On Wednesday’s broadcast of the Fox News Channel’s “America Reports,” Pentagon Deputy Spokesperson Sabrina Singh stated that while there have been some interceptions of weapons bound to the Houthis from Iran, “they do continue to be supplied by Iran. We know Iran is behind these groups and others within the region, and that’s why you’ve seen the U.S. and our coalition partners respond in stride” by launching strikes that “we are not saying…are taking every capability that they have off the map, but every single day that we conduct a strike, we are lessening what they have the next day to conduct either attacks on our ships or other commercial mariners.”
Co-host Aishah Hasnie asked, “I believe the Pentagon said yesterday that these weapons are incredibly sophisticated, and that we know that these weapons are coming from Iran. So, what is the Pentagon doing to cut off the supply chain here, what’s the plan?”
Singh responded, “[T]hese are sophisticated weapons that we are seeing the Houthis employ from their controlled areas within Yemen. They are continuing to fire them at commercial ships that are transiting lawfully through that Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. They’re also firing them towards U.S. naval ships that are in the region. And so, we have done interdictions, we have been able to intercept weapons that we know are coming from Iran that are going to these Houthis in these [Houthi]-controlled areas. But look, they do continue to be supplied by Iran. We know Iran is behind these groups and others within the region, and that’s why you’ve seen the U.S. and our coalition partners respond in stride, whether it be coalition strikes or some of these dynamic strikes that we see an opportunity and we take it right away to disable, basically, their capabilities from launching at another commercial ship or one of our ships in the Red Sea.”
Hasnie then asked, “But, Sabrina, it’s clearly not enough, it’s almost daily now, we keep getting these reports of the Houthi attacks, and there’s a cargo ship, I believe, in the Gulf of Aden that’s just about to sink now and the Houthis are totally disrupting global trade here. So, nothing that we’ve done so far has deterred them to completely shut this down. So, what — does the plan have to change here?”
Singh answered, “Well, you’re completely right. They are disrupting commercial shipping and trade. In fact, one of the ships, one of the commercial ships that they hit was carrying grain to Yemen for the people there who are starving. So, they are saying that they’re targeting ships that have an Israeli connection or a U.S. connection, and they’re not. They’re actually harming their own people. But look, we are, every single day, taking action. We are conducting strikes, whether it be with our coalition partners or when we see opportunities arise and present themselves as they are about to fire a missile or an unmanned aerial vehicle. And we are not saying we are taking every capability that they have off the map, but every single day that we conduct a strike, we are lessening what they have the next day to conduct either attacks on our ships or other commercial mariners.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
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