A bipartisan group of senators recently sought to limit the president's power to deploy military forces in unauthorized places, effectively allowing Congress to withdraw troops from a conflict like the Yemeni Civil War, which the United Nations has said has created the world's most severe humanitarian crisis in 50 years.
US support for the Saudi-led coalition also has the function of endorsing Riyadh's quest for regional power against Tehran. In other conflict areas in the Middle East, such as Iraq, Syria and Lebanon, Iran has quietly accumulated regional partners, to Saudi Arabia's chagrin.
Mohammad Marandi, a professor at the University of Tehran, told Loud & Clear hosts Brian Becker and John Kiriakou Wednesday, "on the whole, Iranians are skeptical about US intentions. The belief is that a lot of what the United States is doing in this region is because of Israel, to support Israeli policy in Syria and Yemen, and because of Iran. Because of US hostility toward Iran, any group or country or government that is somehow seen as close to Iran is considered by the United States an enemy."
"Therefore, when the Saudis behave erratically, or when they export extremists, if the Americans perceive it to be hurting Iran, they will support it — that's the widely held view here," Marandi explained.