Edited Quote:
The Biden Administration played an important role in empowering the Houthis. First, it started by reversing a key policy from the previous Trump administration: shortly after taking office, on February 12, 2021, Secretary of State Antony Blinken officially removed the Houthis’ designation as a Foreign Terrorist Organization. This decision marked a significant shift in U.S. policy: it delisted a group that, according to a Yemeni government intelligence report, has close affiliations with Al Qaeda and ISIS, and, according to other reports, regularly commits crimes war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The Houthis are backed by Iran. Iran ensures that the Houthis remain well-armed, while the Biden Administration, in turn, keeps the Iranian regime financially supported.
The Biden administration’s policy has involved releasing billions of dollars to the Iranian regime, and refraining from enforcing stringent sanctions against Iran. The influx of funds has enabled the Iranian regime to allocate substantial financial resources towards supporting and arming the Houthis as well as Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Lebanon’s Hezbollah.
This flow of capital has not only sustained Iran’s regional influence but is also prolonging the conflict in the region.
The US Navy, thanks to the Houthis, has reportedly been facing “its most intense combat since World War II” and has reacted by destroying three “small boats” whose crews attempted to board a container ship in the Red Sea; a fourth boat "fled the scene."
Responding to the Houthis was left to little Israel. Last week, its air force targeted Yemen’s port city of Hodeidah “in an attempt to prevent the ongoing delivery of weapons to the Houthi militia by Iran”.
Yet, not one senior US official – not US President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris nor Secretary of State Antony Blinken – bothered to greet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, “The Churchill of the Middle East”, at the airport when he landed this week in Washington, D.C. In an additional snub, Harris boycotted his speech to Congress.
The Trump Administration’s assassination of Qassem Soleimani, the head of Iran’s IRGC, led to a halt in Iranian provocations against the U.S. for the remainder of his presidency.
Given the growing threat posed by these developments, and especially Iran’s nuclear weapons program, it is imperative that the US take decisive steps to address the issue effectively before the situation further deteriorates into an even larger international crisis.
Comment:
A restored President Trump will take decisive steps.