Progress with Iran can only be achieved 'by force,' expert warns
President Trump hints at an imminent peace deal with Iran, suggesting the Supreme Leader has approved it and the US will lift blockades. Rebecca Heinrichs, Hudson Institute Senior Fellow, expresses skepticism, citing Iran's continued harassment in the Strait of Hormuz and its nuclear program. She also addresses reports of the US cutting fighter jets in Europe, questioning the timing given escalating tensions with Russia.
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The U.S. has hit back against threats to now block another Middle East waterway by Iranian terror proxy, the Houthis.
Earlier this week, the group declared a complete ban on Israeli-owned ships using the Red Sea, declaring them to be "legitimate targets".
The Red Sea and the waterway through its narrow Bab-el Mandeb strait , has become the main route for oil to ship out of the Middle East to Asia since the Strait of Hormuz has effectively stopped functioning as the main route of navigation for shipping.
IRAN'S AFRICA ACTIVITIES POSE 'SIGNIFICANT THREATS TO US NATIONAL SECURITY'
Houthi terrorists walk over British and U.S. flags at a rally supporting Palestinians amid Houthi strikes on shipping near Sana'a, Yemen, on Feb. 4, 2024. (Mohammed Hamoud/Getty Images)
Houthi spokesperson Yahya Saree posted on Monday, "We declare a complete and total ban on Israeli maritime navigation in the Red Sea, and we consider all enemy movements to be legitimate targets."
In a statement to Fox News Digital, a State Department spokesperson struck back: "The escalatory actions of Iran and their Houthi proxies are unacceptable. These dangerous actions only serve to further enflame tensions and further disrupt global supply chains. We will continue to work with our partners to ensure freedom of navigation in the Red Sea and the Strait of Hormuz."
Edmund Fitton-Brown, a senior fellow at The Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told Fox News Digital, "The Houthis have indeed risen to the challenge, at least verbally. In common with much ‘Axis of Resistance’ rhetoric at present, the intention appears to be to leverage US political nervousness and market volatility, and to drive a wedge between the Americans and the Israelis."
An aerial view of The Bab el-Mandeb Strait is a sea route connecting the Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea via the Suez Canal. (Gallo Images/Orbital Horizon/Copernicus Sentinel Data 2021)
Fitton-Brown, a former U.K. ambassador to Yemen added, "Provided the allies keep talking to each other, the Israelis respond proportionately, as they have done, and the Iranians continue to provoke President Trump with actions like the downing of the helicopter, these tactics are unlikely to achieve significant success."
"It will be interesting if the Houthis do go all in, and resume their campaign against Red Sea shipping with full intensity," Fitton-Brown said, adding, "This will draw international anger and likely result in Israeli and U.S. strikes on Sanaa and Hodeida. There is potential for a general escalation if this happens, albeit one in which the allies have a clear military advantage."
US STRIKES ON YEMEN CONTINUE AFTER HOUTHI MISSILE HITS BY ISRAELI AIRPORT; TERROR GROUP VOWS 'AERIAL BLOCKADE'
A huge column of fire erupts in the Yemeni rebel-held port city of Hodeida following reported strikes on July 20, 2024. The strikes targeted a fuel depot in the port, according to Houthi-run media and an AFP correspondent.
Landlocked Ethiopia acts as regional anti-terrorism buffer
Such actions come as reports emerge that Ethiopia, the Red Sea region’s most populous country, is stepping up as a major U.S. ally against Islamic terrorism .
While landlocked, Ethiopia has a population of some 130 million, making it the largest nation in the Horn of Africa . Located near parts of the Red Sea corridor, the country is roughly 60% Christian, according to a recent report by the Association of Religion Data Archives.
World Data Locator Map, Ethiopia. (Encyclopedia Britannica/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
And despite it being landlocked, Ethiopian researcher Blen M. Diriba told Fox News Digital that the country acts as a strategic roadblock or "a keystone state" on the Islamist expansionist ‘highway’ that has formed all the way from Iran to Sudan.
Diriba, executive director of the Horn Review — an Addis Ababa-based research and publication think tank — told Fox News Digital that "Ethiopia, long a frontline U.S. security partner, now sits at the center of an expanding pressure zone where maritime disruption, insurgent violence, terrorist threats , and proxy competition converge."
Diriba added. "Iran’s Bab el-Mandeb threat transforms the Horn of Africa into a militarized frontline, placing Ethiopia at the center of a chokepoint crisis. With Iranian influence radiating through conflict ecosystems in Sudan, Eritrea and Somalia, the region is beginning to resemble a continuous arc of ins…
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