Confrontation and engagement between the US and Iran are playing themselves out as the Houthis in Yemen target Israeli shipping and US battleships in the Red Sea,
Houthis on the frontline between the US and Iran
Houthi militias based in Yemen launched attacks on Israel’s capital Tel Aviv and its Ben Gurion Airport this week, after tensions in the Red Sea zone erupted following the breakdown of the ceasefire in Gaza between Israel and Hamas on 18 March, the same day that Israel launched surprise aerial offensives against the Strip.
The Houthi operations have become a focus of political confrontation between the US and Tehran, with US President Donald Trump placing the responsibility for the renewed Houthi attacks squarely on Iran, notwithstanding the latter’s distancing itself from them.
On 21 March, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said that Tehran “needs no proxies in the region” and that while Iran is aligned with them the Houthis are acting out of their “own motivations.”
Last week, the US deployed aircraft and warships to the Red Sea, including the US Navy’s USS Harry S Truman aircraft carrier, bolstered this week with two additional aircraft carriers.
On 14 March, there were reports that Trump had sent a letter to Khamenei in which he invited him to resume talks over Iran’s nuclear programme. The invitation was rejected by Khamenei, who said that Iran would not engage in negotiations undertaken under threat or pressure.
However, on 24 March Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said that Tehran would be open to “indirect” talks with the US on a nuclear deal.
The same variation between hawkishness and dovishness also characterised statements made this week by Trump’s Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff and his National Security Adviser Mike Waltz.
While Witkoff has stressed Trump’s desire for peace, Waltz has emphasised that the total dismantling of Iran’s nuclear programme is “non-negotiable.”
The current war of words between the US and Iran comes within the context of attempts to engage in talks related to Iran’s nuclear programme. But the parameters within which each side wants to negotiate differ.
For the US, a deal with Iran must entail the cessation of all military operations in the region by Iran’s perceived proxies against Israel and commercial shipping in the Red Sea and Suez Canal.
It would also entail trade deals in which the US would invest in the depleted Iranian economy and thus gain a sizable portion of its economic pie.
Iran does not want to negotiate with the US under pressure or without guarantees that a repeat of the previous nuclear deal of 2015 will not happen, since this was reneged on by Trump during his first presidency.
Tehran wants the sanctions imposed on it by Trump during his first presidency lifted. It would prefer a new deal to be negotiated, like the first under the Obama administration within the context of the P5+1 group of the five Permanent Members of the UN Security Council plus Germany and the EU.
With the diplomatic door still slightly ajar, the US is now launching its heaviest offensive to date on Houthi strongholds in Yemen. At the same time, the Houthis are still attacking Israel and obstructing its air traffic.
Their missile capacity, which remains sizable, is enabling them to target Israeli shipping and recently deployed US battleships.
The intensifying of the US aerial attacks on Houthi strongholds might not be enough to dismantle what is essentially a guerilla force operating in mountainous terrain and making use of a network of underground tunnels.
It is not known whether Trump would be willing to undertake a ground offensive in Yemen, especially given his vow to withdraw US troops rather than engage them in new battles.
The US has told Israel that the battle with the Houthis is one that will be undertaken by Washington and that Israel must desist from trying to engage there.
The same thing might apply to the current confrontation with Iran, where it remains to be seen whether the US’s current military escalation against the Houthis is meant to put pressure on Iran or be the precursor to actual military engagement, as lobbied for by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Whether Trump is willing to go to war on either front on behalf of Israel with all that this will entail with allies in the region remains to be seen.
* A version of this article appears in print in the 27 March, 2025 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly
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