Houthis Intensify Attacks In Red Sea As US Ponders Its Next Move
A commercial ship hit by Iran-backed Houthis on Monday has created an oil slick of almost 30 km in the Red Sea as it struggles to stay afloat despite damages.
A commercial ship hit by Iran-backed Houthis on Monday has created an oil slick of almost 30 km in the Red Sea as it struggles to stay afloat despite damages.
The UK-owned Belize-flagged vessel, Rubymar, is “anchored but slowly taking on water,” according to the US military. It is carrying “over 41,000 tons of fertilizer,” which makes it a huge floating hazard, since a potential spillage could worsen the “environmental disaster” caused by the vast oil slick.
“The Houthis continue to demonstrate disregard for the regional impact of their indiscriminate attacks, threatening the fishing industry, coastal communities, and imports of food supplies,” read the statement by CENTCOM.
The Houthis, armed by Iran, have targeted dozens of ships since last November, hitting at least 20 and scaring away many more. They say their attacks are solely in support of Palestinians and in response to Israel’s onslaught on Gaza. However, in recent days, they have officially added British and American ships to their list of “legitimate” targets. The Houthi attacks began days after Iran's ruler Ali Khamenei called on Muslim nations to blockade Israel.
The two countries launched a joint operation against the Houthis on January 11, hitting dozens of targets in three rounds of airstrikes –the last of which took place this week. But neither the joint operation nor the near-daily, unilateral attacks by the US military have succeeded in stopping the Houthis.
President Biden and his team seem to be struggling to find the appropriate response, perhaps because they are reluctant to confront Iran’s Revolutionary Guards IRGC), which arms, trains and is even present on the ground, “serving side by side” Houthi forces.
“We know that the Houthis maintain a large arsenal,” Pentagon’s deputy press secretary Sabrina Singh told reporters Thursday, hours after yet another ship was hit by Houthis. “They are very capable, they have sophisticated weapons, and that’s because they continue to get them from Iran.”
Iranian officials have never denied their support for the Houthis, but they say they have no operational control over the group. Some experts suggest, however, that the Houthis rely on Iran for picking their targets. The information required for such operations, they say, is gathered by the IRGC, and by the spy ship Behshad, in particular.
Curiously, the number of Houthi attacks in the Red Sea has sharply risen in the past few days, coinciding with Behshad’s return to duty after 17 days docking at Djibouti port near a Chinese military base on shore. More Houthi attacks have been recorded in the last few days than in the previous 3 weeks combined.
The Biden administration issued a statement Wednesday, “condemning” the Houthis’ “reckless and indiscriminate” attack on commercial vessels in the Red Sea. “The Houthis are behaving like a terrorist organization,” the statement read, “and contrary to what the Houthis may attempt to claim, their attacks do nothing to help the Palestinians.”
Strong words aside, the administration’s plan for stopping the Houthis is unclear. A CNN report Friday suggested that “the group is continuing to fortify its weapons stockpile inside Yemen,” quoting a US official speaking on condition of anonymity.
US forces in the region have stopped some Iranian weapons getting to Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen, but some shipments have surely slipped through the net –and more will almost certainly do so, as long as the regime in Tehran sees no harm in trying,
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Entekhab website on Wednesday quoted Hassan Ameli, a member of the Assembly of Experts that Raisi is one of the members of a committee of three appointed by Khamenei to determine his successor. Ameli said that he himself is also on the committee. Earlier, Rahim Tavakol, another Assembly member had revealed his membership in the committee.
This suggests Khamenei's confidence in Raisi's victory in the upcoming March 1 Assembly of Experts election. Raisi, the sole candidate from South Khorasan Province until last week, now faces a second candidate, for the sake of formality.
The new candidate, Hassan Rouhbakhsh has told the press in Iran that he has no intention of competing with Raisi, and that he has taken part in the election to end the embarrassing situation for Raisi and to thank the Islamic Republic for all that it has given to him during the past years.
All signs indicate that Raisi is leading the succession committee, as the other two clerics have remained relatively unknown to the public and media, except for the few thousand locals who elected them to the Assembly. Ameli, in his interview with Entekhab, disclosed that during committee meetings, Khamenei issues orders and provides advice to Raisi.
What remains unclear is the role of the remaining 85 members of the Assembly of Experts if the committee of three is tasked with "finding" the successor to the Islamic Republic's leadership. Neither Khamenei nor the committee has provided an explanation for this matter. The Assembly has the constitutional task of selecting a Supreme Leader.
Ameli emphasized that the committee's "sensitive task" makes it the most crucial committee within the Assembly of Experts. Several years ago, Ayatollah Mohsen Araki, who initially revealed the existence of the succession committee, stated that due to the sensitive nature of their mission, the committee's members remain unknown to the rest of the Assembly.
Other members of the Assembly of Experts typically refrain from discussing the issue with the media, likely because they have limited knowledge about it. Those who do comment often make humorous or bizarre remarks.
Ahmad Beheshti, a cleric from Fars Province in the Assembly, expressed his desire for Khamenei's long life in a recent interview. He hoped that Khamenei's extended tenure would obviate the need for the Assembly to select another leader.
Another member of the Assembly expressed a different perspective, stating his wish for the Shiite hidden Imam to emerge after some 15 centuries of occultation and assume leadership, thus eliminating the need for a successor to Khamenei. Behesti also expressed hope for an uneventful tenure during both the current and future rounds of the Assembly. Reflecting on his 15-year tenure as an AoE member, he mentioned that he has consistently prayed that circumstances would not require the consideration of a replacement for Khamenei.
While the personality cult gives him the likeness of a divine status among his supporters, and Assembly members often deny that part of their responsibility is to keep checks and balances on Khamenei's performance, Mahmoud Mohammadi Araghi, a member of the Assembly, has claimed that unlike other countries, the Iranian people can take the leader to court if necessary.
This comes while many in Iran, including former regime insider Abolfazl Ghadiani say they will not take part in the March 1 parliamentary and Assembly of Experts elections and will encourage others to do likewise.