than [19:57] anything else. [19:58] The destructive impact of this [19:59] aggression was also felt by many other [20:02] Arab countries, including Lebanon, [20:04] Syria, Iraq, and Yemen, where the [20:06] pro-Iranian militias spread devastation. [20:08] The American-Israeli attack, [20:10] which many had anticipated in advance, [20:13] would not have happened were it not for [20:15] the grave flaws in the nuclear agreement [20:17] signed with Iran by US President Barack [20:20] Obama in March 2015. [20:22] At the time, many experts argued that [20:24] the agreement was full of holes, which [20:26] would eventually allow Iran to advance [20:28] its nuclear program and pave the way for [20:30] it to acquire nuclear weapons, which is [20:32] exactly what happened. Opponents of that [20:34] deal compared it to the agreement that [20:36] the US under President Bill Clinton [20:38] signed with North Korea, which was [20:40] intended to end North Korea's military [20:42] nuclear program in exchange for energy [20:44] assistance, the lifting of economic [20:46] sanctions, and improved relations with [20:48] the US and and its Western allies. [20:50] However, in the years that followed, [20:52] North Korea secretly pursued a uranium [20:55] enrichment program that was exposed in [20:57] 2002, causing the agreement to collapse. [21:01] North Korea then announced its [21:02] withdrawal from the [21:04] non-proliferation treaty after expelling [21:07] the the international inspectors [21:09] following years of alternating tensions [21:11] and inducements between the two sides, [21:13] namely North Korea and the West led by [21:16] the US, one Monday, on May 25th, 2009, [21:20] North Korea surprised the world by [21:23] announcing that it had that it had [21:24] conducted underground nuclear test an [21:27] underground nuclear test explosion, [21:29] thereby confronting the major powers [21:31] with the reality that it become a [21:33] nuclear state. Iran took advantage of [21:36] the negligence or willful blindness of [21:38] the Obama administration and later the [21:40] Biden administration, both of which were [21:42] clearly inclined in its favor. [21:45] Following North Korea's example, it [21:46] violated the terms of the agreement and [21:49] secretly continued its program to obtain [21:51] nuclear weapons until it came very close [21:54] to achieving this goal. Estimates [21:56] suggest that it was only a few weeks [21:57] away from a weapon despite the so-called [22:00] international sanctions and the blockade [22:02] imposed upon it. This is what [22:04] necessitated the swift action by the US. [22:07] Despite the criticism directed against [22:09] it, [22:10] the war led by the US [22:12] president against Iran came at the right [22:14] time to stop what was on the verge of [22:17] becoming a sudden danger to Arab Gulf [22:20] states. [22:22] Had the situation been left unchecked, [22:24] for 47 years we have heard Iranian [22:27] officials chant slogans like death to [22:29] Israel while stockpiling weapons and [22:31] equipment supposedly intended to [22:33] liberate Jerusalem from the clutches of [22:35] Zionists, but in reality we discovered [22:38] that all the missiles, drones, and [22:39] explosive devices had been amassed for [22:42] one purpose only, attacking the Gulf [22:45] states and advancing Iran's plans. [22:49] The current war in the region has many [22:51] negative repercussions for the economies [22:53] of the Gulf states and for everyday life [22:55] there. Anyone who follows the situation [22:57] understands that the greatest [22:59] beneficiaries of this war are the US and [23:01] its ally, Israel. While the Gulf states [23:04] are sustaining military blows from Iran [23:06] and its proxies in Iraq [23:08] and their ability to export oil, the [23:11] lifeblood of their economies, has been [23:12] disrupted. However, [23:15] the one significant advantage of this [23:17] war [23:18] has been the destruction of Iran's [23:19] military power with all its branches, [23:21] which constituted a major threat to the [23:24] security of the Gulf states. [23:26] In this sense, something good has come [23:28] out of something bad. Now, this is [23:30] obviously not a pro-Israel writer. In [23:32] fact, he has harsh things to say about [23:33] Israel in there. [23:36] But did you catch what he said? Here's a [23:38] Kuwaiti journalist, a Kuwaiti columnist [23:40] writing in Kuwait's most independent [23:42] newspaper, saying that