Iranian ships transporting land-based anti-ship ballistic or cruise missiles to Yemen?

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Iranian ships transporting land-based anti-ship ballistic or cruise missiles to Yemen?

The Daily Signal mentions a very interesting speculation in it's post 'What's Iran doing behind our backs in the ME?'


On MSNBC this week, President Obama said that “if there are weapons delivered to factions within Yemen that could threaten navigation, that’s a problem.” The use of the phrase “threaten navigation” is particularly interesting.

Assuming that Obama didn’t misspeak or mislead, what sort of Iranian weapons could jeopardize shipping lanes?

One possible answer is land-based anti-ship ballistic or cruise missiles. Iran has both types of missiles, which are designed to hold maritime chokepoints hostage and attack both military and commercial shipping.

This, of course, is just one possibility.

While risky for a number of reasons, if Iran transfers missiles (and Iranian technical help) to the Houthis, it endangers important transit lanes such as the Bab el-Mandeb strait, the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.

It also creates a potential shift in the war’s dynamics. In other words, in possession of such weapons, the seemingly hapless Houthis—and their ally Iran—would gain leverage with the Saudi-led coalition in any negotiation over Yemen’s future.

It’s certainly an interesting notion—and the U.S. carrier (and its battle group) could play a role in dealing with such a delivery.

While we don’t know what’s hidden in the containers on Iran’s cargo ships—and Washington may not know exactly either—it’s clear that tensions with Tehran are far from over despite a possible nuclear deal. Hmmmm......If Iran is released of the sanctions and dumps it's oil reserves on the market, it will be the end of U.S. shale oil production. All that is left for Iran is to close the strait and the oil flow to have the US on it's knees. With Yemen it would have Two chokeholds on the Oil flow. Read the full story here.

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