Egypt’s economic problems are about to get worse as shipping companies reroute traffic from the Red Sea to avoid attacks from Yemen’s Houthi rebels—depriving Egypt of the revenue it normally gets from the Suez Canal. The effects of the Iran-backed terrorists’ piracy are likely to be felt in Americans’ wallets as well, since sending cargo ships around the Cape of Good Hope is more costly than the shorter route through the Suez. Mark Dubowitz explains what must be done to change the situation:
To address the Houthi threat, the United States has formed Operation Prosperity Guardian, a U.S.-led international mission to safeguard commercial vessels in the area. . . . But this is merely playing defense. The mission may make it harder for Houthi drones and missiles to hit their targets but imposes no price on the group for attacking in the first place.
If this is the best Biden can do, then Iran and its partners may step up attacks on shipping in the Persian Gulf, or Hizballah—Iran’s proxy in Lebanon—could even attack ships in the eastern Mediterranean.
Tehran’s goal is to destroy the Jewish state and expel America from the Middle East. Its funding, training and provision of weapons made possible Hamas’s October 7 massacre. Its proxies are now escalating on every front, while Iran itself hangs back, still reaping the rewards of Biden’s policy of maximum deference. The regime in Tehran is more than glad to fight to the last Palestinian, Yemeni, Lebanese, Iraqi and Syrian.
Its multifront war against the United States and Israel will end only when the regime itself has to pay the price for aggression.
More about: Gaza War 2023, Iran, U.S. Foreign policy, Yemen