Bitter Rivals: Iran and Saudi Arabia (Part Two)

>> NARRATOR: Tonight, the continuing story of two countries at war across the Middle East.

On one side: Iran... >> So Iran becomes basically the war ministry in Syria.

>> NARRATOR: And on the other, Saudi Arabia... >> We support the Syrian people.

The Iranians are killing the Syrian people.

>> NARRATOR: The devastating war in Yemen.

>> Yemen was taken over by a militia allied with Iran and Hezbollah.

The Iranians have no business in Yemen.

>> We know that Yemen is important for Saudi Arabia and we never want to stab Saudi Arabia in the back.

>> There's another destroyed building there.

>> When elephants fight, it's the grass that suffers.

There's been over a million casualties in the Middle East over the last decade.

>> They've been Syrian.

They've been Iraqi.

They've been Yemeni.

>> Where did the missile hit?

>> Iranian and Saudi citizens aren't the ones that are suffering.

>> NARRATOR: Iran and Saudi Arabia-- "Bitter Rivals."

(man chanting) >> SMITH: On the edge of the Shia city of Najaf, in southern Iraq, is the world's largest cemetery, the Valley of Peace-- 1,500 acres, five million bodies.

♪ ♪ The cemetery has been open for over 1,700 years.

Today, among the dead are the Shia martyrs killed in the sectarian war that has torn Iraq apart.

(men chanting) At the nearby shrine of Imam Ali, the son-in-law of Prophet Mohammed, bodies of newly deceased fighters are carried past the tomb of Ali to receive his blessing.

(men chanting) Some are Iraqi army, others are members of private Shia militias backed and trained by Iran who've been fighting the Sunni extremists of Al Qaeda and ISIS.

(woman): (cheering, chanting) >> SMITH: Today, both those militias and Iran have emerged as victors in Iraq.

>> SMITH: I was in Baghdad on the day that ISIS was driven out of Mosul.

The crowd, mostly Shia, cheered for the victory.

>> A victory against ISIS has been declared in the Iraqi city of Mosul.

>> SMITH: For Sunnis, this is what victory looks like.

>> What was once the capital, in Iraq, of ISIS's caliphate, now reduced to rubble around us here.

The devastation on this city... >> SMITH: In city after city it is Iraq's Sunnis who have borne the brunt of the fight.

These were the cities where some had at first welcomed ISIS-- places like Tikrit, Baiji, Tal Afar, and Ramadi.

(radio chatter) (Ibrahim Awsaj): >> SMITH: Ibrahim Awsaj is Ramadi's mayor.

>> SMITH: Today few have been able to return to their homes.

Across Iraq, millions of Sunnis have been displaced.

Tens of thousands are stuck in camps like this one.

Some are still suspected of being ISIS sympathizers.

(translator): (woman): (woman): >> The Sunnis are suffering a lot.

You can't leave them in the camps.

If we don't get these people back to their places, if we don't find them jobs, if we don't embark on getting rid of sectarianism, then I assure you, the civil war will rage and will expand to the whole region.

>> SMITH: Look at this.

>> Oh, my God.

Look at that, apocalyptic.

>> SMITH: In the West, today's sectarian conflict has been characterized as part of an ancient war inside Islam, but on the ground, the reality is more complicated.

>> There is no doubt that the historical schism between Sunnis and Shias has been there since the seventh century.

But the violence that we are seeing today is new.

It is modern political violence.

It is a power struggle between Iran and Saudi Arabia for dominance of the Middle East and the Muslim world.

>> SMITH: That power struggle started here in Iran almost 40 years ago, with Ayatollah Khomeini's Islamic Revolution.

(man leading prayers) >> SMITH: Every week at Friday prayers in Tehran, a leading imam reiterates the core principles of Khomeini's revolution.

(chanting Takbir) >> SMITH: Khomeini's doctrine was based on Islamic law and the ultimate authority of the supreme leader.

>> SMITH: The rejection of Western domination.

>> SMITH: And the overthrow of the Gulf monarchies, particularly the Saudi royal family.

