Edward Helmore and David Smith
Joe Biden said on Saturday that the United States has sent a private message to Tehran that “we’re confident we’re well-prepared”, following a second night of US and British strikes against Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen.
Speaking to reporters on the White House lawn on Saturday morning, on his way from Washington to Camp David in Maryland, the US president declined to go into further detail and switched to answering questions about the Taiwan election.‘
His comments came after a fresh round of airstrikes hit a Houthi radar facility, raising further fears of a wider regional conflict. This came amid concerns about the world economy as well as security and civilian safety, and further backlash in the US from progressives in the Democratic party who have decried Biden’s executive decision to launch strikes on Yemen without seeking the backing of Congress.
In a statement from the US military, the US Central Command said the “follow-on action” early Saturday local time against a Houthi radar site was conducted by the Navy destroyer USS Carney using Tomahawk land attack missiles.
That came a day after strikes on Friday hit 28 locations and struck more than 60 targets; the US said the strikes were designed to “de-escalate tensions”.
The latest strike came after the US navy on Friday warned American-flagged vessels to steer clear of areas around Yemen in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden for the next 72 hours after the initial airstrikes. The Houthi leadership, who say they are acting in solidarity with Gaza and targeting Israeli-linked shipping, later vowed fierce retaliation across the Red Sea trade route.
“All American-British interests have become legitimate targets” following the strikes, the rebels’ supreme political council said on Friday.
At an emergency session of the United Nations security council on Friday in New York, the US ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield warned that no ship was safe from the Houthi threat in the Red Sea.
US military strategists warned Saturday that the so-called “triple-h” threat (Hamas-Houthi-Hezbollah) could require a significant increase in US military capabilities to protect US national security interests and military personnel in the region and support a commitment to freedom of navigation.
Retired Lt Gen David Deptula, now dean of the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies, told CNN that protecting business was “secondary” to the priority of security in the region.
But, he added: “The implications of the restrictions on shipping is having a significant impact already and that could reverse the downward trend in inflation and reverse it to going up.”
The US economy will be a central issue in the presidential election this November as Biden seeks a second term in the White House on the back of a relatively strong economy and an effective programme so far of reducing sky-high inflation.
After the US Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank and the Bank of England all held interest rates steady in mid-December and cautiously signaled that the fight to tamp down soaring prices may be coming to an end, the latest events in the Red Sea are causing fresh nerves.
Deptula warned that deterrence may not be possible by co-ercion alone and an international coalition “may need to completely destroy the Houthis’ means of power projection”.
Protests against the US-led airstrikes on 12 January 2024, in Sana’a, Yemen.
Oil prices have risen above $80 per barrel. Still, according to energy industry expert Ed Hirs, unless the conflict spreads to the point of directly affecting shipping through the strategic Strait of Hormuz, current tensions are unlikely to have a dramatic impact on oil prices.
“The impact is minimal on oil, it’s just a re-routing of the supply chain,” Hirs said. “The Red Sea doesn’t matter with oil because you can spend another 14 days and go around Africa.”
“The real issue is the strait of Hormuz,” Hirs added. “If you take 1% of supply off the market, you’ll see a 20%-25% price increase.”
Meanwhile, in an interview on MSNBC on Saturday, Pramila Jayapal, the chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, urged the Biden administration, on the airstrikes authorized by the government’s executive branch without the inclusion of the congressional branch: “Come explain it to Congress.”
Jayapal, a Democratic representative from Washington, said: “Let us have that conversation, because in my mind this is about how we protect our shipping routes but it is also about the war in Gaza and how do we make sure that does not expand?”
She added: “There are serious consequences here, and that is why I’ve been calling for a ceasefire because violence does beget violence, and we have to stop ourselves from getting pulled into these conflicts with more violence because it will have long-term ramifications. That is what happened in the Vietnam war, in other conflicts, and that is why in 1973 Congress said we are going to reassert our constitutional authority.”
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