Iran's weapons [23:44] were never really about Israel, that [23:45] they were pointed at Kuwait, at Bahrain, [23:48] at Saudi Arabia, at the Gulf states. [23:51] And then 2 weeks after he wrote that, [23:53] Iran hits the Kuwaiti airport. They [23:55] proved his point for him. [23:57] He also wrote something else worth [23:58] noting. Look what he said there. He [24:00] acknowledged that, yes, this war has had [24:02] negative economic consequences for the [24:04] Gulf, and Kuwait feels that, the [24:06] disruption to oil exports, the attacks [24:08] on infrastructure. That's real. That's [24:10] painful. But [24:12] look what he said there at the end. [24:14] Iran's military power was a major threat [24:18] to the Gulf states. And its destruction, [24:21] painful as it's been, [24:23] has been a good thing. His words at the [24:25] end, something good has come out of [24:26] something bad. This is a remarkable [24:28] thing to read in an Arab newspaper. A [24:31] Kuwaiti journalist openly saying that [24:33] Trump's war was necessary and justified. [24:38] That's not what the Western mainstream [24:40] media will tell you the Arab world [24:41] thinks about this war. [24:44] Think about all the Americans saying [24:45] that it wasn't necessary and not [24:47] justified. [24:50] Now, back in February of last year, [24:52] February 2025, more than a year before [24:54] any of this, there was a very [24:56] interesting piece in the Jerusalem [24:58] Strategic Tribune [25:01] by a man named Ahmed Charai. He's a [25:03] Moroccan. He's not Jewish at all. [25:06] He's a Moroccan businessman and and [25:09] analyst. He's the publisher of the [25:11] Jerusalem Strategic Tribune. He sits on [25:13] the boards of the Atlantic Council, of [25:15] the Foreign Policy Research Institute, [25:18] and the International Crisis Group. [25:20] So, he's not exactly what you'd call a [25:22] traditional pundit. [25:24] Uh he's much, much more than that. [25:28] Um [25:29] he's he moves in the highest circles of [25:31] Western foreign policy. [25:33] And what he called for in this piece [25:35] over a year ago what was for Trump to [25:38] push Kuwait toward the Abraham Accords. [25:44] This is over a year ago. [25:46] At the time, it seemed like a long shot. [25:48] Kuwait's Parliament, Kuwait's political [25:50] culture, [25:52] it all made normalization seem very far [25:54] away. [25:59] But Trump has recently been publicly [26:01] pressuring the remaining Arab states to [26:03] join the Abraham Accords, right? We all [26:05] caught that over the last [26:07] couple weeks where Trump has been [26:08] bringing that up that he wants them all [26:09] to join. Now, most of them will refuse, [26:13] right? Saudi Arabia isn't is is not [26:15] ready. Qatar's a non-starter. [26:19] Right. Right, Turkey's probably not [26:20] going to do it either. Like, we saw the [26:21] reactions. [26:23] But Kuwait's interesting. Kuwait's a [26:24] weak link. [26:26] Their dependence on America is even more [26:28] than those other countries, as we saw. [26:31] They have the most that tiny country has [26:34] the most US personnel on its soil out of [26:36] all of them. [26:39] And it's the one state where the [26:41] internal resistance to normalization [26:43] could be overcome. [26:47] And Iranian attacks on Kuwait actually [26:50] could make that come faster. [26:54] Every attack on Kuwaiti soil makes the [26:57] case for Trump that no American diplomat [27:00] could make in a negotiating room. [27:04] You know, in other words, Iran has done [27:05] more to push Kuwait towards America and [27:09] Israel than any Americans [27:11] any American diplomat could do. [27:14] Every drone that hits Kuwaiti soil, [27:16] every missile, [27:20] every civilian wounded at that airport, [27:22] Iran is writing the case [27:25] for why Kuwait should be more part of [27:28] the American orbit. [27:31] And the Abraham Accords are as as [27:34] they're going to move into the future [27:36] are going to become in the wake of this [27:38] war much more about joint security [27:40] infrastructure. We're already seeing [27:41] that with Israel and the UAE starting to [27:44] cooperate more and more on on air [27:46] defense and security [27:48] and security infrastructure. [27:52] In other words, if you want to be part [27:53] of the Israel-America security umbrella [27:56] that is the dominant force in the [27:58] region, [28:00] you want to be aligned with them, right? [28:02] You want to be