>> SMITH: It also included the command to spread Islamic rule to other countries.

(man shouting commands) (Mohsen Rafighdoost): >> SMITH: Mohsen Rafighdoost, a founding member of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the IRGC, believes they have a continuing duty to spread Khomeini's revolution.

>> SMITH: At a pro-government rally, it's clear that opposition to Saudi Arabia is central to their worldview.

>> So in the Iranian case, Saudi Arabia is an agent of the United States.

It is there to keep a global order in which the U.S. dominates the world.

And Saudi Arabia's control over Mecca and Medina, the two holiest shrine complexes in the Muslim world, is unacceptable.

(chanting) If you read Imam Khomeini's last will and testament, if you listen to the sermons of the supreme leader who succeeded him, Ayatollah Khamenei, Saudi Arabia is a state that needs to be destroyed, a state that needs to be eradicated, really.

(man): (cheering) >> SMITH: The Saudis insist that Iran is a hostile, belligerent, adventurous nation attempting to export revolution around the region.

How do you respond?

>> Well, talk is cheap.

Let's look at the actions.

Saudis helped Saddam Hussein for eight years.

Saudis helped Al Qaeda.

Saudis created Daesh.

Saudis created Al Nusra.

Saudis are funding terrorists who are operating in eastern Iraq.

So they started this sectarian message.

Not us.

>> SMITH: The Iranians look at you and they say, "You've been busy supporting and exporting extremism."

What's your response to that?

>> Nonsense.

The Iranians are the ones who are exporting terrorism.

They're the ones who are stoking the fires of sectarianism.

They're the ones who are violating international laws and norms and acceptable behavior.

And they are the ones who have been on an aggressive path since 1979.

>> Despite the fact that the United States and almost every other powerful nation supports Saudi Arabia actively and tries to undermine us actively, we are still the most influential power in the Middle East.

That should tell you something.

That you-- should tell you that we have made the right choices and they've made the wrong choices.

>> SMITH: One of the most important choices Iran made has been in Syria, where war has raged for almost seven years.

(horn honks) (man speaking Arabic) >> SMITH: Today, over five million people have fled Syria.

Millions more have been displaced, hundreds of thousands killed.

The last time I was in Syria, the ancient city of Aleppo was divided.

East Aleppo was held by rebel forces.

After a long, brutal siege, the Assad regime finally retook control in December 2016.

Today in East Aleppo, people are trying to resume their lives.

(boy yelling) (man singing in Arabic) I spoke with some regime supporters.

So how are you doing?

How is your business?

(man): >> SMITH: Who were your friends, who was helping Syria?

>> SMITH: We asked people what Iran was doing here now and they pointed us to this school.

Next to portraits of President Assad and Iran's Ayatollah Khamenei, the sign reads "Gaza School-- A Gift from the Islamic Republic of Iran."

(teacher): (students): >> They are happy, because they lived maybe now eight years.

>> SMITH: Six years of war, and they're eight years old now.

>> Now, yes.

(kids repeating) This is the fifth school opened after the war.

>> SMITH: Uh-huh.

It was built by whom?

>> The worker from Aleppo, but the money come from the people of Iran to help us.

>> India, America, Russia, France, Syria.

>> SMITH: I was told Iran has contributed to the rebuilding of 47 schools in the province.

It seems to be part of a larger strategy.

(students applaud) (music playing) >> The Iranians are here for their interests.

Nobody would send money and fighters and others for-- because they are a charity.

They are here for their interests.

(indistinct chatter) >> SMITH: I first met Anas Joudeh in Damascus in 2015, when he was leading a group of pro-democracy activists.

(Joudeh): The Iranian interest is obvious.

Now we are seeing it.

Iran mainly wants to be recognized from United States and the international community as a normal country.

Not as a part of the Axis of Evil, not as a country that is not part of the international community.

>> SMITH: From the start, Iran backed Assad.

>> Syria has really been Iran's only continuous ally since the 1979 revolution.

And when the uprisings began, the Iranian regime was determined to do all in their power, both financially and militarily, to prevent the Assad regime from collapsing.

