* . *
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Privacy & Policy
  • Contact
Saturday, October 11, 2025
Earth-News
  • Home
  • Business
  • Entertainment
    THE VAMPIRE LESTAT Shares First Look Teaser Trailer (And It’s Fangtastic) – Yahoo

    THE VAMPIRE LESTAT Shares First Look Teaser Trailer (And It’s Fangtastic) – Yahoo

    The Live-Action Simpsons Movie That Was Supposed To Star Phil Hartman – Yahoo

    The Live-Action Simpsons Movie That Was Supposed To Star Phil Hartman – Yahoo

    The Best “Friends” Halloween Episodes That Blend Spooky And Silly In The Perfect Way – Yahoo

    The Best “Friends” Halloween Episodes That Blend Spooky And Silly In The Perfect Way – Yahoo

    MSG Entertainment Takes Radio City Music Hall Into the Future With Introduction of Sphere Immersive Sound – Business Wire

    MSG Entertainment Transforms Radio City Music Hall with Cutting-Edge Sphere Immersive Sound Experience

    Israel’s Entertainment Industry Is Being Targeted by the Left in Hollywood and the Right at Home – The Wall Street Journal

    Inside the Fierce Clash Shaping Israel’s Entertainment Industry: Hollywood vs. Local Voices

    Offset Is Ready To Finalize Divorce With Cardi B for a Major Reason – Yahoo

    Offset Poised to Finalize Divorce from Cardi B for a Major Reason

  • General
  • Health
  • News

    Cracking the Code: Why China’s Economic Challenges Aren’t Shaking Markets, Unlike America’s” – Bloomberg

    Trump’s Narrow Window to Spread the Truth About Harris

    Trump’s Narrow Window to Spread the Truth About Harris

    Israel-Gaza war live updates: Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh assassinated in Iran, group says

    Israel-Gaza war live updates: Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh assassinated in Iran, group says

    PAP Boss to Niger Delta Youths, Stay Away from the Protest

    PAP Boss to Niger Delta Youths, Stay Away from the Protest

    Court Restricts Protests In Lagos To Freedom, Peace Park

    Court Restricts Protests In Lagos To Freedom, Peace Park

    Fans React to Jazz Jennings’ Inspiring Weight Loss Journey

    Fans React to Jazz Jennings’ Inspiring Weight Loss Journey

    Trending Tags

    • Trump Inauguration
    • United Stated
    • White House
    • Market Stories
    • Election Results
  • Science
  • Sports
  • Technology
    Inside Europe’s military technology resurgence – NBC News

    Europe’s Bold Comeback: Unveiling the Rise of Cutting-Edge Military Technology

    Vicor Corporation: Great Technology, Execution Trapped In Time (NASDAQ:VICR) – Seeking Alpha

    Vicor Corporation: Innovative Technology Hindered by Lackluster Execution

    4J schools trying out new electronic hall pass technology – Lookout Eugene-Springfield

    4J Schools Unveils Cutting-Edge Electronic Hall Pass System to Transform Student Experience

    China outlines more controls on exports of rare earths and technology – fox40.com

    China Unveils Tougher Restrictions on Rare Earth and Technology Exports

    Wisconsin Dairy Leads the Way with Cutting-Edge Technology Systems

    ENERCON and Biome collaborate for wind turbine noise reduction technology – Yahoo Finance

    ENERCON and Biome Join Forces to Revolutionize Wind Turbine Noise Reduction

    Trending Tags

    • Nintendo Switch
    • CES 2017
    • Playstation 4 Pro
    • Mark Zuckerberg
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Business
  • Entertainment
    THE VAMPIRE LESTAT Shares First Look Teaser Trailer (And It’s Fangtastic) – Yahoo

    THE VAMPIRE LESTAT Shares First Look Teaser Trailer (And It’s Fangtastic) – Yahoo

    The Live-Action Simpsons Movie That Was Supposed To Star Phil Hartman – Yahoo

    The Live-Action Simpsons Movie That Was Supposed To Star Phil Hartman – Yahoo

    The Best “Friends” Halloween Episodes That Blend Spooky And Silly In The Perfect Way – Yahoo

    The Best “Friends” Halloween Episodes That Blend Spooky And Silly In The Perfect Way – Yahoo

    MSG Entertainment Takes Radio City Music Hall Into the Future With Introduction of Sphere Immersive Sound – Business Wire