part of that. [28:05] Now, Kuwait's been buying Ukrainian [28:07] interceptor drones. They've been [28:09] coordinating more closely with the rest [28:12] of the Gulf states on defense. [28:16] And the voices in Kuwait that were [28:17] saying stay neutral, don't pick sides, [28:20] are not saying that anymore because Iran [28:23] is attacking them. [28:24] Let me bring this all together and close [28:26] this out here. [28:29] Let's sum up. Iran is targeting Kuwait. [28:32] Why? [28:33] Number one, Kuwait hosts more American [28:36] troops than any other country in the [28:38] Gulf. And those troops are [28:40] geographically close and exposed. Number [28:43] two, [28:45] Kuwait's bases are actively being used [28:47] in offensive operations against Iran. [28:49] Number three, [28:51] Kuwait is the military [28:53] the military is militarily a softer [28:56] target compared to Saudi Arabia and the [28:58] UAE, which have better air defenses and [29:01] more complex diplomatic arrangements [29:03] with [29:04] the Iranian regime. [29:06] And then number four, the deeper reason [29:09] is that Kuwait was the undecided [29:12] voter, so to speak, of the Gulf. The one [29:14] that hadn't chosen a side, and Iran [29:17] thought it could frighten Kuwait into [29:18] neutrality, like bully it, [29:23] to get out of the American orbit or to [29:25] become or to what you know, to want to [29:27] distance themselves. [29:28] And instead, Iran has accomplished the [29:30] opposite. They've turned Kuwait from a [29:32] cautious neutral [29:34] party into an angry party. [29:37] They've handed Washington exactly the [29:39] argument it needs to look at Kuwait and [29:41] say, "Hey, time to join the Abraham [29:43] Accords. Try Time to join this security [29:46] network." [29:48] And here's the irony that I don't think [29:49] Iran's leadership is capable of [29:51] appreciating. [29:53] The Kuwaiti journalist that I quoted [29:55] there, that columnist writing in the [29:57] most independent newspaper in the Gulf, [29:59] said it plainly, Iran's arsenal was [30:02] never [30:03] about Israel. [30:05] It was [30:06] always about dominating the Arab Gulf [30:09] states. That's what this war revealed. [30:12] The Iranians I mean, it was about [30:13] Israel, also, [30:14] but the extent to which it was about [30:18] dominating the Gulf [30:21] is now something that we all see. [30:23] The Iranians spent 47 years [30:28] screaming only death to America, death [30:29] to Israel, and now the Gulf Arabs see [30:31] clearly that they were also [30:35] part of the objective. [30:37] The Iranian regime is very good at [30:38] causing chaos and pain. [30:42] But they also make [30:45] missteps they and misunderstandings of [30:47] how their neighbors are going to behave. [30:49] They thought that missile attacks [30:51] against their neighbors Remember at the [30:52] beginning of the war when they started [30:53] attacking everyone and and why they were [30:55] doing it So there was all kinds of [30:57] reasons given. [30:58] And one of them was that they were [31:00] trying to get them all to to cry uncle [31:02] immediately and and beg the Americans to [31:04] stop. [31:07] They thought it would produce fear and [31:08] it ended up producing more resolve. [31:12] We're watching the Middle East realign [31:15] and Iran is doing [31:18] unwittingly doing more to drive that [31:20] realignment [31:22] than [31:24] than they than they than they intend to. [31:26] Let's just say that. [31:28] Anyway, I hope this video was helpful. I [31:29] hope it made sense. Maybe you disagree [31:31] with my analysis. I'd love to hear that. [31:33] Please share a comment. Tell me where [31:35] you think I'm a fool. [31:36] I appreciate that. [31:38] Uh the comments are I I read I I read a [31:41] lot of the comments. I try to really get [31:42] through them. [31:44] And please of course make sure that [31:45] you're checking out all the content that [31:46] we're producing at the Israel 365 News [31:49] YouTube channel. We just put up a very [31:50] interesting interview with Harold Rhode [31:53] who is one of the world's leading [31:54] experts on Iran and it's a really very [31:56] very interesting interview about how [31:58] Iranians think. [31:59] You want to go check that out at Israel [32:01] 365 News and uh [32:04] and stay on top of everything that we're [32:05] putting out there. Thank you very much [32:07] for watching and helping grow the [32:08] channel. God bless.