>> SMITH: Back in 2011, inspired by the Arab Spring, protests began against the Assad regime.

(chanting) >> The first six to ten month of the uprising, this was truly a civil uprising.

(man speaking on loudspeaker) That was motivated by the rest of the Arab uprising-- the need for political participation, asking for freedom, reining in the security services of the Syrian regime.

And it was led by a fairly nonviolent civil movement of students, laborers, villagers.

(singing): And then, I think what happened is a decision was made by Assad regime that, "We are not going to negotiate."

(loud explosion) (screaming, shouting) >> New deadly violence in Syria.

Army security forces fired on peaceful protesters.

The government denies anyone was killed.

>> SMITH: Once the violence began, Iran sent in money, weapons, and military advisers from the IRGC to help Assad crush the protests.

>> In Syria, violence and protests.

Will the government there buckle?

>> SMITH: The official line both here and in Iran is that the uprising in 2011 was really a foreign plot.

Was there never a popular revolution in the first month... >> No.

>> SMITH: ...or weeks of the uprising?

>> In fact, it has never been there, I'm living here.

>> I know what happened.

It was a prepared-- pre-fabricated scenario of what will happen.

Since the beginning, we have said that this is a war against Muslim fanatics.

(shouting in unison) >> SMITH: In fact, armed opposition to Assad grew gradually, and was made up of many different groups backed by many countries.

>> You had Saudi Arabia, who was an important patron.

You had Qatar, who was an important patron.

U.A.E., to a lesser extent, was a patron.

You had Turkey, who was a patron.

You had the United States, who was a patron.

You had the E.U., who was a patron.

Everybody is giving money to different people.

Everybody is giving different types of weapons to different groups.

(explosions, rapid gunfire) >> SMITH: The Saudi Arabian government supported two hardline Sunni Islamist groups.

You paid millions of dollars into groups like Ahrar al-Sham and Jaysh al-Islam... >> And who are Ahrar al-Sham?

And who is Jaysh al-Islam?

They're Syrians.

They're Syrians being killed by whom?

They're being killed by Iranians.

So we're giving them the means to defend themselves.

(gunfire) We support the Syrian people.

The Iranians are killing the Syrian people.

That's the difference between us.

(rapid gunfire) (shouting) >> Saudi Arabia tried to play the Iranian playbook, which is, "Let's find groups which share sectarian identity with us, and which are willing to fight and die for the cause."

And the groups that they were able to find were Salafi groups.

(shouting in local language) These are the groups that they could find, fund, share with them sectarian identity, and they were willing to fight, to stand up to the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, but also the Iranian proxy groups, be it Hezbollah or be it the Shia militia.

>> SMITH: There's another militia.

The Shia militia groups backed by Iran are hard to track down here.

We'd been discouraged by Syrian officials in Damascus from visiting a famous Shia holy site.

We decided to go anyway.

This is the shrine of the Prophet Mohammed's granddaughter Sayeda Zeinab.

(man singing) We arrived on the day of Arbaeen, where pilgrims mourn Zeinab's brother Husayn, the revered Shia figure who was brutally murdered in the seventh century.

(singing continues) (drums beating) Worshippers ceremonially strike themselves for failing to save Husayn from martyrdom.

(drum beating continues) What does it mean to you to be here?

>> SMITH: Among the pilgrims were Shia fighters recruited by Iran.

This was why we were not supposed to film here.

Uh-huh.

Okay.

Okay.

>> SMITH: All right, so we just passed a group of Afghan volunteer soldiers who've come to fight in the Syrian war.

There was the Fatemiyoun division, Afghan Shia trained by the IRGC.

(man singing on loudspeaker) And all around town there were posters of Iranian-backed Shia militia leaders from Iraq.

Most significant here, among the pilgrims, Hezbollah fighters, Iran's proxy army from neighboring Lebanon.

(marching band playing) Supported by Iran since the early 1980s, Hezbollah has become a major political party and the most powerful military force in Lebanon.

