The Middle East in Flux...

"Clearly, the Houthi actions, probably in terms of their attacks on merchant shipping, are the most significant that we've seen in two generations."

"The facts simply are that they're attacking the international community; thus the international response I think you've seen."

"[Iran is] very directly involved in the Yemen Houthi terrorist ship attacks in response to Israel's conflict with Hamas]."

Vice Admiral Brad Cooper, head, US. Navy 5th Fleet 

U.S. Navy Vice Adm. Brad Cooper, who heads the Navy's Bahrain-based 5th Fleet, speaks at an event at the International Defense Exhibition and Conference in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, Feb. 21, 2023. Iran is "very directly involved" in attacks by Yemen's Houthi rebels on shipping over Israel's war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip, Cooper told The Associated Press on Monday, Jan. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Jon Gambrell)

 

While stopping just short of stating that the Houthi attacks in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden have been directed by the Islamic Republic of Iran, Vice Admiral Cooper did commit to acknowledging that the attacks with their Iran associations have been expanding. Previously they threatened just the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz across the wider Middle East. In years previous, it was the IRGC speedboats that were conducting lightning strikes against marine traffic; now less is seen of Iranian direct attacks; it seems their proxy Houthis have been delegated to continue the high seas piracy.

 

At least 34 attacks on shipping have been perpetrated through waterways leading to Egypt's Suez Canal -- a vital shipping route for energy and cargo from Asia and the Middle East -- on to Europe have been launched by Iran-backed Houthis. The Houthis are a Shiite group that since 2014 ousted the elected, Western- and Saudi-backed government from the capital Sanaa. The Houthis now use Sanaa as their capital, while the official government has been in exile. 

Saudi Arabia has led a coalition of other Sunni states in support of the exiled Yemenite government, but the Houthis have been able to repel their offensives, to this date. In response, there have been Houthi assaults against Saudi Arabia, targeting its oil fields. Egypt, suffering an acute downturn in its economy, heavily relies on its income from shipping through the Suez Canal, and the recent Houthi strikes against international mercantile shipping has hit the Egyptian economy at a particularly sensitive juncture

 

Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen publish a video showing how the group hijacked an Israeli-linked shipping vessel in the Red Sea on November 20, 2023. (Screen capture/X)

The US coalition launched seven rounds of airstrikes on Houthi military sites in recent days. Airbases under rebel control and suspected missile launch sites were the targets. Houthi attacks on shipping since the counterattacks, appear to have decelerated with increased naval patrols by the U.S. and its allies in the region. Risks for the global economy remain high while marine traffic chooses to bypass their  usual routes for longer journeys around the southern tip of Africa.

 

The threat to shipping focused primarily around the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz, its narrow mouth, through which a fifth of all oil in trade passes, when Vice Admiral Cooper took command in 2021 of the U.S. 5th Fleet. That was when a series of attacks were carried out by Iran with ship seizures followed the collapse of Iran's nuclear agreement with world powers. For the time being, Iran has not directly involved itself in conflict either with Israel or the U.S. since October 7's Hamas atrocities in Israel. 

Iran seems to have taken out its frustration, oddly enough, on its neighbour Pakistan, which retaliated in a counter-strike, and Iraq and Syria, which have also been targeted by Iran in surprise strikes on its relatively collegial neighbours and political Islamist acolytes.

Yemenis in Houthi-controlled territory brandishing their guns chant slogans during a march in solidarity with the people of Gaza, in the capital Sanaa on December 15, 2023. (MOHAMMED HUWAIS / AFP)