Recent intelligence gathered by the U.S. and other Western countries indicates Iran-backed Houthi rebels are seeking more weapons from Tehran, raising concerns that the militant group is determined to continue attacks on shipping in the Red Sea and threatening a wider conflict in the Middle East.
Navy SEALs intercepted one weapons shipment bound for the Houthis this month in a daring nighttime raid, seizing a small boat carrying Iranian-made cruise and ballistic missile components. The mission came at a high cost: two Navy SEALs went missing while attempting to board the boat. The military called off its search for them on Sunday.
Tehran’s three objectives are: preservation of the regime, destruction of Israel, and ending the U.S. presence in the region, McKenzie said. “Based on that, they do not seek large-scale war with the United States because they know the regime would be threatened by it,” he said. Ultimately, U.S. officials are hoping Iran will decide the Houthi attacks are no longer worth the economic cost to the region, the second U.S. official said.
https://www.politico.com/news/2024/01/21/intel-houthis-red-sea-yemen-00136814
The US Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned Iraqi airline Fly Baghdad for aiding the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force (IRGC-QF) and its militias in Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon on January 22.[37] The Department of the Treasury stated that Fly Baghdad has carried weapons and military personnel to the Damascus International Airport for a range of Iranian-backed groups over the past several years. Fly Baghdad has supplied these groups with Iranian-made Fateh missiles, Zulfiqar missiles, al Fajr rockets, as well as AK-47s, RPG-7s, grenades, and machine guns. Kataib Hezbollah and Asa’ib Ahl al Haq used the airline to transport fighters, weapons, and US currency to Lebanon and Syria.
full report: https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/iran-update-january-22-2024