They were secretive about their involvement in Syria.

Coming to the defense of Assad was politically controversial in Lebanon.

But Syria is strategically important for their survival.

>> Iran has basically been using Syria as a thoroughfare to arm and finance Hezbollah.

And so for that reason, I think both Iran and Hezbollah saw the potential fall of the Assad regime in Syria as an existential threat to them, certainly for Hezbollah.

>> SMITH: And Iran had a much larger regional ambition, a land route from Tehran all the way to the Mediterranean and the border with Israel.

>> Iran has now secured a land corridor stretching from Tehran through Iraq and Syria all the way to Lebanon.

>> To me, that's really the key to their foreign policy.

For Iran, a lot of what gives them any say in the region, any say with the United States, is that they're able to constantly put pressure on Israel and constantly threaten that they can attack Israel.

It's an ideological goal.

It's a political goal.

But it's also a goal that they feel like they are slowly, gradually, making progress on.

>> Hezbollah is projecting Iranian influence across the Middle East by fighting in Syria alongside the Syrian military.

>> SMITH: Meanwhile, Iran continues to say they don't have a military presence in Syria, and only provide advisers at the request of the Syrian government.

>> Hezbollah has supplemented its knowledge of guerilla warfare with conventional warfare, and played a critical part in turning the war Assad's way.

>> SMITH: In the end, the war in Syria will be recorded as among the most brutal in modern times.

>> An aerial attack in Syria's Aleppo province using improvised munitions like these, the so-called barrel bombs.

(loud explosions) (man saying Takbir) >> SMITH: Assad has been guilty of horrific violence.

Barrel bombs packed with nails and shrapnel.

Chemical weapons.

Whole cities have been under siege.

An estimated half million dead.

And the war is not yet over.

>> Human beings inside Syria on all sides have suffered in the course of this war, you know, nearly ten million people made homeless, almost half of the population of Syria having left their homes.

You know, the sheer magnitude of what's happening in Syria... >> SMITH: But the opposition has been unable to topple Assad.

The Saudis believe the U.S. shares part of the blame.

>> There was regional willingness to undertake action that the U.S. and other countries were reluctant to lead in.

But it would have required joint action by the United States.

And when Mr. Obama began to talk about red lines, naturally, the regional states thought that he was serious about that.

>> SMITH: He was stepping up.

>> That he was stepping up.

But we know what happened.

>> Getting reports minutes ago that Russia has launched airstrikes in Syria.

(loud explosions) >> SMITH: Two years later, when the Russians began aerial bombing, Iran sent in even more ground troops, and the war turned decisively in Assad's favor.

>> Russia wants to keep Assad in, and working with Iran, Russia wants... >> SMITH: Saudi support for the rebels has declined.

>> There seems to be a power vacuum developing in Syria.

>> The Saudi have withdraw from Syria.

If they are talking about vacuum, about filling power, they withdraw.

Nobody told them to go out.

They withdraw.

And by de facto, the-- the power who is here will fill the vacuum.

>> SMITH: And what does it mean to you that these outside players have been destroying your cities and are making decisions outside the country as to what happens?

>> For us, it's a matter now to choose between... the bad and the worst.

(children squealing playfully) Sadly, the interest of the average Syrian now is security.

>> SMITH: Just to be safe.

>> Just to be safe.

A way that they can send their children to schools, that they can provide food to their families.

They can live safely.

(people talking softly) We are against the regime, the political power who is controlling the state, yes.

But we can't leave the country.

We can't afford not to work for this country.

We can't.

We can't.

It's our destiny.

(man chanting on loudspeaker) >> What happens in Syria will go a long way in shaping the perception throughout the region of, who is the winner in this contest?

And right now, as of today, the winner in this contest in Syria is Iran.

We have now an Iranian expeditionary force that includes Hezbollah, includes Shiite militias from Iraq, Shiite from Pakistan, Shiite from Afghanistan, that now can be deployed at Iran's wish and under Iran control.

(man speaking on loudspeaker) >> SMITH: Confronted by Iran's expansion, and nervous about America's commitment to the region, the Saudis made a show of force.

