Trump's efforts at peacemaking risk sparking more war

'Renewed fighting in Gaza has reactivated Iran's Houthi allies'

- Mark Almond

WASHINGTON loves a scandal.The bizarre tale of how a reporter was added into a Signal app discussion of an impending air strike on Yemen between key US government officials has been consuming media attention.

But the growing risk of direct US involvement in a growing Middle East conflict is the big issue. Carrier-based aircraft in the Red Sea have already been bombing Iran's Yemeni Houthi allies as they target shipping.

Seven stealth B-2 strategic bombers have been deployed to the US air base in Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean within range of Iran and Yemen. Donald Trump defeated Joe Biden, blaming him for violent chaos from Ukraine to the Middle East. He returned to the White House promising to bring peace. He has only been back for 10 weeks, but the world seems far from calming down.

It is true that direct talks with the Russians offer the prospect of peace of a kind between them and the Ukrainians if Trump squeezes Kyiv enough regardless of decency. But renewed fighting in Gaza has reactivated the aggressively anti-Israeli Houthis. They have been backed by Iran since 2015.

Then, their neighbour Saudi Arabia thought they could crush an upstart militia without any air force, using their own ultra-modern US and British fighter-bombers. That turned out to be a costly illusion. The Saudis have since backed off.