Last week, a Houthi missile hit Israeli territory for the first time since the Yemeni rebels began their terrorist campaign against Israel and its Western allies last November. Thankfully, no one was hurt — but the close call is a reminder that the Houthis pose a major threat to American interests in the Middle East and the Red Sea.
The Biden administration has taken a number of positive steps toward mitigating the crisis, but it has failed to make neutralizing the Houthis part of a broader strategy to protect the global order. As a result, these terrorists continue to use their geographically advantageous location on the Arabian Peninsula to wage war against the West. Allowing this problem to fester any further would be a total catastrophe.
Security in the Red Sea is vital to America’s supply chains — and, therefore, to the country’s consumers. Before these attacks began, more than 23,000 ships passed through the narrow Bab al Mandab Strait, many of which were oil tankers. Now, though, shipping companies are choosing to divert their routes to avoid the region as much as possible, leading to higher costs and insurance premiums. The longer routes are no guarantee of safety, either, as Somali pirates have been targeting diverted ships in recent months.
All told, disruptions caused by the Houthis are leading to higher prices for gasoline and consumer goods here in the United States. Container freight rates have about doubled since the Houthi attacks began, and companies will pass these costs along to consumers. As families recover from the lingering effects of inflation and the pandemic, the last thing they need is to pay more for basic needs.
Unfortunately, the Biden administration’s shortsighted policies created these dangerous conditions. The State Department, for example, foolishly removed the Houthis from the list of designated terrorist organizations in February 2021. Although the administration reversed this decision in January, they waited far too long to take action.
The military response to the Red Sea crisis has also shown too much restraint. It is true that Operation Prosperity Guardian, the U.S.-led multinational response to the attacks, has made some progress toward protecting trade routes and making the region safer. But thus far, the campaign has done too little to address the root causes of the deteriorating security situation.
In part, this is because Washington has yet to grapple fully with the proxy war Iran has been waging against the West by supporting groups such as Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis. Secretary of State Antony Blinken recently acknowledged that Iran is the “primary supplier” of the Houthis and called on the Islamic republic to “exert influence” to stop the attacks. Instead of releasing more strongly worded statements, though, the administration should be taking proactive military and financial action to disrupt the flow of arms, money, and intelligence to Iran-backed terrorists.
Instead, because of his single-minded pursuit of a diplomatic resolution to Iran’s nuclear ambitions, President Joe Biden has made concession after concession, undermining America’s ability to impose serious costs on the regime. In 2023 alone, he freed up billions in assets that Iran then deployed against U.S. allies and interests through funding proxy organizations’ terrorism. And these concessions have not even worked — according to estimates from the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, Tehran could construct a nuclear weapon in as little as a week.
It is long past time to put aside naive hopes that Iran will play by the rules. America needs to take back the reins and make preventing Iranian hegemony the top priority in the region.
Containing Iranian aggression is also a real opportunity for the U.S. to develop a system of collective defense in the Middle East. Most Arab states may be conflicted over the war in Gaza, but they understand that the radical Shia ideology Iran seeks to advance threatens their security. Even leaving aside the self-evident danger of a nuclear Iran, the Arab states face immense threats from its proxies. From 2015 to 2022, Saudi Arabia alone faced nearly 1,000 missile attacks and over 350 drone strikes from the Houthis.
As the Abraham Accords showed, leaders in the Middle East are willing to play ball with the West if it means deterring Iran and its proxies. The administration should use the anti-Houthi maritime coalition to rebuild that momentum. At present, Bahrain is the only Middle Eastern naval power openly taking part in Operation Prosperity Guardian. Involving more Arab states in the counterterrorism campaign may require some tough diplomacy, but it is in everyone’s best interest.
Beyond protecting American supply chains and promoting regional stability, fending off Houthi threats is important for establishing deterrence in other potential theaters of maritime conflict. Failing to solve the Red Sea problem will only further embolden Chinese and Russian naval aggression. Adversary strategists clearly sense American weakness on the high seas and are working to capitalize on it.
Oceans are battlefields of future wars. Iran is the weakest link in the Eurasian axis, and hitting back hard against its aggression now will send a serious message to its partners. By stamping out the Houthi threat in the Red Sea, Biden can begin to quell the world’s increasingly troubled waters.
Source » washingtonexaminer