In 2016, with a coalition of 34 mostly Sunni states, they staged a massive military exercise.

They called it "Northern Thunder."

>> Everybody in the neighborhood knows the truth about Saudi Arabia.

You know, it's a powerful, very well financed, very economically important country, but there is a little bit of a hollow core there.

And that's what makes the Saudi royal family so insecure.

(man speaking on loudspeaker) >> SMITH: The coalition was driven by the new young minister of defense, Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who sat just behind his father, the aging King Salman.

The prince also intended Northern Thunder to send a message to the Americans.

>> The Americans had been feckless in Syria and had left them with a regional conflict on their border.

And then, to learn that the Obama administration might be making a kind of Nixon-to-China pivot in favor of Iran was infuriating and really disorienting, I think.

(man speaking on loudspeaker) >> SMITH: The Saudis felt betrayed by Obama's nuclear deal with Iran, saying it would do nothing to curtail Iran's military adventures.

(airplanes roaring overhead) >> Our concern was, what is being done about Iran's nefarious activities in the region?

>> SMITH: And what did the Americans tell you?

>> "We are dealing with this.

This is only strictly the nuclear talks."

The view in the U.S. was that, "We deal with this separately."

But the Iranians are making threatening moves in the Gulf.

Are we supposed to sit there without any defenses?

Of course not.

>> SMITH: Do you believe they have designs on Saudi Arabia itself?

>> I hope not.

But from their actions and from their attempts to destabilize and their attempts to cause mischief, that may not be the case.

♪ ♪ >> SMITH: South of Saudi Arabia, bordering the strategic passage to the Suez Canal, is Yemen.

Here, in the poorest country in the Middle East, is where Prince Mohammed bin Salman decided to draw a line against Iran.

This is Sa'dah, in Yemen's far north, close to the Saudi border.

It is the tribal stronghold of the Houthi rebels.

The Houthis are from Yemen's Zaidi sect, an ancient offshoot of Shia Islam.

(car horns honking) It took us nine hours to get here last night.

They estimated it would take us four, but with checkpoints and bad road and bridges that were blown out, it took us nine hours.

(horn honks) This is a town that's seen an immense amount of destruction; there's a building right here that's been rocketed.

(car horn honks) Airstrikes by a Saudi-led coalition have destroyed most of the city center.

There's another destroyed building there.

It's a hard war to cover.

Outside media is rarely let in.

We were the only American reporters allowed inside Houthi-controlled northern Yemen in all of 2017.

(metal clanking) In the old city, the marketplace had been bombed the previous year.

(man): >> SMITH: So what are you going to do now?

>> SMITH: What do you say to the people who did this to you?

>> SMITH: Missile strike right here on the left.

Everywhere we went, we saw and heard about the devastation from Saudi bombs.

Why would they bomb that?

(man): >> SMITH: In the towns and in the countryside.

(boy): (imitating bomb falling) Boom!

(boy): >> SMITH: Were friends of yours inside the funeral?

>> SMITH: What happened to them?

(translator speaking) (man): >> SMITH: War is not new to Yemen.

The country has been wracked by civil wars for more than 50 years.

(gunshots, cheering) >> Houthi rebels advance in Sana'a as the situation in Yemen deteriorates further.

>> ...warning that Yemen is at the edge of civil war.

>> SMITH: But in 2015, the Houthis seized the capital.

>> The rebels have taken over the Yemeni capital, Sana'a, and advanced into majority Sunni areas.

>> SMITH: Although the Houthis had a relationship with Iran and Hezbollah, at this stage there was little evidence of direct military support.

>> The information minister says Houthi rebels have seized the presidential palace.

(people cheering) >> SMITH: The Saudi-backed president fled to Riyadh, where he was met at the airport by Prince Mohammed.

The prince had made a crucial decision.

Convinced that the Houthi rebellion represented a threat from Iran, he ordered a bombing campaign together with a coalition of Sunni states, called "Operation Decisive Storm."

