Amidst the unpredictable arc of crisis shadowing the Middle East, the systemic and sustained merchant shipping attacks in the Red Sea persist. The culprits are a shadowy but lethal Iranian proxy force, the Houthis, who use their control of mountainous parts of the Yemeni coast to launch missile, drone and speedboat attacks on vital shipping lanes connecting the Mediterranean with the Gulf of Aden.
Though the assaults started in 2023 in solidarity with the Hamas terror onslaught against Israel, the Houthi militants have widened their lens to attack unarmed merchant ships and US Navy protection vessels. Last week, Houthi cruise missiles and drones were unsuccessfully fired at the US aircraft carrier USS Harry S Truman, underscoring the expanding scope of the conflict.
The Red Sea remains a maritime bottleneck for shipping. Between Suez in the north and the Bab el-Mandab channel in the south, the waterway passes six countries: Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Eritrea, Djibouti, and Yemen. Three of these states are unstable, yet the lawless Yemeni coast in the southern region poses the current maritime threat.
The Houthis have targeted dozens of merchant ships with missiles, drones and small boat attacks in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. They have sunk two vessels, seized a third, and killed four crew members. Recently, they unsuccessfully fired four ballistic missiles at Israel.
But beyond the international right of freedom of the seas, there is yet another often overlooked issue facing merchant shipping: skyrocketing insurance costs, covering the potential loss or damage to vessels transiting the Red Sea, resulting in higher costs. Many ships now reroute around the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa, thus adding two weeks to a typical voyage, not to mention the higher fuel, crew, and delivery time expenditure. Costs are borne by consumers.
Inexplicably, the Iranian-backed Houthis, officially known as Ansar Allah, were dropped from being designated as a foreign terrorist organisation by the Biden administration. Since then, they have been quickly reinstated by President Donald Trump. The Houthis are a Muslim Shia minority, thus the mutual attraction to Islamic Iran. In contrast, Yemen's embattled central government is largely Sunni Muslim and backed by Saudi Arabia and Egypt.
Mr Trump has warned that the Islamic Republic of Iran shall face "dire" consequences if its Houthi proxy forces continue to attack international shipping lanes.
Yemen remains a divided state. The Houthis comprise a potent Islamic fundamentalist faction who first ousted the government in 2014 and since proceeded to control about half the country, wracked by conflict and widening famine. The Saudis support the internationally recognised government in Aden, adding to this complex geopolitical puzzle in this historically lawless and unstable land.
Now, the United States has decisively played its military cards to confront the Houthi insurgents' capacity to attack international shipping. Yet, the Trump administration has little interest in wading into the complex political and tribal quagmire which has beset Yemen for decades.
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth stated succinctly on Fox News, "I want to be very clear, this campaign is about freedom of navigation and restoring deterrence."
Massive American retaliatory airstrikes on Houthi targets aim to pressure the terrorists into ending their attacks on Red Sea shipping. The Houthis, in the meantime, staged large-scale and theatrical anti-American demonstrations in their capital, Sana'a, warning Washington and threatening Jerusalem that they will pay the price.
The Pentagon reported it hit 30 Houthi targets during its ongoing campaign in Yemen and warned it will deploy" overwhelming lethal force" to "restore freedom of navigation" in the Red Sea and adjoining Gulf of Aden.
Mr Hegseth proclaimed, "An era of peace through strength is back; The minute the Houthis say 'we'll stop shooting at your ships, we'll stop shooting at your drones,' this campaign will end. But until then, it will be unrelenting."
Nonetheless, the US Navy is spread too thin, with only 295 active ships for a widening global mission.
"Funded by Iran, the Houthi thugs have fired missiles at US aircraft, and targeted our troops and allies," Mr Trump said on social media on March 16, adding that their "piracy, violence, and terrorism" had cost "billions" and placed lives at risk.
Strategically, the crux remains enforcing the freedom of the seas; safe and secure maritime lanes of communication, not US interference in Yemen's complex domestic affairs.
John J Metzler is a United Nations correspondent covering diplomatic and defence issues. He is the author of 'Divided Dynamism: the Diplomacy of Separated Nations; Germany, Korea, China'.
