US experts: US must impose greater consequences on Houthis, their Iranian sponsor

Ending attacks on shipping in the Red Sea requires the United States to impose greater consequences on the Houthis in Yemen and their sponsors in Tehran, American experts said.

US forces recently carried out an airstrike on a command center run by the Iran-backed Houthi group in the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, on December 16.

According to US Central Command, the command and control facility was used to coordinate Houthi operations, including “attacks against US Navy warships and commercial vessels in the southern Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.”

Commenting on this, Bradley Bowman, senior director of the Center for Military and Political Power at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) , wonders, “How long did the US administration know about this command and control facility and why it was not struck earlier?”

“If we want to end the worst attack on shipping in decades, the United States must impose greater consequences on the Houthis and their patron in Tehran,” Bowman said, according to an analysis published by FDD .

“Too often,” he added, “we see this administration taking half-steps for fear of escalation, but these half-steps simply embolden our enemies and prolong conflicts.”

“It’s good to see U.S. forces hitting important Houthi targets in Yemen,” said retired Marine Rear Admiral Mark Montgomery, a senior fellow at the foundation and senior director of the Center for Defense of Democracies’ Cybersecurity and Technology program.

"But if the goal is to deter future attacks with Iranian-supplied weapons, the United States must impose costs on Iran," he added.

This means, he said, that the United States must strike targets in Iran—port facilities, missile factories, intelligence facilities, and Iranian ships that support the Houthi missile campaign.

The analysis also quoted expert Seth J. Frantzman as saying, “The increase in military action, including strikes on key leaders, has pushed Hezbollah to cease fire.” He therefore believes that the Houthis must understand that they will face consequences similar to those that Hezbollah faced.

The commander of the US Fifth Fleet, Admiral Daryl Caudle, said that preventing the flow of missiles, drones, weapons and other parts from Iran to the Houthis in Yemen is key to maintaining the security of the Bab al-Mandab Strait, the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea for commercial shipping.

“We cannot cede this waterway to the Iranian-backed Houthis in what was one of the busiest commercial sea lanes,” Caudle said at a recent event for the U.S. Navy, noting that French and British navies would also be operating in those waters soon.