>> These Saudi fighter jets are on their way to attack rebel positions in Yemen.

(loud explosions) Saudi Arabia has long been known for getting Washington to fight its battles.

Not this time.

(jet roaring) >> The Saudis didn't consult with us.

They told us about 48 hours before they started the campaign.

>> The chaos in Yemen has suddenly expanded into a dangerous regional war.

>> We were the closest of allies in the Middle East.

And that decision shows how badly the relationship had unraveled, where they would take a military action, again, without consulting us on it.

(sirens blaring) (Mohammed bin Salman): >> SMITH: The prince said the war was necessary because Iran's goal is to get to Mecca, and, quote, "We will not wait for a war on Saudi soil."

>> SMITH: I had met the prince in Riyadh last year.

He didn't want to do an on-camera interview, but we had a long talk.

He told me how he wanted to reform and modernize Saudi society.

He dismissed the rivalry with Iran.

But he said he would stop them once and for all in Yemen.

I met with Prince Mohammed bin Salman the other night.

And he told me, quote, "There's no rivalry with Iran.

"This is Iranian propaganda.

"They are not worthy of our attention, and not even number 20 on our list of concerns."

You buy that?

>> Of course.

We do... >> SMITH: Of course, because it's from... >> No, what we, what we have with Iran is, when you see rivalry as competition, we're not competing with Iran.

We don't want to compete with Iran.

>> SMITH: You're fighting a war against them in Yemen.

>> We're not fighting a war against them in Yemen.

We want them to get off our case.

That's what we want.

Yemen was taken over by a militia allied with Iran and Hezbollah that is now in possession of ballistic missiles.

The Iranians have no business in Yemen.

>> SMITH: The spokesman for the Saudi-led military coalition at the time was General Ahmed Asiri.

>> The Houthi they hijack the country, they hijack the parliament.

They seize the institution of the country, they imprison the president.

We decide to protect our national security, and to help the Yemeni government.

>> SMITH: So you launch air strikes.

>> No, we launch a military operation.

We don't want to emphasize in using this kind of sensitive word, "bombing," "air strike."

We launch a military campaign.

(people shouting) >> SMITH: Whatever the general wants to call it, the bombing has been relentless.

In October 2016, Saudi warplanes struck the Al Kubra hall in the capital, Sana'a.

Hundreds of people, including some Houthi officials, were attending a funeral.

(sirens blaring) >> Officials say at least 140 people were killed and hundreds more injured when the bombs fell on this funeral hall on Saturday afternoon, the single deadliest attack in its 19-month war.

>> SMITH: The Saudis fired two American-made precision weapons.

As people ran back inside to save lives, the second missile hit.

(sirens blaring) (metal creaking) (man): >> SMITH: This man told me 26 members of his family died.

>> SMITH: The Saudis say this was a mistake, that they didn't intend to bomb a funeral.

(Abdul Aziz bin Habtour): >> SMITH: Abdul Aziz bin Habtour is the Houthi-led government's prime minister.

(horn honking) >> SMITH: We have in March the market bombing in northern Yemen.

And then in May we have the bombing of Sa'dah and Marran.

And in October 2016, a Sana'a funeral bombing.

People say, "The Saudis have not complied "with generally accepted rules of warfare in terms of protecting civilian populations."

The question is, why do these persist?

>> No, let me tell you something.

When you conduct a military operation, mistake would happen.

>> SMITH: How many civilians have died as a result... >> No, we don't have numbers of civilian death, cause of the Yemeni government have this... >> SMITH: What was their number?

>> Ask the Yemeni government.

(loud explosion) (screaming) >> SMITH: But no one could give us accurate numbers.

The U.N. last estimated 10,000 civilian dead, but that was over a year ago.

>> Saudi Arabia's air campaign against Iranian-backed rebels in Yemen is setting off concerns for a far-reaching regional war.

>> The Saudis have always regarded Yemen as their backyard and as their ward-- geopolitically, but also economically.

And what you're seeing with the Saudis in Yemen is the building their capacity to project force.

And Yemen is, in fact, in some ways a training ground for them to be able to do that.

