ArcaMax

On the morning of March 16, U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth told Fox News the latest U.S. airstrikes on Yemen's Houthi terrorists is a campaign "about freedom of navigation and restoring deterrence. The minute the Houthis say, 'We'll stop shooting at your ships, we'll stop shooting at your (U.S. recon) drones,' this campaign will end. But until then, it will be unrelenting."

Unrelenting. That word is the Trump administration's Houthi policy differentiator. Biden administration responses to the Houthis and, for that matter, other terrorists and other international threats, were episodic. As a result, Biden's half-actions were more theatrical than decisive.

So I insert this bitter comment: More media theatrical than decisive definitely applies to Biden administration support for Ukraine. Ukraine should have had F-16s by autumn 2022. I can make a case theater without decisive substance applies to almost every Biden administration foreign policy exploit, especially Afghanistan. What an inexcusable disaster.

Back to SecDef Hegseth's interview. He added this warning: "Iran has been enabling the Houthis for far too long. They better back off."

Freedom of navigation matters. The Houthis know it because their Iranian ayatollah masters know it.

Maritime insurance companies know it. So, your wallet ultimately feels it. Houthi attacks on commercial shipping exact a criminal tariff -- 80% of international trade by volume goes by ship, 70% by value. Total value? That's a tough figure to pin down, but $35 trillion may be the low-ball estimate.

Yemen is on the eastern side of the Bab Al Mandab (Gateway of Anguish), the 22-mile-wide strait connecting the Red Sea and Indian Ocean. Attacking ships in the strait raises maritime insurance rates for freighters heading for or exiting the Suez Canal.

So careful shipping companies divert and take the long route between Europe and the Indian Ocean, going south around Africa's Cape of Good Hope (South Africa). That route can add three weeks to transit time of a tanker sailing from Saudi Arabia to Rotterdam.

Quite a scam -- engineered by Iran's ayatollahs.

For four decades, Iran's kook regime has pursued a regional chokepoints strategy, first threatening to close the Strait of Hormuz (Iran has a coastline) and, subsequently, the Red Sea, after turning the Houthis into a puppet army. Hormuz is a real economic threat -- on a daily basis, tankers carry from 20% to 25% of the world's daily oil supply through the Strait.

Communist China values maritime chokepoints, economically and militarily. China's Panama Canal gambit is illustrative. The Chinese-owned company that owned port facilities on the Pacific and Atlantic ends of the canal recently sold its ports to an American-led investment group. Beijing is allegedly angry -- has Beijing lost its ability to deny America use of the Canal? We shall see how this evolves since the Trump administration insists on canal security.

But back to Iran's maritime pirate attacks via its Houthi proxies. Will the Trump administration really be relentless?

The ongoing Trump administration air campaign (bombs and missiles) could expand.

Following Iran's April 2024 strategic attack on Israel -- which Israeli air-space defenses defeated -- Israel's counterattacks badly damaged Iran's air and space defense systems.

I first wrote about this potent U.S. military option in 2006: the "simultaneous strategic bombing strike" (SSBS). Scenario summary: aircraft (especially heavy bombers), cruise missiles, perhaps ballistic missiles and drones, all armed with conventional warheads, delivering at least 2,500 precision blockbuster-sized weapons within a five-minute time frame. Blockbuster example: Joint Direct Attack Munition 2,000-pound bombs. (Their simultaneous seismic footprint is deadly.) Prime targets: Iran's two dozen or so "critical nuclear weapon-related facilities." Additional targets: the bunkers hiding the ayatollahs who call Israel a "one bomb state."

Bonus target: Make a point about maritime chokepoints and destroy Iranian naval and shore facilities near the Strait of Hormuz.

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To find out more about Austin Bay and read features by other Creators writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate webpage at www.creators.com.

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