The West needs to stiffen its resolve and confront Iran head-on to help end suffering in the Middle East after giving the country an “easy ride”, Andrew Neil has said. His comment comes after the UK and the US bombed military facilities used by the Houthi rebels in response to the militants’ attacks on ships in the Red Sea.
The Iran-backed Houthis claim they are targeting vessels linked to Israel in one of the world’s busiest shipping routes over the war in Gaza. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak insisted Britain and the US acted “in self-defence” and allies would not hesitate to ensure the safety of commercial shipping, but some experts warn the strikes raised the risk of a wider conflict in the Middle East.
Mr Neil, in an op-ed published in the Daily Mail, said Iran’s appetite for mayhem is insatiable, accusing Tehran of triggering the October 7 Hamas attacks on Israel; unleashing the Houthis on the Red Sea and firing up Hezbollah in Lebanon.
The veteran journalist and broadcaster added Iran has also encouraged pro-Iranian militias in Syria and Iraq to attack US bases in the region.
Mr Neil warned the “proclivity” of US President Joe Biden’s administration “merely to look the other way” has “emboldened” Iran’s proxies, such as Hamas, the Houthis and Hezbollah.
He wrote that “far from showing Iran an iron fist”, Mr Biden until very recently was “more inclined to put a friendly arm around the regime in Tehran”.
The journalist wrote Mr Biden’s administration has loosened sanctions on Iran amid US attempts to bring the country “in from the cold”, continuing an approach started under former US president Barack Obama, who led efforts to broker a nuclear deal with Iran.
Former US president Donald Trump broke the deal between Iran and six major powers in 2018. A year later, Tehran gradually began violating nuclear limits agreed under the deal, reviving fears Iran may be seeking to develop an atomic weapon.
In his op-ed, Mr Neil argued that Iran has “played along” with “diplomatic overtures” at the same time as tripling its ability to produce near weapons-grade uranium and selling drones to Russia used to attack Ukraine.
Mr Neil wrote: “A grim axis of evil in the making if ever there was one. Yet America and its allies sit idly by, twiddling their thumbs.”
He concluded that the “sad truth” is Iran under the mullahs has been the crucible of many of the Middle East’s problems and the source of much terror and suffering in the region and beyond.
The writer and broadcaster said: “It has been given too easy a ride by America and its allies, with consequences sadly now all too plain to see. Time to learn lessons and stiffen our resolve to confront its malign presence.”
The US military early on Saturday (January 13) struck another Houthi-controlled site in Yemen which it said was putting commercial vessels in the Red Sea at risk.
US Central Command said the “follow-on action” against a Houthi radar site was conducted by the Navy destroyer USS Carney using Tomahawk land attack missiles.
The first day of strikes on Friday(January 12) hit 28 locations and struck more than 60 targets. Mr Biden had warned on the same day that the Houthis could face further strikes.
The latest strike came after the US Navy warned American-flagged vessels to steer clear of areas around Yemen in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden for the next 72 hours after the initial airstrikes.
It came as Yemen’s Houthis vowed fierce retaliation, further raising the prospect of a wider conflict in a region already beset by Israel’s war in Gaza.
Since November, Houthi rebels have repeatedly targeted ships in the Red Sea, saying they were avenging Israel’s offensive in Gaza against Hamas. But they have frequently targeted vessels with tenuous or no clear links to Israel, imperilling shipping in a key route for global trade and energy shipments.
The Houthis’ military spokesman Brigadier General Yahya Saree said in a recorded address that the US strikes would “not go unanswered or unpunished”.
Though the West has tried to calm tensions in the Middle East for weeks and prevent any wider conflict, the strikes threaten to ignite one.
Saudi Arabia — which supports the government-in-exile that the Houthis are fighting — sought to distance itself from the attacks as it seeks to maintain a delicate détente with Iran and a cease-fire in Yemen.
The Saudi-led, US-backed war in Yemen has killed more than 150,000 people, including fighters and civilians. It has also created one of the world’s worst humanitarian disasters, killing tens of thousands more.
