Replies

Iran Update, December 31, 2023

Houthi fighters conducted two attacks on the MV Maersk Hangzhou container ship in the southern Red Sea. Likely Houthi fighters conducted a missile attack on the ship on December 30.[68] The USS Gravely destroyer intercepted two anti-ship missiles targeting the Hangzhou, while responding to a distress call from the ship.[69] Four Houthi fast attack craft later approached the Hangzhou, firing on the container ship and attempting to board it.[70] The USS Gravely and USS Eisenhower aircraft carriers sent helicopters to the container ship and issued verbal messages to the Houthi boats, which then fired on the helicopters.[71] The helicopters returned fire in self-defense and sank three of the four Houthi boats, killing ten Houthi members.[72] The fourth Houthi boat fled the area.

Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree said that Houthi fighters had been performing their regular duties to provide security and stability in the Red Sea by preventing Israeli ships or ships en route to Israel from passing.[73] Saree accused the United States of attempting to expand the conflict into the Red Sea and warned other countries of being complicit to US efforts.[74] Saree’s statement notably quoted a Quranic verse that LH and the Islamic Resistance of Iraq regularly cite as justification for their attacks on the United States or Israel. The use of the passage across the Axis of Resistance members is likely meant to signal their unity to external actors, while framing their regional escalation as some kind of religious duty.

The Houthis likely focused on attacking a Maersk-operated vessel in particular because Maersk announced that it would resume its operations in the Red Sea on December 24.[75] CTP-ISW previously assessed that the Iranian and Houthi anti-shipping attack campaign is meant to demonstrate the capability and willingness of the Axis of Resistance to threaten multiple strategic maritime chokepoints across the Middle East. The Houthi framing that the anti-shipping attack campaign is meant to only prevent commercial traffic to Israel is inaccurate, as the Houthi attacks have targeted multiple ships with no immediate connection to Israel or Israeli interests. Maersk announced that it would again suspend its operations in the Red Sea—this time for 48 hours—on December 31.[76]

These Houthi attacks are part of a broader regional escalation that Iran is leading against the United States and Israel. This regional escalation is meant to achieve Iran's broader regional ambitions rather than achieve any discrete effects vis-a-vis the Israeli military operation in the Gaza Strip. This Iran-led escalation includes the almost daily drone, missile, and rocket attacks that Iranian-backed militias have conducted against US forces in Iraq and Syria. Iran and its proxies and partners in the Axis of Resistance are framing falsely this escalation as a response to the Israeli military operations in the Gaza Strip. Iran and its Axis of Resistance have a long history of threatening American servicemembers and international shipping prior to the war because it supports their grand strategic objectives in the Middle East. The current escalation is thus meant to help Iran attain regional hegemony, destroy the Israeli state, and expel US forces from the Middle East. The Israel-Hamas war provides informational cover to Iran and the Axis of Resistance, allowing them to misrepresent their long-standing campaigns as meant to support the Palestinian cause.

Iranian Foreign Affairs Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian discussed recent Houthi attacks on international shipping in the Red Sea during a phone call with his British counterpart, David Cameron, on December 31.[77] Abdollahian suggested that Houthi attacks on maritime traffic would continue so long as Israel continues its military operations in the Gaza Strip. Cameron stated that Iran bears responsibility for the Houthi attacks given its long-standing support for the Houthis. The Houthis have conducted an anti-shipping attack campaign around the Red Sea in recent weeks to disrupt commercial shipping to Israel and demonstrate both the willingness and capability of the Axis of Resistance to disrupt maritime traffic around strategic maritime chokepoints.[78]

Supreme National Security Council Secretary Rear Admiral Ali Akbar Ahmadian discussed the Israel-Hamas war with senior Houthi official Mohammad Abdul Salam in Tehran on December 31.[79] Ahmadian praised the Houthis for their support of the Palestinians against Israeli “aggression.”

full report: https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/iran-update-december-31-2023

21DEC2023 Recording of radio communications of commercial ship under Houthi attack & the Navy's response. It's part of our feature on what private security teams are doing to protect ships traversing the Mandeb Strait & how they operate in general.

https://twitter.com/thewarzonewire/status/1737942347424665609

Inside The Private Security Forces Protecting Red Sea Shipping How armed contractors operate aboard ships and the ways they've been adapted to the eruption in hostilities around the Bab el-Mandeb strait.

https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/inside-the-private-security-forces-protecting-red-sea-shipping

31DEC2023 After U.S. Navy Helicopters Sink Houthi Boats Are Strikes Next?
Navy MH-60 Sea Hawks sink Houthi boats after being fired upon as anti-ship ballistic missiles fly across the Red Sea.

https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/after-u-s-navy-helicopters-sink-houthi-boats-are-strikes-next

Iran's Navy's IRIS Alborz has entered the Red Sea amid repeated threats by the IRGCterrorists-backed Houthis and U.S. sinking its small boats. Would note audio released last month of one of the distressed commercial tankers radioing for help saying Iran's naval forces were threatening to bomb his ship. Like the IRGCterrorists spy ship Behshad, the IRIS Alborz should be a legitimate military target for the U.S. and the UK under these circumstances.

IRIS Alborz commissioned in 1971, 1100 tons displacement. Has been modernized, but limited capability. 8 Noor anti-ship missiles, 1 Mark 8 Gun (4 1/2”). Legitimate military target & would recommend US sink if supporting Houthis or resupplying Houthis.

https://twitter.com/JasonMBrodsky/status/1741790033470775789

Iran Update, January 2, 2024
Iranian Foreign Affairs Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian met with senior Houthi official Mohammad Abdul Salam in Tehran on January 1.[98] Abdollahian thanked Abdul Salam for his “strong” position supporting Palestinians. Abdul Salam thanked Abdollahian for Iran’s continued support for the Axis of Resistance. Abdul Salam is the chief Houthi negotiator engaging Saudi Arabia to end the ongoing war in Yemen.

Iranian-backed Iraqi militias praised the Houthi movement for confronting the United States and Israel on December 31, 2023, and January 1, 2024. KH praised the Houthis on December 31 for fulfilling their “legal and moral duty” to confront Israel-linked vessels in the Red Sea.[99] This framing is inaccurate because the Houthis have attacked several vessels with no connection to Israel or Israeli interests in recent weeks. Harakat Hezbollah al Nujaba separately expressed solidarity with the Houthis on January 1, stating that “the battle is one, the enemy is one, and the fate is one.”[100]

full report: https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/iran-update-january-2-2024