{"id":10198,"date":"2024-03-13T00:05:43","date_gmt":"2024-03-13T04:05:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eportfolios.macaulay.cuny.edu\/messenger\/?p=10198"},"modified":"2024-03-13T00:05:43","modified_gmt":"2024-03-13T04:05:43","slug":"irans-geopolitical-game-understanding-the-conflict-in-the-middle-east","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/openlab.macaulay.cuny.edu\/messenger\/2024\/03\/13\/irans-geopolitical-game-understanding-the-conflict-in-the-middle-east\/","title":{"rendered":"Iran’s Geopolitical Game: Understanding the Conflict in the Middle East"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Middle East is descending into war, jeopardizing geopolitical stability and trade.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Over the past few weeks, the United States and Britain have carried out airstrikes on Houthi targets in Yemen. These strikes came in response to the Houthi attacks on merchant shipping in the Gulf of Aiden. The Houthis claim that they are striking ships bound for Israel in a show of support for the Palestinian people. However, many of the ships they have attacked are not linked to or bound for Israel.<\/span><\/p>\n

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But who are these groups? What do they want, and how are they related to the larger geopolitical struggle in the Middle East?<\/span><\/p>\n

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To understand the Houthis, it is first necessary to examine the <\/span>Saudi-Iran<\/span><\/a> conflict. Saudi Arabia is the birthplace of Islam and sees itself as the natural leader of the Muslim world, and is majority Sunni Muslim. However, Iran is a theocratic authoritarian Shia state, and it believes that it should lead the Muslim world. These competing views for the future of the Islamic world have caused the two countries to fight proxy wars in Syria, Iraq and Yemen.<\/span><\/p>\n

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According to the <\/span>BBC<\/span><\/a>, the Houthis are an Iranian-backed militant group that emerged in Yemen in the 1990s. They represent Yemen’s Shia minority group and have spent the past several years fighting against the Yemeni Sunni government, which is supported by Saudi Arabia. The BBC <\/span>wrote <\/span><\/a>that “The Houthis have declared themselves part of an “axis of resistance” of Iran-affiliated groups, which works in opposition to Israel, the US, and the wider West.”<\/span><\/p>\n

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From 2000 to 2015, the Houthis forcibly seized much of Western Yemen, forcing the President of Yemen, Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, to <\/span>flee<\/span><\/a> abroad. Recognizing the threat of the Iranian-backed group, a coalition of Arab forces led by Saudi Arabia has supported the Yemeni government’s efforts to fight against the Houthi rebels. In February 2021, the Houthis used Iranian missiles to bomb Saudi oil infrastructure, thus further escalating the conflict. The territory suffered from a continuous proxy battle between Saudi Arabia and Iran, and over <\/span>377,000<\/span><\/a> people have died as a result of the conflict.<\/span><\/p>\n

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According to <\/span>Reuters<\/span><\/a>, commanders from the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps and the Iranian-backed terror group Hezbollah are directing the Houthis to target shipping in the Red Sea, causing an international economic crisis. <\/span><\/p>\n

According to the <\/span>Guardian<\/span><\/a>, nearly a third of global shipping containers pass through the Red Sea every year, with outsized impacts on oil and gas transport from the region. With this route threatened by Houthi strikes, shipping companies are forced to choose between sailing in dangerous waters, causing them to pay exorbitant insurance prices, or sailing around Africa, which delays shipments by nearly two weeks.<\/span><\/p>\n

Many of the major shipping companies have ceased all operations in the Red Sea. For instance, BP, a major oil and gas company, has also ceased operations in the troubled waterway. Over time, these halts in shipping will lead to a rise in the price of consumer goods. <\/span><\/p>\n