Target Iran to stop Houthi attacks, former top defense officials say

Several current and former leaders say the United States should target Iran to end Houthi attacks on commercial ships sailing in once-busy waterways off the coast of Yemen.

The attacks began on November 19, 2023, and the Houthis said they were doing so in solidarity with Palestinians affected by the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, and they have attacked or threatened U.S. Navy and commercial vessels 190 times since then through June 13, according to a U.S. defense official.

U.S. officials have long accused Iran of supplying weapons to the Houthis as Tehran’s proxy force in the region. As Houthi attacks continue and show no signs of slowing, former defense officials say the department must focus on Iran to stop Houthi attacks.

“We have not pressured Iran to stop this behavior, whether by increasing pressure on them. I’m not necessarily suggesting that we should bomb Tehran, but there are certain things we need to do to put pressure on it,” retired General Joseph Votel told reporters. Washington Examiner.

The United States has carried out several strikes targeting Houthi launchers and depots, but this has not been enough to destroy the Houthis’ arsenal or deter them from continuing their attacks.

“Unfortunately, it hasn’t been thorough enough,” added the former commander of US Central Command. “And what I mean by going far enough is that we haven’t really taken steps to really cut off the supply from Iran, and maybe other Iranian groups here could support this, which allowed them to obtain resources over a long period of time.

The Houthis targeted more than 60 ships during their campaign, killing a total of four sailors, and they seized one ship and sank two others.

Similarly, Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX), chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, told the Washington Examiner“At some point we have to address the source of the problem, and that is Iran.”

At least 29 major energy and shipping companies have changed their routes to avoid the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, and by mid-February, container shipping through the Red Sea had fallen by about 90% since December 2023. Their ships sail around the southern tip of Africa instead of through the Red Sea between Africa and the Middle East. The new route is about 11,000 nautical miles longer and adds one to two weeks of transit time and about $1 million in fuel costs to each trip.

Shipping companies have had to reassess the need to sail their ships through the Red Sea, given the threat from the Houthis. Before this situation, about 10 to 15 percent of international maritime trade passed through this body of water.

“The biggest problem, ultimately, is Iran. Iran is the one that is supporting these groups. And we think Iran is certainly supporting the Houthis with weapons, but we also think Iran is helping them with targeting and other things,” former Defense Secretary Mark Esper said. Washington Examiner.

He also raised the question of the resources used by the US military to thwart these attacks.

“This conflict has been going on for some time,” he said. “So I’m more concerned about the ability of our defense industrial base to produce the munitions we need for other fights in other places.”

“The challenge is that you can launch a missile like the SM-3 and, within seconds or minutes, it destroys a target and accomplishes its mission. But it takes more than about 12 months to replace that missile, and if we find ourselves in a larger conflict with another adversary elsewhere, for example in the Indo-Pacific, then we will have fewer missiles in our inventory. And that’s what worries me,” he said.

The network of Iranian proxies have all acted against U.S. or Israeli interests since the Hamas terrorist attack in Israel on October 7, which proved to be a catalyst for instability in the region. Hamas, based in Gaza, enjoys Iranian support, as does Hezbollah, a more sophisticated terrorist group based in Lebanon and engaged in limited conflict with Israel.

The continued exchange of rocket and missile fire over their shared border in northern Israel and southern Lebanon has forced the evacuation of tens of thousands of civilians on both sides.

McCaul, who met with Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant this week, said Gallant described Iran as “the octopus and the tentacles are the Houthis, Hezbollah and Hamas,” and the lawmaker added: “They become very provocative and then even with our own military vessels in the region, (the Houthis) slow down commercial activity in the Red Sea.”

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The possibility of a broader conflict between Israel and Hezbollah seems more likely than at any other point in the war, given the escalating rhetoric from the leaders of both countries. A major conflict between the two sides would be highly destructive and likely result in heavy casualties on both sides.

“The question is what Iran does, particularly if the fate of Hezbollah is threatened,” Esper said.