Iran is “very directly involved” in the attacks on ships carried out by Yemen’s Houthi rebels, the United States (U.S.) Navy’s top Mideast commander said on Monday.
Vice Admiral Brad Cooper, commander of the Navy’s 5th Fleet, did not say that Tehran directed individual attacks in the Red Sea. However, Cooper acknowledged that Iran-linked attacks have expanded from threatening only the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz to waters across the Middle East.
“Clearly the Houthi actions are the most significant we have seen in two generations. The facts are simply that they are attacking the international community; therefore, I think you have seen an international response,” he said in an interview.
Iran’s mission to the United Nations (UN) did not respond to a request for comment on Cooper’s remarks. Houthi leadership in Yemen’s capital, Sana’a, could not be reached.
When Cooper took command of the 5th Fleet in 2021, the threat to shipping focused primarily around the Persian Gulf and its narrow entrance, the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of all oil trade passes.
In an interview, the Navy commander acknowledged Iran’s supremacy of sorts, saying that the “threat exists” from the Red Sea to the far reaches of the Indian Ocean. The U.S. has blamed Iran for recent drone attacks on ships, and a U.S.-owned cargo ship was attacked in the Gulf of Aden last week.
So far, Iran has not been directly involved in the fight against Israel or the U.S. since the beginning of the Gaza war on October 7th. However, Cooper claims that Iran directly encouraged the Houthi attacks on the ships.
“What I will say is that Iran is clearly funding, resourcing, supplying, and training. They are clearly very directly involved. There is no secret,” Cooper said.
U.S. forces this month seized Iranian-made missile parts and other weapons from a ship sailing for the Houthis in a raid that left two Navy SEALs missing.
Cooper’s command is scheduled to end in February with the arrival of Rear Admiral George Wikoff in Bahrain. He noted that the Navy and merchant shippers still face a serious threat from the Houthis as he prepares to depart.
”What we need is a Houthi decision to stop attacking international merchant ships. Period,” Cooper concluded, Klix.ba reports.
E.Dz.
