The language being used by Biden administration is interesting.
“Iran is a primary – if not the primary – enabler or supporter, sponsor of the Houthis and Iran has been involved operationally in the conduct of these attacks,” a Biden administration official said.
They don’t talk about Iran directing the attacks against shipping or US military in the region in the way that they might have done not long ago.
They talk about Iran being the “enabler” rather than the puppet master. And that’s because they know that the “Iranian proxies” in the Middle East are no longer puppets.
Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen, and Hamas in Gaza – all are established forces making strategic decisions, aligned with Iranian ideology of course and with Iranian-made weapons, but driven by their own ambitions.
The way in which Israel has chosen to conduct its retaliation for the 7 October attacks – with more than 20,000 Gazans dead in three months – has given these growing regional non-state powers new focus and an old cause refreshed to rally around.
It’s unifying too for groups known to compete and squabble.
The Houthis have claimed their attacks on shipping are in solidarity with the Palestinian cause.
Protests against Western strikes in Yemen
They frame it as an international shipping lane-based protest against what they call a genocide.
Of course, the Houthis have their own internal ambitions and punching western noses plays into that.
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