On Monday, three boats being piloted by Iranian-backed Houthi rebels attacked a Saudi frigate off the Hodeia port on Yemen’s western coast. Two of the boats were stopped by Saudi aircraft, but the third hit the frigate’s tail, killing two crew members and leaving three wounded.
Although it is rare to see Houthi rebels use suicide boats to attack Saudi targets, it’s not unheard of. If this had been the extent of the reporting, we could dismiss this as little more than another sad chapter in a conflict in Yemen that has no end in site.
However, Fox News, Breitbart, and Al-Arabiya are all reporting that an anonymous Pentagon source claims that American intelligence has evidence that the ships were intended for a US target.
But American intelligence officials say that after analyzing video footage of the attack a voice can be heard shouting in Arabic: “Allahu akbar [God is great], death to America, death to Israel, a curse on the Jews and victory for Islam.”
Now US defense analysts say they believe either the attacking forces thought the bombers were targeting an American navy warship, or they were carrying out a dress rehearsal Fox News reported.
This purported “dress rehearsal” comes after Iran tested a North-Korean made ballistic missile on Sunday. Although not a violation of the Iranian nuclear deal:
Iran is prohibited from testing ballistic missiles capable of carrying a nuclear warhead under U.N. Resolution 2331. The Resolution specifically calls on Iran not to test any ballistic missiles capable of carrying a nuclear warhead, or using ballistic missile technology, for eight years after the signing of the JCPOA, or after the International Atomic Energy Commission has determined Iran has lived up to its end of the deal.
This has prompted the Trump administration to request a meeting of the UN Security Council, and consultations in preparation for such a meeting took place on Tuesday. In regard to Iran’s missile test, US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley stated Tuesday:
“I will tell the people across the world that is something you should be alarmed about," Haley told reporters after the UN Security Council's consultations on Iran.
"The United States is not naive," she added. "We are not going to stand by. You will see us call them out, as we said we would, and you are also going to see us act accordingly."
Today, US, France, UK and Australia are conducting joint naval exercises. As reported by Al-Arabiya:
According to Sputnik News, it is expected that the HMS Daring, the HMS Ocean, and US and French warships will simulate destroying Iranian combat jets, ships and coastal missile launching facilities during the exercise.
Finally, H.J. Resolution 10 was introduced into the House of Representatives at the beginning of this month by Florida Democrat Alcee Hastings. It’s an active House bill, meaning that it could be brought to a floor vote very rapidly. Section 3(a) authorizes the following:
The President is authorized to use the Armed Forces of the United States as the President determines necessary and appropriate in order to achieve the goal of preventing Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons.
The Resolution explicitly provides the President with the authority under the War Powers Act to carry out a pre-emptive use of force against Iran. In other words, this bill, introduced by a Democrat, could provide President Trump with Congressional authority to conduct an offensive war against Iran.
An article circulating recently described the swift and expansive immigration EO signed by Trump as prelude to a coup. It’s far more likely that this action was a prelude to war. An article in Vox that I thought prescient noted:
The chaos that followed Trump’s immigration executive order on Friday — the rushed implementation; the contradictory and fast-changing information about what exactly was going on; the casual due-process violations and mistreatment; the disruption of, at a conservative estimate, hundreds of lives so far — was reminiscent of what happened, often out of sight of most the American public, in the weeks and months after 9/11.
If you anticipated the imminent use of military force in the near future against a country like Iran, which is known for using proxy terrorist organizations to attack vulnerable civilian targets, you would close the US border and detain and possibly revoke existing green card holders. You would also shut off the next most likely avenues for foreign agents to enter the US, such as Syria, Iraq, and failed states like Libya and Sudan. You would expect Iran to retaliate by halting US immigrants, which is what it did over the weekend.
And, at the Daily White House Briefing, Michael Flynn has announced that Iran is “on notice” and the US will not let Iranian actions go unpunished.
Almost all of Donald Trump’s senior advisers believe a war with Iran is inevitable, and the Republican House and Senate leadership strongly support immediate military action. To me, this looks like a prelude to war. If it is, I have no idea what happens to the popular dissent that is rising in this country, or the long-shot efforts to oppose Trump’s agenda. Standing up to any President that has a Congressional majority in both chambers is hard enough, but standing up to a Republican President at war is a terrifying prospect.