Iran's Houthi Allies Laugh Off Biden's 'Pathetic' Move

The Yemeni militia mounting a long-range campaign against Israel and commercial vessels accused of supporting the country as it wages war in Gaza has dismissed a new set of U.S. sanctions as effectively useless in comments shared with Newsweek.

"This is pathetic and laughable at the same time," Nasreddin Amer, deputy information secretary of Ansar Allah, also known as the Houthi movement, told Newsweek. "These sanctions have no significant effect. Rather, they are evidence of the impotence and paralysis that America is suffering from."

The measures, announced Thursday by the U.S. State Department and Treasury Department, targeted two people, Indonesia-based Malaysian and Singaporean national Mohammad Roslan Bin Ahmad and Chinese businessman Zhuang Liang, as well as Thailand and Singapore-based Ascent General Insurance Company, United Arab Emirates-based Fornacis Energy Trading Co. L.L.C, Barco Ship Management Inc. and Alpha Shine Marine Services L.L.C and Marshall Islands-registered Sea Knot Shipping Inc.

All seven were accused of aiding a network allegedly led by Yemeni national Sa'id al-Jamal, who has previously been designated for U.S.-claimed ties to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

The U.S. Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, Brian Nelson said in a statement accompanying the announcement that the move "underscores our focus on disrupting the Houthis' sprawling network of financial facilitators, shell companies, and vessels, that enables the primary source of funding for the group's destabilizing activities."

Yet, in the face of repeated rounds of sanctions and U.S. military action, Ansar Allah has continued to wage its unprecedented offensive. Amer asserted that "our operation will not stop at all until the aggression against Gaza stops and the siege is completely lifted—this is what we said months ago, and we are still saying, and nothing will happen except only what we say."

Newsweek has reached out to the U.S. State Department for comment.

Ansar Allah launched its first attack against Israel last October, less than two weeks after the Palestinian militant group Hamas conducted a surprise attack on Israel, sparking what has become the longest and deadliest war in Gaza to date. U.S. warships sent to the region in response to the conflict intercepted the missile strike from Yemen, but the campaign pressed on, expanding to commercial vessels in December.

Since then, Ansar Allah is estimated to have struck some 70 vessels in the Red Sea, Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean. In the latest operations, the group targeted the Panama-flagged BENTLEY and the Libera-flagged CHIOS oil tankers, sharing explosive footage purporting to show the CHIOS strike.

A third vessel, the Cyprus-flagged Olvia, was also claimed to have been targeted in an operation conducted jointly Monday by Ansar Allah and the Islamic Resistance of Iraq, a collective of militias also operating as part of the broader Iran-aligned Axis of Resistance coalition. The Islamic Resistance in Iraq shared footage said to show the launch of a drone toward the Olvia, though the ship's owners denied it had been hit.

That same day, U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) announced the downing of five Ansar Allah drones throughout the group's latest attacks at sea.

"This continued reckless behavior by the Iranian-backed Houthis threatens regional stability and endangers the lives of mariners across the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden," CENTCOM said in its statement. "The Houthis claim to be acting on behalf of Palestinians in Gaza and yet they are targeting and threatening the lives of third country nationals who have nothing to do with the conflict in Gaza."

"USCENTCOM will continue to act with partners to hold the Houthis accountable and degrade their military capabilities," the statement said.

The U.S. military has also conducted strikes on Ansar Allah positions in Yemen in response to the campaign. However, the group has repeatedly vowed to continue its offensive and double down on coordination with fellow Axis of Resistance factions as the war in Gaza rages on.

"The continuation of the Israeli aggression in committing massacres against our people in Gaza will only push the Yemeni people, their armed forces and their faithful and struggling leadership to more supportive and joint operations with the Iraqi Islamic Resistance in support and solidarity with the oppressed Palestinian people," Ansar Allah military spokesperson Yahya Saree said in a statement Monday.

The Islamic Resistance in Iraq has also engaged in operations against U.S. troops in Iraq and Syria. This campaign was largely halted after the Biden administration ordered intensive strikes in both countries in response to the killing of three U.S. soldiers in one such attack at the Jordan-Syria border.

Iraqi militia leaders have threatened, however, to resume the campaign if U.S. soldiers were not withdrawn from Iraq, and the Pentagon blamed unspecified IRGC-tied factions on Thursday for a new drone attack conducted against U.S. forces in Iraq on Tuesday.

Both Ansar Allah and the Islamic Resistance in Iraq have also claimed numerous attacks on Israel itself, particularly the southern Red Sea port city of Eilat. The Islamic Resistance in Iraq claimed its latest strike on Eilat on Wednesday, alongside footage of Nujaba Movement Secretary-General Sheikh Akram al-Kaabi participating in the launching of the drone said to be used in the operation.

The group said the strike was conducted "in continuation of our approach to resisting the occupation, in support of our people in Palestine, and in response to the massacres committed by the usurping entity against civilians, including children, women and the elderly."

The Israel Defense Forces did not issue a notice of any attacks Wednesday but did announce the interception last Friday of two drones headed toward Eilat from Syria, where groups attached to the Islamic Resistance in Iraq also operate.

Meanwhile, tensions continue to mount on Israel's northern border as it battles another Axis of Resistance group, Lebanon's Hezbollah.

Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, have openly discussed the prospect of a large-scale offensive in Lebanon. Hezbollah officials have told Newsweek the group was prepared to fight in such a war.

Iran, which touts its support for Axis of Resistance groups but denies directly arming Ansar Allah, has also warned Israel against expanding the war into Lebanon.

In an exclusive interview on Monday, Iranian Acting Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri Kani told Newsweek that "the balance in the region has been in favor of the resistance" since the onset of the Israel-Hamas war.

"If they try to expand the war and tensions to other parts of the region, including Lebanon, they will fail in changing this new order," Bagheri said. "Of course, they cannot change it, and it will bring further damages to Israel and further benefits to the resistance."

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