    MSG Entertainment Transforms Radio City Music Hall with Cutting-Edge Sphere Immersive Sound Experience

    Israel’s Entertainment Industry Is Being Targeted by the Left in Hollywood and the Right at Home – The Wall Street Journal

    Inside the Fierce Clash Shaping Israel’s Entertainment Industry: Hollywood vs. Local Voices

    Offset Is Ready To Finalize Divorce With Cardi B for a Major Reason – Yahoo

    Offset Poised to Finalize Divorce from Cardi B for a Major Reason

  • General
  • Health
  • News

    Cracking the Code: Why China’s Economic Challenges Aren’t Shaking Markets, Unlike America’s” – Bloomberg

    Trump’s Narrow Window to Spread the Truth About Harris

    Trump’s Narrow Window to Spread the Truth About Harris

    Israel-Gaza war live updates: Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh assassinated in Iran, group says

    Israel-Gaza war live updates: Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh assassinated in Iran, group says

    PAP Boss to Niger Delta Youths, Stay Away from the Protest

    PAP Boss to Niger Delta Youths, Stay Away from the Protest

    Court Restricts Protests In Lagos To Freedom, Peace Park

    Court Restricts Protests In Lagos To Freedom, Peace Park

    Fans React to Jazz Jennings’ Inspiring Weight Loss Journey

    Fans React to Jazz Jennings’ Inspiring Weight Loss Journey

    Trending Tags

    • Trump Inauguration
    • United Stated
    • White House
    • Market Stories
    • Election Results
  • Science
  • Sports
  • Technology
    Inside Europe’s military technology resurgence – NBC News

    Europe’s Bold Comeback: Unveiling the Rise of Cutting-Edge Military Technology

    Vicor Corporation: Great Technology, Execution Trapped In Time (NASDAQ:VICR) – Seeking Alpha

    Vicor Corporation: Innovative Technology Hindered by Lackluster Execution

    4J schools trying out new electronic hall pass technology – Lookout Eugene-Springfield

    4J Schools Unveils Cutting-Edge Electronic Hall Pass System to Transform Student Experience

    China outlines more controls on exports of rare earths and technology – fox40.com

    China Unveils Tougher Restrictions on Rare Earth and Technology Exports

    Wisconsin Dairy Leads the Way with Cutting-Edge Technology Systems

    ENERCON and Biome collaborate for wind turbine noise reduction technology – Yahoo Finance

    ENERCON and Biome Join Forces to Revolutionize Wind Turbine Noise Reduction

    Trending Tags

    • Nintendo Switch
    • CES 2017
    • Playstation 4 Pro
    • Mark Zuckerberg
No Result
View All Result
Earth-News
No Result
View All Result
Home Business

Bobby Ghosh: Houthis are now Iran’s most crucial ally

January 6, 2024
in Business
Bobby Ghosh: Houthis are now Iran’s most crucial ally
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

In a bold move, Iran has deployed the aging frigate IRIS Alborz to the Arabian Peninsula, signalling support for Houthi rebels in Yemen. Despite its limited military impact, the symbolic gesture strengthens Iran’s ties with the rebels, now a crucial ally. As Iran faces challenges in Gaza and hesitates to deploy Hezbollah, the Houthi rebels offer a more disruptive force, controlling vital trade routes. The international community, particularly the US, must address the growing Houthi threat strategically beyond naval operations.

Sign up for your early morning brew of the BizNews Insider to keep you up to speed with the content that matters. The newsletter will land in your inbox at 5:30am weekdays. Register here.

The Houthis Are Now Iran’s Most Potent Proxy: Bobby Ghosh

By: Bobby Ghosh

The IRIS Alborz, pride of the Iranian navy, isn’t much of a warship. Commissioned in 1971, the frigate is both long in tooth and lacking in teeth: Decades of sanctions have obliged Iran to jerry-rig it with homemade combat systems, well short of the firepower of equivalent vessels in the world’s major naval fleets.

The ship serves important symbolic purposes, though. It is a reminder that the Islamic Republic is a maritime state, if not quite a power. Its armaments, limited as they are, also advertise Iran’s indigenous weapons-making capabilities. When it sails out of its home port of Bandar Abbas on the Persian Gulf, the Alborz projects not power so much as defiance.

