House Intelligence Chairman Mike Turner (R-OH) pointed out that the Biden administration’s response to Iran’s role in escalating hostilities in the Middle East has been “very timid.”
During an appearance on ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday, Turner emphasized the significance of President Joe Biden’s administration’s lack of response to the Houthi escalation in the region.
“This really, though, is the – is the Iran issue. I mean the Houthis, Hezbollah, Hamas are all, you know, satellites funded, trained by Iran itself. This administration has been very timid in responding to escalation by Iran,” he stated.
The congressman, who has access to some sensitive national security information of the United States went further, saying “And in order to be able to address this, they’re going to have to look at operations into Yemen where the capabilities are resonant, where Iran continues to reload them as they attack commercial shipping areas and put at risk U.S. military.”
Turner’s remarks come after boats belonging to Iranian-backed Houthi rebels attacked another merchant ship in the Red Sea over the weekend, a move the U.S. Navy responded to by destroying three of the small boats involved.
Per Daily Wire, Houthi rebels have posed a huge threat to merchant ships heading toward Israel as a way of showing solidarity with Palestinians whose leaders Hamas Israel is engaged in a fight with.
Since the deadly attack Hamas carried out on Israeli soil in Oct. 3 and the retaliatory attacks that followed, Houthis reportedly warned merchant ships not to head toward Israel.
Despite efforts by the U.S. Department of Defense to quell the situation with the multinational Operation Prosperity Guardian which will potentially protect ships in the Red Sea, there are reasons to believe that the attacks will not be stopping anytime soon, as pointed out by Vice Adm. Brad Cooper, the top commander of U.S. naval forces in the Middle East.
“We are cleareyed that the Houthi reckless attacks will likely continue,” he stated during an interview with AP News.