Ultimately, not with the aim of, you know, destroying Yemen, but building up the capacity to be able to confront Iran, should there ever be a war with Iran.

(distant music playing) >> SMITH: 1,500 miles away in Tehran, officials blame the Saudis for Yemen's trouble.

What is the importance strategically of Yemen, what's your interest in Yemen?

>> None, it's none.

We know that Yemen is important for Saudi Arabia and we never want to stab Saudi Arabia in the back.

We send messages to them, before Yemen erupted into this, that Yemen is in turmoil.

Let's work out something.

And the only response we got-- you know, what was the response?

"Arab world is none of your business."

>> Yes.

We tried to solve this.

We tried to talk to the Saudis.

>> SMITH: The Saudis say, "Iran is involved in Iraq.

"Iran is involved in Syria, in Lebanon, in Bahrain, and in Yemen."

And they fear... >> The two, finally, the two final country-- Yemen and Bahrain-- we are not really there.

>> SMITH: But you're still involved in-- you've chosen sides.

>> Yes.

(man speaking on loudspeaker) >> SMITH: A few hours outside Sana'a, we came upon a graduation ceremony for fighters about to set off for the front lines.

(chanting) Their slogans sounded like what I'd heard in Iran and with Hezbollah.

>> SMITH: While the Houthis continue to deny they're getting military help from Iran, analysts believe some has been getting through.

>> What I think Iran is trying to do is to fund and support an insurgency, in Yemen, that should it succeed, Yemen suddenly becomes an ally of Iran.

But even if it fails, or it just lasts a long time, you have completely distracted your chief adversary, Saudi Arabia, from the war in Syria, from the war in Iraq.

(man speaking on loudspeaker) >> SMITH: And how much is it costing Iran?

>> It's hard to say.

But it does not seem that it's costing them all that much.

They're not able to give them enough for the Houthis to succeed.

But what they are able to do, I think, is perpetuate that conflict and to fuel the fire as long as it goes.

>> SMITH: It's hard to track how much help Iran is providing.

>> If, indeed, the Iranians are providing support to the Houthis, that should show up in the weapons record.

>> SMITH: To determine the level of Iran's engagement, Conflict Armaments Research has analyzed Houthi weapons.

CAR is a private group with funding from the E.U.

and a contract with one member of the Saudi coalition.

>> We were able to determine that these drones were not indigenously designed nor manufactured.

Its design was essentially identical to an Iranian drone called an Ababil-II.

The serial number prefixes were almost exactly the same.

The internal components matched up with internal components used in Iranian drones.

And then we traced some of the components back to an Iranian distributor.

>> SMITH: So when the Houthis say, "We're not getting any kind of support from Iran, in terms of weapons or material," what do you say to that?

>> The evidence clearly shows otherwise.

>> SMITH: Are you familiar with Conflict Armament Research group?

Their conclusions are that Iran has provided technical know-how, at least, and in some cases, armaments to Yemen.

>> They are not helping us.

We wish they are doing so.

>> SMITH: The problem is that nobody believes you.

>> Yes, I know that.

>> SMITH: Americans don't believe you when you say that there's no help from Iran.

>> Yes, I-- let them believe that.

I believe what I say.

I'm very happy with that.

>> SMITH: There are no questions about who supplies weapons to the Saudis.

The largest amount comes from the United States.

♪ ♪ This is the Amran cement factory.

After successive Saudi air attacks, it was shut down.

1,500 workers lost their jobs.

(Abdullah al Haimi): >> SMITH: The Saudis say that they're fighting Iran in Yemen.

>> SMITH: So who makes this?

>> America.

In the United States.

It's American.

>> SMITH: It's a CBU 105.

A U.S.-made cluster bomb.

It delivers 40 separate explosive projectiles.

Following reports of their use in Yemen, they were discontinued.

How many are left in Saudi stockpiles is unknown.

In 2016, the Obama administration halted shipments of both cluster bombs and precision-guided weapons.

But the damage had been done.

