Peloni: Trump has now linked the activity of Houthi aggression to the culpability of their masters in Tehran. The implications of this course correction in American foreign policy are enormous, making Iran directly responsible for their proxy attacks on Israel and the surrounding area should this policy be correctly extended to Iran’s other proxies as it should be.
By Andrea Widburg | Am Thinker | Mar 17, 2025
Things may be about to get interesting in the Middle East, and this time, it has nothing to do with Israel. Just a few hours ago, Trump published a warning to the Iranian mullahs that, unless they restrain the Houthis from firing on international shipping in the Red Sea and on American ships, they will pay a price.
It’s long been known that the Houthis, like Hezbollah and Hamas, are Iranian proxies. They allow Iran to control events in Lebanon, Israel, and Yemen, and by extension, in the nations and waterways surrounding those countries. The most colorful example of this lately was when the Iranian ambassador to Lebanon suffered serious injuries following Israel’s masterful pager attack against Hezbollah.
But what about the Houthis?
Beginning in November 2023, after Israel began its war against Hamas (an Iranian proxy), the Houthis began a war against commercial shipping in the Red Sea by firing Iranian-provided weapons at ships. This was not inconsequential. Just as the Barbary pirates were quite literally destroying world trade in the early 19th century, the Houthis were (and are) devastating shipping by drastically increasing costs, as ships are forced to circumnavigate the entire southern coast of Africa (again, a very 19th-century thing to have happen).
Biden responded with limited strikes against the sites from which the Houthi missiles had been fired and promised a few more strikes, even while he acknowledged they wouldn’t make a difference. Just a few months later, Europeans were complaining about how ineffectual Biden’s efforts were, with that weakness posing a threat to international shipping in the region.
Meanwhile, left-wing think tanks were busy assuring Americans that the Houthis were no big deal and they were most certainly not Iran.
Thus, the left-leaning Council on Foreign Relations (“CFR”) acknowledged that Iran has been funding the Houthis for around 15 years, but it carefully explained that the Houthis were more of a “willing partner” than a proxy. While the CFR waffled on about doctrinal differences and the fact that Iran didn’t actually found the Houthis, the facts it introduced reveal that this “willing partner” thing is a distinction without a difference.
The Houthis are a violent organization, not a nation, and they function because Iran makes it possible for them to do so: “Iran is the Houthis’ primary benefactor, providing them mostly with security assistance, such as weapons transfers, training, and intelligence support.”
Also, last year on Biden’s watch, Brookings, another leftist think tank, assured readers that the Houthis were not an Iranian proxy at all. That’s because the intemperate Houthis, “even though they benefit from Iranian support,” failed the proxy test because “Iran lacks control over Houthi behavior and the Houthis are not acting primarily on behalf of Iran.”
In fact, no Muslim proxies act primarily on behalf of their sponsor states. Instead, they act to advance their regional interests, which coincide with the interests of their sponsor state. In addition, all of them share a vision of a global caliphate. While Iran is Shia and some of the proxies are Sunni, they will fight together today against the West, Christians, and Jews, and fight over the spoils later.
As for control—well, he who pays the piper calls the tune. If Iran pulls the plug on their money and weapons, the Houthis will become a band of 18th-century pirates rather than a genuine threat with sophisticated weapons.
The whole “the Houthis aren’t Iran” narrative was intended to protect American from viewing Biden’s inaction as part of his (and Obama’s) pro-Iran policies.
Things are different with Trump. Over the weekend, Trump didn’t slap the Houthis around a little. Instead, he launched a full assault against them:
President Trump unleashed “hell” on Iranian-backed Houthis on Saturday, striking dozens of targets in Yemen in response to the terror group’s attacks on Red Sea shipping.
“Today, I have ordered the United States Military to launch decisive and powerful Military action against the Houthi terrorists in Yemen,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post announcing the strikes.
“They have waged an unrelenting campaign of piracy, violence, and terrorism against American, and other, ships, aircraft, and drones,” he continued.
In the same post Truth Social post announcing the strike, Trump told the Houthis that if they did not stop their attacks on the shipping lanes, “Hell will rain down upon you like nothing you have ever seen before.”
The Houthis retaliated by firing at American ships:
Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels claimed on Monday to have twice attacked an American aircraft carrier group within 24 hours, calling it retaliation for deadly US strikes.
The Houthis initially said they launched 18 missiles and a drone at the “aircraft carrier USS Harry Truman and its accompanying warships” in the Red Sea, then hours later claimed to have fired a second round.
[snip]
According to a US official speaking on condition of anonymity, the Houthis did fire drones and at least one missile in the first claimed attack. The official said that beginning at about midnight Saturday-Sunday local time in Yemen, the Houthis fired 11 drones and at least one missile over about 12 hours. Ten of the drones were intercepted by US Air Force fighter jets and one was intercepted by a Navy F/A-18 fighter jet. The missile fell into the water far from the ship, and nothing came close to hitting either the carrier or the warships in its strike group.
The Houthis misread Trump. He will not treat the attack as too inconsequential to merit a response. Instead, Trump fully understands that if you allow ongoing attacks, they will increase in frequency and intensity. (Think of it as the geopolitical version of “broken windows policing.”) Additionally, he knows that these attacks, because Iran is their sponsor, mean that Iran is testing American resolve.
It turns out that, under President Trump, America is resolved:
If you notice the repetition of the word “shot” in the last two sentences, understand that what Trump did was fire a shot over the bow of the Iranian ship of state. Well, not just a shot—it was a cruise missile.
Trump is banking on the fact that the last thing Iran wants is a war (hence its heavy reliance on proxies). He also believes that if Iran finds itself in a war, not only will America under Trump quickly defeat it, but the long-suffering Iranian people will rise up and destroy the mullahs.
So yes, things just got interesting in the Middle East, although I’m surprisingly un-worried about a potential Armageddon. I think Trump’s got the right read on this one, and all will be well.
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