Right now, the vessel is serving symbolic functions on the far side of the Arabian Peninsula, as reassurance and recognition for a key ally: the Houthi rebels of Yemen, who have been attacking international shipping on one of the world’s most important sea routes. They have also fired missiles in the direction of Israel, in support of another Iranian ally, Hamas.

The Alborz will not provide them with much protection from the US-led naval flotilla, known as Operation Prosperity Guardian, that is interdicting the Houthis’ missiles and drones, as well as sinking some of their boats. But Tehran is signaling to the rebels that they are not alone.

For Iran, this is an unusually open demonstration of military support for one of its extensive network of allies and proxies in the Middle East. Tehran typically uses cloak and dagger means to train, finance and arm groups like Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas in Gaza and the Hashd al-Shaabi in Iraq. In public, Iran’s leaders limit themselves to rhetorical encouragement and approval.

That is how it has been with the Houthis. Tehran developed ties with the rebels long before they burst onto the international scene nearly 10 years ago, by capturing the Yemeni capital Sana’a, and toppling the internationally recognized government. Since then, Iran has supplied the Houthis with increasingly sophisticated missiles and drones, as well as the means to produce them locally.

This support enabled the rebels to defeat an Arab coalition led by Saudi Arabia that sought to restore the now exiled government. Tehran’s weapons have also allowed the Houthis to strike deep into Saudi territory, most spectacularly with the 2019 attacks on the kingdom’s oil infrastructure. The Saudis were eventually obliged to sue for peace.     

Throughout, Iran maintained the fiction that the Houthis were acting alone. Only once, in the spring of 2015, did it send a naval flotilla — led by the Alborz, as it happens — to try and break a blockade of Yemeni ports by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. But after the US sent an aircraft carrier group to intercept the flotilla, the Iranians quietly withdrew. Back then, the Houthis were one of Tehran’s lesser proxies, not in the league of Hezbollah or Hamas; the situation didn’t merit the risk of a confrontation with the US.

Iran’s more determined defiance this time on behalf of the Houthis reflects their elevation to the first rank of allies. It is a reward for their humiliation of one of the Iranian regime’s sworn enemies, Saudi Arabia, as well as an appreciation of their utility in the fight against another, Israel.

The promotion is especially timely for Tehran. Its main catspaw against Israel, Hamas, is being severely degraded by the war in Gaza. Iran is reluctant to deploy Hezbollah, partly for fear of depleting its oldest, most powerful client.

Boosting the Houthis makes more sense for Iran because they can be much more disruptive than any of the other proxies — as they have just demonstrated by essentially frightening off commercial shipping from a sea lane that accounts for 12% of world trade.

MAP OF THE DAY: Sometimes, a picture is worth a thousand words.

Container ships heading toward Europe and/or North America, with almost all avoiding the Red Sea (red).

More than two weeks after the launch of US-led ‘Prosperity Guardian’, the Houthis still rule in the Red Sea. pic.twitter.com/JK0oLMkvlA

— Javier Blas (@JavierBlas) January 3, 2024

While Hezbollah’s main utility to Tehran is as the protector of Iranian interests in Lebanon and Syria, and Hamas’s principal purpose is to kill Israelis, the Houthis can wreak economic damage on Iran’s near enemies, the wider world and, by extension, the US.

It helps the Iranian cause that the Houthis operate with fewer restraints than any other proxy. Unlike Hezbollah in Lebanon or the Hashd al-Shaabi in Iraq, the Yemeni rebels don’t need to manage complex multi-ethnic and multi-sectarian local politics. Unlike Hamas, they are out of reach of the Israeli Defense Forces. They command a large country, with plenty of remote redoubt from which to fire off Iran’s missiles. And their proximity to some of the world’s main sources of energy amplifies their threat potential.

It should surprise nobody, then, if the Houthis grow in Iranian esteem, and eventually match — and perhaps even exceed — Hezbollah. This prospect terrifies Yemen’s Arab neighbors; tellingly, neither Saudi Arabia nor the UAE have dared to join Operation Prosperity Guardian.

For the wider world, responding to the growing Houthi menace will require much more than naval flotillas to the Red Sea. Rather than react to provocations by the rebels and their masters in Tehran, the US and its allies will need to impose restraints on their ability to do harm (see my Bloomberg Opinion colleague Admiral James Stavridis’s recommendations on that score) while strengthening their domestic rivals. The latter include forces loyal to the government in exile and armed elements around Aden, known as the Southern Movement. That would present challenges, such as the inconvenient fact that the Southern Movement seeks separation from Yemen, and that corrupt and inept politicians make up the exiled government.