>> SMITH: Back in the capital, Sana'a, we came across a rally called, "No to U.S.

Terrorism."

What brought you here today, why'd you come?

>> Today I came here to tell the world that we are suffering, we are dying here.

(man speaking on loudspeaker) >> SMITH: The rally was timed to coincide with President Trump's arrival in Riyadh, the first foreign visit of his presidency.

(man shouting via loudspeaker) He pledged to renew America's relationship with the kingdom.

>> You, Trump, stop killing Yemenis with Saudi hands.

(crowd chanting) >> SMITH: Trump promised another $110 billion in weapons to the Saudis.

>> And we will be sure to help our Saudi friends to get a good deal from our great American defense companies.

(chanting) >> SMITH: The Houthis greeted him by launching a missile at Riyadh.

(chanting continues) You seem like you're bogged down in Yemen at this point.

>> I don't think so.

We're not bogged down.

We're making progress.

The U.S. has been fighting in Afghanistan for ten years.

You've been fighting in Iraq for how many years?

The coalition against ISIS in Syria has been conducting operations for how many years?

Longer than our war in Yemen.

(man chanting over loudspeakers) (tapping) >> SMITH: The war in Yemen is now in its fourth year.

Both sides stand accused of war crimes.

The country is failing.

Garbage lies uncollected.

Drinking water is polluted.

And there's the biggest cholera outbreak in modern history.

(indistinct chatter) In addition, there is widespread malnutrition.

In Hajjah, one of Yemen's poorest provinces, I met five-year-old Ruqayah.

The hospital up near her home, hours away, had been bombed.

Other children can't even reach here.

(nurse): (baby wailing) >> SMITH: Just a day or two before, a severely malnourished boy had come in, but it was too late.

(nurse): >> SMITH: And who do you blame for the war?

(man speaking local language) >> SMITH: Yemen now is facing a dual humanitarian crisis.

Does that matter to Tehran?

>> I don't think so.

And the reason I don't think so is because I don't think they see it as their fault.

(baby crying) Any of the injustice that's happening, any of the suffering, the entirety of the humanitarian crisis, is being blamed on Saudi Arabia.

But what Iran never does is take responsibility for any of the bad things that happen in the areas that it's involved in.

Together, they have done this to the region.

But neither of them see themselves as responsible.

They all see it being driven from the other side.

♪ ♪ (indistinct chatter) >> When elephants fight, it's the grass that suffers.

And in today's Middle East, the two elephants are Iran and Saudi Arabia.

There's been over a million casualties in the Middle East over the last decade.

But they've been Syrian.

They've been Yemeni.

They've been Iraqi.

♪ ♪ Iranian and Saudi citizens aren't the ones that are suffering.

♪ ♪ (man shouting on loudspeaker) (crowd chanting) (children chatting) ♪ ♪ >> Go to pbs.org/frontline to read extended interviews with Iranian foreign minister Javad Zarif, >> So they started this sectarian message.

>> Saudi foreign minister Adel al-Jubeir.

>> They're the ones who've been on an aggressive path since 1979.

>> And others.

Learn more about the making of "Bitter Rivals."

>> We've just passed a group of Afghan volunteers.

>> Connect to the Frontline community on Facebook, Twitter, and pbs.org/frontline.

>> He gripped my arm... >> And he started to massage my shoulders... >> ...in a forceful way.

>> ...stories with uncanny similarities.

>> He came back... >> In a robe... >> Just like an open robe... >> If you were in his movie, you had a shot at an Academy Award.

>> He used these non-disclosure agreements... >> It was a show of power.

>> I think a lot of people turned a blind eye... >> ...and control.

>> I think his career is over, but you know, who knows?

Anything can happen.

>> NARRATOR: Don't miss this Frontline at a special date and time.

>> For more on this and other Frontline programs, visit our website at pbs.org/frontline.

♪ ♪ "Frontline's" "Bitter Rivals" is available on DVD.

To order, visit shopPBS.org or call 1-800-PLAY-PBS.

"Frontline" is also available for download on iTunes.

♪ ♪