Firing seven Iranian-made guided missiles at Saudi ArabiaN cities, Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels retaliated for the ongoing war by 32-year-old Saudi Defense Minister Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Killing an Egyptian and wounding two Saudis today, Houthi rebels upped the anti in Saudi’s March 26, 2015Yemen campaign AKA Operation Decisive Action or Operation Restoring hope. Battling to rid Iranian infiltration into the Arabian Peninsula, Bin Salman’s determined to keep Iranian-backed Houthi rebels from a permanent base in Yemen. Yemen was once home to notorious Saudi terrorist Osama bin Laden and his chief follower, New Mexico-born Anwar al-Awlaki, responsible for recruiting and converting countless numbers of al-Qaeda suicide bombers around the globe. Iranian-backed Houthis represent and existential threat to The Kingdom.
Picking 69-year-old former U.N. Amb. John Bolton to replace Gen. H.R. McMaster, 71-year-old Donald Trump knows that something must be done with Iranian influence in the Middle East and North Africa. Letting Iran feed missiles to Yemen’s Houthi rebels presents a clear-and-present danger to Saudi Arabia, prompting a decisive military response by Bin Salman. While bogged down in Yemen with no end it sight, Riyadh calls the on U.S. to apply more leverage on Iran, especially with respect to the 2015 Iranian Nuke Deal. With more Iranian interference in Yemen, Trump and Bolton will be more inclined to back out of the U.N.’s multilateral agreement AKA the July 14, 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action AKA the Iranian Nuke Deal. Firing three missiles today at Riyadh, Khamis Mushait, Jizan and Najran, Iran-backed Houthi rebels escalated the conflict.
Escalating the rocket war against Saudi Arabia, Tehran hopes to get Bin Salman to accept Houthi rebels control of Aden and Sanaa, Yemen’s port and capital. “This aggressive and hostile action by the Iran-backed Houthi group proves that the Iranian regime continues to support the armed group with military capabilities,” Saudi spokesman Turki al-Malki. U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis urged Riyadh last week to deescalate the conflict in Yemen only to see the Houthis get more brazen. Firing missiles last year at Riyadh International Airport, the Houthis sent a warning shot to Bin Salman to deescalate or face a quagmire. “The firing of multiple ballistic missiles toward cities is a serious development,” said al-Malki but having zero clout on Tehran to stop supplying Houthis lethal offensive weapons. U.S. officials have little clout on Tehran to stop meddling in Yemen.
Bin Salman’s been telling U.S. officials that Iran has overstepped its boundaries in the Yemen conflict. More than battling Saudi Arabia, Iran’s Yemen involvement indirectly engages the U.S. in a new proxy war. Former President Barack Obama backed the Saudi proxy war for six years in Syria, indirectly pitting the U.S. against Russia and Iran. Supplying Iranian-backed Houthis is the best way to retaliate against the U.S., since there’s little the U.S. can do to stop the war. With all of Trump’s talk of backing out of the 2015 Iranian Nuke Deal, Iran has nothing to lose backing the Houthis in Yemen. Creating a new front for the U.S. in Yemen has the blessing of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who, above all else, has shown a willingness to weaken U.S. foreign policy in the region. Firing ballistic missiles at Saudi targets directly attacks U.S. clout in the region.
Iranian-backed Houthi on The Kingdom won’t sit well with incoming National Security Adviser John Bolton. Bolton sees eye-to-eye with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who sees Iran as the region’s biggest state sponsor of terror. Netanyahu urged Trump March 5 to back out the Iranian Nuke Deal to slap Tehran with new economic sanctions. European Union, Russia and China back the P5+1 [U.S., U.K, France, Russia, China and Germany] deal because it gets Iran to suspend its uranium enrichment program for 10 years. Netanyahu has pointed out that Obama’s Iranian Nuke Deal fails to enforce intrusive inspections, giving Iran plenty of room to cheat. Trump thinks canceling the deal would give the U.S. more leverage against Iran’s nuke and ballistic missile programs. Putting pressure on Saudi Arabia to deescalate the war in Yemen give Iran more clout.
Saudi’s Defense Minister Mohammed bin Salman has no intent of ceding more clout to Iran in the Mideast and North Africa. Bolton won’t abandon Saudi Arabia when he sees Iran and Russian gaining more clout in Syria, the Mideast and North Africa. Houthi’s rebel chief Abdelmalik al-Huthi has no intention of ceding back territory to Yemen’s Saudi-backed government. As long as Iran supplies al-Huthi ballistic missiles, there’s no let up in Huthi’s control of Sanaa and Aden, Yemen’s most strategic cities. With some 8.6 million people faced with famine due to the Saudi blockade, U.N. officials want an end to the Yemen War. Yet no one at the U.N. is willing to confront Iran and Russia, both backing the Houthi revolution. As long a Tehran projects power in Yemen, neither Saudi Arabia nor the U.S. will give up. Tehran has paid no price for fueling the Houthi’s civil war.
