By John J. Metzler, March 24, 2025Amidst the unpredictable arc of crisis shadowing the Middle East persists the systemic and sustained merchant shipping attacks in the Red Sea. The culprits are a shadowy but lethal Iranian proxy force, the Houthis, who use their control of mountainous parts of the Yemeni coast to launch missile, drone and speedboat attacks on vital shipping lanes connecting the Mediterranean with the Gulf of Aden.
Though the assaults started in 2023 in solidarity with the Hamas terror onslaught against Israel, the Houthi militants have widened their lens to attack unarmed merchant ships and U.S. Navy protection vessels.
Recently Houthi cruise missiles and drones were unsuccessfully fired at the U.S. Aircraft Carrier Harry Truman, underlying the expanding scope of the conflict.
The Red Sea remains a maritime bottleneck for shipping; between Suez in the North and the Bab al-Mandab channel in the south the waterway passes six countries Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Eritrea, Djibouti and Yemen. Three of these states are unstable; Yet it’s the lawless Yemeni coast in the southern region that poses the current maritime threat.
The Houthis have targeted dozens of merchant ships with missiles, drones and small boat attacks in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. They have sunk two vessels, seized a third, and killed four crew members. Recently they unsuccessfully fired four ballistic missiles at Israel.
But beyond the international right of freedom of the seas, brings yet another often overlooked issue facing merchant shipping; skyrocketing insurance costs, covering the potential loss or damage to vessels transiting the Red Sea resulting in higher costs. Many ships now re-route round the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa, thus adding two weeks to a typical voyage not to mention the higher fuel, crew expense and delivery time expenditure. Costs are borne by consumers.
Inexplicably the Iranian-backed Houthis, officially known as Ansar Allah, were dropped from being designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization by the Biden Administration. They were since quickly reinstated by President Donald Trump.
The Houthis are a Muslim Shiite minority thus the mutual attraction by Islamic Iran. In contrast, Yemen’s embattled central government is largely Sunni Muslim and backed by Saudi Arabia and Egypt.
President Trump has warned that the Islamic Republic of Iran shall face “dire” consequences if its Houthis proxy forces continue to attack international shipping lanes.
Yemen remains a divided state. Clearly the Houthis comprise a potent Islamic fundamentalist faction who first ousted the government in 2014 and since proceeded to control about half the country wracked by conflict and widening famine. The Saudi Arabians support the internationally recognized government in Aden, adding to this complex geopolitical puzzle in this historically lawless and unstable land.
Now the United States has decisively played its military cards to confront the Houthi insurgent capacity to attack international shipping; Yet the Trump Administration has little interest in wading into the complex political and tribal quagmire which has beset Yemen for decades.
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth stated succinctly on FOX News, “I want to be very clear; This campaign is about freedom of navigation and restoring deterrence.”
Massive American retaliatory airstrikes on Houthi targets aim to pressure the terrorists into ending their attacks on Red Sea shipping. The Houthis in the meantime staged large scale and theatrical anti-American demonstrations in their capital Sanaa warning Washington and threatening Jerusalem that they will pay the price.
The Pentagon reported it hit 30 Houthi targets during its ongoing campaign in Yemen and warned it will deploy “overwhelming lethal force” to “restore freedom of navigation” in the Red Sea and adjoining Gulf of Aden.
Secretary of Defense Hegseth proclaimed, “An era of PEACE THROUGH STRENGTH is back; The minute the Houthis say, ‘we’ll stop shooting at your ships, we’ll stop shooting at your drones,’ this campaign will end. But until then, it will be un-relenting.”
Related: Gulf states watching: Trump aims to secure U.S. shipping in first major military action, March 18, 2025
Currently the Harry S. Truman Carrier Strike Group is stationed in the Red Sea as part of the U.S. participation in Operation Prosperity Guardian which includes the Cruiser Gettysburg and three Destroyers.
Nonetheless the U.S. Navy is spread too thin with only 295 active ships for a widening global mission.
“Funded by Iran, the Houthi thugs have fired missiles at US aircraft, and targeted our Troops and Allies,” Trump said on social media, adding that their “piracy, violence, and terrorism” had cost “billions” and placed lives at risk.
Strategically the crux of the matter remains enforcing the freedom of the seas; Safe and secure maritime lanes of communication, not U.S. interference in Yemen’s complex domestic affairs.
John J. Metzler is a United Nations correspondent covering diplomatic and defense issues. He is the author of Divided Dynamism the Diplomacy of Separated Nations: Germany, Korea, China (2014). [See pre-2011 Archives]
