It's sad watching the president of the USA threaten military action and then immediately back away from it. That's what Obama has done in Yemen by putting the navy in place to interdict the weapons shipments from Iran to the Houthis. The UN resolution passed last week puts an embargo on all weapons deliveries into Yemen.
The latest statement from Obama on the subject came yesterday evening, however. Here's what he said:
The latest statement from Obama on the subject came yesterday evening, however. Here's what he said:
"What we've said to them is if there are weapons delivered to factions within Yemen that could threaten navigation, that's a problem.
"We're not sending them obscure messages, we send them very direct messages about it,"
At the same time unnamed "US officials" said that it would be an extraordinary step and certainly not a foregone conclusion that the U.S. would attempt to board an Iranian ship if it entered Yemeni waters.
So let's parse what America's policy is according to Obama.
1. Although the UN bans all weapons, Obama is now only talking about stopping weapons that could threaten navigation. That is a big step backwards.
2. Obama is signaling Iran that the USA will not board the Iranian ships.
3. When the ships land and unload their weapons, Obama will tell us that none of the weapons "threaten navigation".
The reality is that Obama is so scared that any action might cause Iran to walk away from the nuclear deal, that he is prepared to let Iran's clients take over Yemen just for a piece of paper. Remember, control of Yemen means control of the Suez Canal as well. It also means encirclement of Saudi Arabia. And it probably still means an Iranian nuclear bomb in a year or two.
This just keeps getting worse.
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