On September 15, 2026, CERL Executive Board Member and U.S. Army General (Ret.) Joseph Votel joined Al Arabiya English to discuss the state of the war in Iran and its many geopolitical dimensions. Addressing the reignition of hostilities in Yemen, General Votel argued that Iran’s longstanding political and material support for the Houthis implicates that conflict as another front in the broader Iran war, despite the United States’ reticence to become involved. He also analyzed Iran’s remaining threat capabilities, the uneven impacts of U.S. economic measures against the Iranian economy, and the upsides and downsides of American governmental transparency about munitions shortages.

General Joseph L. Votel, U.S. Army (Ret.), is the former Commander of the U.S. Central Command. He is a Distinguished Military Fellow at the Middle East Institute and a member of the CERL Executive Board. Read his bio here.

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