Even as America repeatedly threatens unspecified “consequences” for the Houthi assaults on the Red Sea shipping industry, attacks by the Yemeni group and its Iranian masters are escalating without much Western response.  

Following “hundreds of attacks” on ships plying the waters of the Red Sea, the Houthis carried out their “biggest attack, UAVs, missiles, just yesterday,” Secretary Blinken said Wednesday at Manama, Bahrain. There will be “consequences,” he warned. 

American and British jets and warships shot down 18 drones and three anti-ship missiles at about 9 p.m. local time, according to the Pentagon. “This is the 26th Houthi attack on commercial shipping lanes in the Red Sea since Nov. 19,” the U.S. Central Command wrote on X, adding that “there were no injuries or damage reported.”

The complex attack “with a number of ballistic, anti-ship missiles, and drones  targeted an American ship that transferred aid to the Zionist entity,” a Houthi spokesman said, vowing to continue these attacks until Israel ceases its “aggression” in Gaza.  

The attacks, though, are increasingly unrelated to Gaza or Israel. More than 12 percent of world commerce passes through the Red Sea, and the attacks have affected more than 40 countries, Mr. Blinken said. 

“Despite what the Houthis may say, they are threatening and targeting commercial vessels with ties to countries all over the world, many of which have no connection to Israel whatsoever,” the national security council’s spokesman, John Kirby, said.  

While the Houthis are the newest member of a growing regional coalition of armies tied to Iran, it is emerging as the most aggressive and well-armed force in that “axis of resistance.”

The Houthis are “the only proxy of Iran to both have and use medium-range ballistic missiles and anti-ship ballistic missiles,” an Iran watcher at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, Behnam Ben Taleblu, tells the Sun. 

As American, British, and other naval forces crowd the Red Sea in the hope of deterring the Houthis, an Iranian destroyer, the Alborz, entered the vital waterway on January 1 “to secure shipping lanes and repel pirates, among other purposes,” according to the Iranian state-owned news agency, Tasnim.

An Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps’ reconnaissance ship, the Behshad, is also hovering around the Bab el Mandel strait, reportedly directing and assisting the Houthi attacks. Western officials increasingly say that the Red Sea aggression is part of an Iranian strategy. The supreme leader, Ayatollah Khomeini, “has taken a personal role in the Red Sea blockade,” the British Telegraph reports.

“I am in no doubt whatsoever that the Iranians are heavily behind what they are doing, including intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance eyes and ears,” the British defense secretary, Grant Shapps, told reporters Wednesday.  

“These attacks have been aided and abetted by Iran with technology, equipment, intelligence, information,” Mr. Blinken concurred. “There will be consequences for the Houthi actions, and we also repeatedly tried to make clear to Iran, other countries made clear as well, that the support that they’re providing to the Houthis, including for these actions, needs to stop.” 

On January 3, America and 14 allies — including Bahrain as the lone Arab signatory — issued a joint statement warning that “the Houthis will bear the responsibility for the consequences should they continue to threaten lives, the global economy, or the free flow of commerce in the region’s critical waterways.”

Since then, the attacks have escalated, culminating in the direct challenge to an American ship on Tuesday night. Rather than ordering a muscular response, America is advising caution and calling for de-escalation with Iran and its proxies. “It’s not in their interest to see the conflict escalated, and we’re not the only ones to send that message to Iran,” Mr. Blinken said Wednesday. 

“The challenge for Washington is, the more it signals an interest in de-escalation the more likely the adversary is to escalate, to press their advantage,” Mr. Ben Taleblu says. Nor will “pinprick” strikes against Houthi targets suffice, he adds. Instead, America should consider attacking IRGC spy ships like the Behshad. 

President Biden’s doctrine, though, is centered on avoiding escalation. It guided decisions to go slow on arming Ukraine with weapons it said are needed for victory over Russia. It led to warning Israel against a ground invasion of Gaza, and later against attacking Hezbollah in Lebanon. And it seems to be behind the cautious approach to enforcing freedom of navigation in the Red Sea. 

“Enough is enough,” Britain’s Mr. Shapps said Wednesday after the Houthi attack. “This cannot continue and we won’t allow it to continue so watch this space.” As yet, America is refraining from even such direct threats.