Given its age and condition, the Alborz’s deployment is likely to be short. It has already fulfilled its symbolic purposes. But long after the frigate’s return to Bandar Abbas, Iran and its newly elevated ally will represent a danger to the Red Sea.

Read also:

Houthi attacks and Panama drought send shockwaves through maritime industry
🔒 Houthi attacks grind shipping in the Red Sea to a halt
Gazans can’t just rise up against Hamas – Bobby Ghosh

© 2024 Bloomberg L.P.

Visited 430 times, 430 visit(s) today

>>> Read full article>>>
Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source : BizNews – https://www.biznews.com/world-view/2024/01/04/bobby-ghosh-houthis-now-irans-crucial-ally

Tags: BobbybusinessGhosh
Previous Post

‎Establishments with 50 employees min. to qualify students for labor market: HRSD

Next Post

This Week In Space podcast: Episode 92 — The Saga of the Seven Sisters

Whatcom County farm reaches settlement over illegal irrigation allegations – My Bellingham Now

Whatcom County Farm Reaches Settlement in Illegal Irrigation Case

October 11, 2025
Taylor Robinson on Data, Biosecurity, and the Science Behind Healthier Vertical Farms – iGrow News

Taylor Robinson on Data, Biosecurity, and the Science Behind Healthier Vertical Farms – iGrow News

October 11, 2025
Grand opening of the new UNR College of Agriculture Main Station Farm Science Center – KTVN

Join the Exciting Grand Opening of the New UNR College of Agriculture Main Station Farm Science Center!

October 11, 2025
PS Store Adds Helpful Feature But Users Have Concerns – PlayStation LifeStyle

PS Store Adds Helpful Feature But Users Have Concerns – PlayStation LifeStyle

October 11, 2025
Inside Europe’s military technology resurgence – NBC News

Europe’s Bold Comeback: Unveiling the Rise of Cutting-Edge Military Technology

October 11, 2025
Ireland Contracting Nightly Sports Call: Oct. 10, 2025 – CBS News

Ireland Contracting Nightly Sports Call: Thrilling Highlights from October 10, 2025

October 11, 2025
England v Sri Lanka: Women’s Cricket World Cup – live – The Guardian

England v Sri Lanka: Women’s Cricket World Cup – live – The Guardian

October 11, 2025
Consumer sentiment sours as government shutdown threatens economic damage – ABC News – Breaking News, Latest News and Videos

Consumer sentiment sours as government shutdown threatens economic damage – ABC News – Breaking News, Latest News and Videos

October 11, 2025
THE VAMPIRE LESTAT Shares First Look Teaser Trailer (And It’s Fangtastic) – Yahoo

THE VAMPIRE LESTAT Shares First Look Teaser Trailer (And It’s Fangtastic) – Yahoo

October 11, 2025
KATJA RIDDERBUSCH, KFF Health News – Asheville Watchdog

KATJA RIDDERBUSCH, KFF Health News – Asheville Watchdog

October 11, 2025

Categories

Archives

October 2025
M T W T F S S
 12345
6789101112
13141516171819
20212223242526
2728293031  
« Sep    
Earth-News.info

The Earth News is an independent English-language daily published Website from all around the World News

Browse by Category

  • Business (20,132)
  • Ecology (863)
  • Economy (883)
  • Entertainment (21,756)
  • General (17,539)
  • Health (9,925)
  • Lifestyle (896)
  • News (22,149)
  • People (884)
  • Politics (893)
  • Science (16,094)
  • Sports (21,384)
  • Technology (15,864)
  • World (866)

Recent News

Whatcom County farm reaches settlement over illegal irrigation allegations – My Bellingham Now

Whatcom County Farm Reaches Settlement in Illegal Irrigation Case

October 11, 2025
Taylor Robinson on Data, Biosecurity, and the Science Behind Healthier Vertical Farms – iGrow News

Taylor Robinson on Data, Biosecurity, and the Science Behind Healthier Vertical Farms – iGrow News

October 11, 2025
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Privacy & Policy
  • Contact

© 2023 earth-news.info

No Result
View All Result

© 2023 earth-news.info

No Result
View All Result

© 2023 earth-news.info

Go to mobile version