Houthi Ballistic Missiles, and What If China Dominated the AI Tech Stack? (From FOX News Live)

FOX News Senior National Correspondent Rich Edson led off the discussion on oil price pressure, the Houthi ballistic missile launched at Saudi Arabia, and how the U.S. AI tech stack factors into the meetings between President Donald J. Trump and China’s President Xi Jinping.  Highlights below and the full clip is here.

Rich Edson: Take a look at national gas prices today.  Is this part of Iran’s strategy, and is it working?

Rebecca Grant: Iran’s strategy is to wait this out.  Is it working?  No.  Iran hasn’t sold any oil in weeks.  Our U.S. Navy blockade, led by our two aircraft carriers, with 50,000 U.S. service members in Central Command, is keeping that military pressure on Iran, along with the financial sanctions.  But this just shows why we have to persist in this strategy.  We cannot let Iran’s oil terrorism continue.

Rich Edson: The administration is pursuing that now?

Rebecca Grant: Oh, absolutely.  I mean, there’s no question they’re going to keep this blockade on and keep all the economic pressure on, and that also means doing force protection for our forces in the Middle East, which we’re doing very well.  Iran’s major mistake was the ballistic and drone attacks on all its neighbors.  That’s changed the whole balance in the Middle East and made that region ready to stick with the U.S., and really eliminate Iran’s threat for good.

Rich Edson: If you look a little farther to the south here, this front has expanded.  The Houthis are now firing into Saudi Arabia.  How much responsibility does the U.S. have to help the Saudis in this, or do the Saudis have to step it up?

Rebecca Grant: Well, one ballistic missile heading to the airport is, to me, not an impressive tactical capability.  They’ve fired dozens of missiles into Saudi Arabia over the years.  It was an easy intercept for the Saudis, very capable military.  Look, the Houthis want economic concessions.  But why this matters for Americans is it just shows you again: it was Iran that helped the Houthis upgrade some of their old Russian and North Korean missiles, and we’ve got to stop this.  Whether it’s their terror financing or their attacks here and there against bases and ships, we cannot let this go.  China’s aided it by buying Iran’s oil, Russia’s helped them out, and we are stepping in to change this.

Rich Edson: So we have this huge summit upcoming this week, President Trump, President Xi Jinping.  How much is this conflict going to play into their conversations do you think?

Rebecca Grant: Oh, it’s going to be on their minds.  You know, neither Trump nor Treasury Secretary Bessent like to spat with the Chinese in public.  But over this year, Trump has really reset this relationship: Venezuelan oil, a strong action in the Middle East, the announcement that we do have space control weapons; that’s targeted directly at some of China’s nasty maneuvers up in geosynchronous orbit.  So, I think Trump has a very strong hand here, but of course, there is a lot to talk about, and he wants to find a way forward that supports and secures America’s economic prosperity.

Rich Edson: It seems like ahead of all these major summits with the Chinese, all these expectations about what’s going to happen, and in the end maybe there’s a small agreement on agreeing to purchase some things that down the road maybe never happen.  What can we expect to come out of this series of meetings?

Rebecca Grant:  Well, you’re right, it’s probably going to be another light set of deliverables, because both President Trump and Xi Jinping really prefer to deal one-on-one.  When they are talking with each other they like to use that private forum and to size each other up.  As for an AI accord, let’s remember, China does not do nuclear arms control.  They won’t talk about space control.  So, I don’t know.  We know that they are behind in the AI race, but they want desperately to beat us, and we can’t let that happen.  

Rich Edson: And we do that by continuing to control chips and technology that goes to China?

Rebecca Grant: We mostly do that by supporting our, thank God, great American innovative companies that all through that AI tech stack, are dominant.  Our innovation –  we need the ability to sell that globally.  It’s a global race, so that everyone adopts a U.S.-based AI tech stack and not a Chinese tech stack.  Just imagine what this world would look like if China dominated AI. You do not want to see that. 

Rich Edson: Alright, Rebecca Grant, a lot to go over this week. Thanks so much for walking us through it all.