The intensifying attacks on commercial ships in the Red Sea by Houthi rebels are a concerted and unsettling effort by Iran to “defeat the United States” and “spread Iran’s Islamic revolution,” experts warn.
“We pretend we are not at war. But the Iranians and the Houthis are at war with us,” Bill Roggio, senior fellow for the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told The Post Wednesday.
On Tuesday, Iran-backed militants launched a new attack on another ship in the Red Sea – a critical shipping artery – targeting a container ship traveling from Saudi Arabia to Pakistan with a naval missile.
The group has launched at least 100 attacks against 14 different commercial and merchant ships in the Red Sea over the past month, a senior US military official said last week, CNN reported.
But a sunken ship is not a higher target of attack, according to Roggio.
“The act of targeting himself is enough,” said the military expert.
“The Houthis and Iran determine the transit of maritime vessels in the high seas. This is incredible and the world seems powerless to stop it.”
Armed Houthi rebels aboard the cargo ship Galaxy Leader, which was seized by the Houthi extremist group in November. YAHYA ARHAB/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
Houthi forces stepped up attacks on ships passing through the Bab al-Mandab Strait – the southernmost entrance to the Red Sea and a key corridor for trade in the Mediterranean – after Hamas’ October 7 attack on Israel and the subsequent war in Gaza, claiming they were only targeting ships which leads to the Jewish state.
But the group has repeatedly shot at – and even boarded – ships with no apparent connection to Israel.
The attacks have become such a problem that five of the world’s largest shipping companies, including Maersk, BP, and MSC Mediterranean, have suspended their operations in the Red Sea.
Determining the terms of passage through one of the world’s most important shipping lanes and disrupting trade around the world is the real goal of the Houthis – and part of Iran’s plan to drive the US out of the Middle East, Roggio said.
“This is all part of a larger Iranian plan to defeat the United States, to get the US to leave the Middle East, so that it can spread Iran’s Islamic revolution in Iraq and Syria, in Lebanon. To defeat Israel to defeat Saudi,” he explained.
“The Houthis are playing their part.”
An MSC Mediterranean cargo ship in the Suez Canal. The shipping line was one of several that halted operations in the Red Sea. MOHAMED HOSSAM/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
The Houthis have controlled Yemen’s capital since 2015 and have led a civil war against Saudi-backed forces to take full control of the country.
They are just one of many extremist groups in the region – including Lebanon-based Hamas and Hezbollah – that receive their support and marching orders from Iran and call themselves the “Axis of Resistance.”
“These are militias, mainly Shiite militias, that are supported, supported, financed, trained by the Iranians. Iraqi militias and Syrian militias that attack US bases in Iraq and Syria,” said Roggio.
If the Houthis can disrupt trade in the region significantly enough to force the US hand in persuading Israel to abandon its campaign to completely eliminate Hamas in Gaza, it will be a major victory for Iran’s influence in the world.
“If Hamas survives this war, it will be a defeat for Israel and a victory for the Axis of Resistance and a victory for Iran,” explained Roggio.
“They will prove that Iran and its allies can dictate the political outcome of war in the Middle East.”
A US Navy ship intercepted missiles and drones launched by the Houthis in the Red Sea in October. US NAVY/AFP via Getty Images
The US has responded to the growing Red Sea attacks by sending the USS Eisenhower aircraft carrier group to the region under Operation Prosperity Guardian, which was launched on 18 December.
On Tuesday, the US military shot down a Houthi missile and attacked a drone during a 10-hour offensive in the Red Sea.
But Roggio warns that such a defensive strategy, without aggression, is useless.
He argued that the Biden administration’s refusal to respond with force was a victory for Iran.
“We are teaching our enemies and enemies that we are not serious which cannot be taken seriously,” he said.
Instead of the US fearing escalation, Roggio added, Biden needs to make Iran fear the US.
“We don’t need to go to full-scale war with Iran. But we certainly have the capacity to make the Iranian people pay,” he stressed.
“If the Iranians want to play the game, you have to call their bluff. Otherwise, they will just move on. What they are doing now is successful, it is closing international shipping. Until when do we want to take care of all that?”
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
