Yemen’s Iranian-affiliated Houthi rebels struck again this weekend, launching drone and missile attacks on two Saudi oil facilities. It was the last sign that President Joe Biden’s attempts to keep Tehran’s pawns in check are not working.
This is actually the second attack by an Iran-trained militia since Biden launched air strikes on a group in Syria in late February – an action the government said was intended to deter attacks, especially on US forces in Iraq.
The Biden attack (one of two planned, the other called off at the last minute due to concerns about possible civilian casualties) was in response to a February 15 missile attack on a US military base in Northern Iraq that involved a contractor and others injured.
Undeterred by Biden’s response, another puppet militia from Tehran fired 10 missiles on March 3 at Ain al-Asad Air Force Base in western Iraq, which is home to approximately 2,000 US troops. There were no fatalities, but Washington has yet to respond.
And now the challenges are growing, with Sunday’s attack on the Saudis, which Riyadh claimed caused no damage or casualties. But it targeted petroleum tanks in Ras Tanura harbor and a residential area in Aramco – the last in years of Houthi potshots with more than 500 drone strikes and more than 300 missile strikes.
Of course, Iran and his followers may think Biden will accept attacks on the Saudis as he has drawn direct US military backing for their anti-Houthi coalition in the bloody war in Yemen.
In addition, Washington released an old intelligence report last month claiming that Saudi Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman explicitly approved the murder of Saudi emigrant journalist Jamal Khashoggi in October 2018. Since the report had only circumstantial evidence, the world read that as another Team Biden sign that Riyadh is over.
Meanwhile, the Bidenites are practically begging Iran to begin talks about reopening Obama’s nuclear deal. Washington endlessly ignored Iranian-sponsored violence while originally negotiating that deal; No doubt Iran’s rulers expect to be given the same leeway now, as Biden has largely already done so.
In short, a single, half-hearted attack on Iranian pawns will do nothing. Rather than playing games with calibrated power, Biden must use his imagination, as Team Trump did when taking out Tehran’s terror chief General Qassem Soleimani in January 2020.
On the other hand, Biden’s current top advisers then warned that the Trump attack could start a regional war, just as they insisted that moving the US embassy in Israel to Jerusalem would cause disaster.
They turned out to be totally wrong on both counts, but Biden’s feeble approach to the Middle East conflict suggests they have learned nothing.