PHILADELPHIA.–Iran’s Tasmin news agency announced the Islamic Republic of Iran was deploying its Alborz warship to the Red Sea in response to the U.S. neutralizing two Yemen Houthi swift boats firing on tankers traveling through the Red Sea. Houthi officials claim attacks on neutral shipping the Red Sea was a sign to solidarity with Palestinians in their ongoing battle with Israel in the Gaza Strip. Israel declared War on Hamas after an unprovoked Oct. 7, 2023 cross-border attack by Hamas terrorists slaughtered 1,200 Israelis and seizing 260 hostages. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised the war in Gaza would not end until Hamas was destroyed or driven from the Gaza Strip. Not one U.N. country has demanded Hamas leave Gaza despite the reckless war that’s seen Gaza decimated with 1.9 million or its 2.3 million population displaced.
Iran funds what it calls the “axis of resistance,” Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon, Kataib Hezbollah in Iraq and Syria, all fighting to destroy Israel. Hamas acted Oct. 7 in coordination with Iran to complete the stated goal of destroying the Jewish State. Israel declared independence in 1948, recognized as a U.N. sovereign state in 1949. In 1947, the British Mandate of Palestinian, U.K. received at the Treaty of Sevres in 1920, was given to Jews in Holy Land, fighting a bloody war of independence, eventually declaring sovereignty. Arabs living in the Holy Land were under Ottoman and British rule for over 500 years, yet once Israel took over sovereignty, Palestinians fought the new Israeli state in a series of wars and uprisings, all culminating in the 1967 Six Day War. Israel defeated Palestinians led by Yasser Arafat and six other Araba States.
Since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomenei made his propaganda message as destroying Zionists, rallying Sunni Araa states to the Palestinian cause. Khomenei’s successor Ayatollah Ali Khamenei took Khomenei’s propaganda war to a new level forming the “axis of resistance.” Khomenei used the anti-Zionist message as a rallying call in the Sunni Arab world, including Palestine, to rally Sunnis behind his anti-Israel message. But it didn’t take long for Khamenei to turn his “axis of resistance” against Saudi Arabia, fighting a bloody civil war against The Kingdom from 2015. Iran’s Houthi proxy group attacked Saud Arabia relentlessly since them, destroying the Saudi International Airport and Aramco oil refineries. Sending a warship to the Red Sea, Iran seeks to protect its naval assets embedded in the Houthi proxy forces.
President Joe Biden, 81, has not figured out how to stop Houthi attacks against U.S. naval forces and allies in the Persian Gulf, Gulf of Oman and Red Sea. Iran’s Alborz is an Alvand class destroyer that has been deployed in the Red Sea and Eastern Mediterranean since 2015, apparently used by Iran after the Pentagon announced the return of the Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group was redeployed from the Eastern Mediterranean to itss base in Norfolk, Virginia. Both the Gerald R. Ford and Dwight D. Eisenhower carrier strike group were deployed the Eastern Mediterranean since the Oct. 7, 2023 Iraeli-Hamas War in Gaza. Iran looks in retaliatory mode since the USS Gerald R. Ford strike group sunk two Houthi swift boats Dec. 31, 2023 in the Red Sea. Iran’s Tasmin News Agency said it deployed the Aborz destroyed to assure freedom of navigation in the Red Sea.
Biden has been reluctant to attack Iran directly for funding proxy forces to further its goal of destroying Israel. Iran funds Hamas, Hezbollah and Ketaib Hezbollah for the intent of aiding the destruction of Israel. It’s an illusion to keep the anti-Zionist rhetoric going with Mideast States hoping that another legitimate Arab State would join Iran’s “axis of resistance.” In reality, every Arab Stata in the region knows the risks of attacking Israel, realizing that to do so would risk destruction of their own states. Araba states have ignored Iran’s anti-Zionist rhetoric knowing the consequences of going to war against Israel. Iran choses to spew the anti-Zionist propaganda for its own purposes to command a proxy army to attack primarily U.S. and Israeli targets. Saudi Arabia Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman found out the hard what happens when you defy Tehran, a Houthi proxy war against the Kingdom.
Biden still has the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower Carrier Strike Force in proximity to the Red Sea, Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman. Pentagon officials know the risks in Gulf of Aden when Al-Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden struck the USS Cole Oct. 12, 2000, killing 17 U.S. sailors. While Al-Qaeda is no longer a factor, Iran and its proxies are a real threat to U.S. and allied navigation in the Mideast and Horn of Africa. Unless Biden takes on Iran directly, the U.S. and its allies can expect attacks on commercial navigation to go unabated. Former U.S. President Bill Clinton found out what happens with throw-away missile attacks at terrorist targets, nothing. Sept. 11, 2011 didn’t happen that long after the Cole incident and there’s no reason to think that it won’t happen again, this time with Iran. Biden fiddles while the Ayatollah plots his next attack on U.S. interests.
About the Author
John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.
