Biden-Harris admin needs 'more aggressive' plan to take on Iran-backed Houthis, experts warn

Military commanders have publicly dissented from the Pentagon over the U.S. military's response to the Houthis' threat in the Red Sea, calling for a stronger response. 

"The U.S. clearly needs to conduct more aggressive actions on Iran for supplying and supporting the Houthis. Until the U.S imposes costs on Iran, these Houthi attacks will continue," Retired RADM Mark Montgomery, senior director for the Center on Cyber and Tech Innovation at the Foundation for Defense of Democracy, told Fox News Digital. 

"The Biden administration is not pursuing an effective deterrence strategy against the Iranians, and by extension, the Houthis, because the administration is overly concerned with provoking Iran and not concerned enough with shaping Iranian behavior," Montgomery said. 

"If you allow a bully to go unchecked for too long it becomes an escalatory challenge to eventually face the bully down." 

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Houthi followers burn the Israeli and American flags during a tribal gathering Jan. 14, 2024, on the outskirts of Sana'a, Yemen.  (Mohammed Hamoud/Getty Images)

CENTCOM’s commander, Gen. Michael Kurilla, issued a letter to Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin in which he claimed the current policies are "failing" to have the desired impact on Houthi attacks in the Red Sea, according to The Wall Street Journal. 

Kurilla called for a "whole of government" approach to the issue, which would include economic and diplomatic pressure in addition to stronger military pressure to dissuade the terrorist group from its campaign against shipping vessels in the region.

The tone of the letter shocked some members of the defense department, one official told the Journal, particularly Kurilla’s insistence that "U.S. service members will die if we continue going this way." 

The Pentagon told Fox News Digital it had nothing additional to provide in response to a request for comment. 

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The Houthis launched attacks against shipping vessels in the Red Sea after Israel’s invasion of the Gaza Strip, which was a response to the Hamas attack Oct. 7. 

F/A-18 Super Hornet fighter jets on the flight deck of the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower aircraft carrier during operations in the southern Red Sea March 19, 2024.  (Christopher Pike/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

The Houthis claimed they were only attacking ships that did business with Israel, but their attacks hit vessels from dozens of countries, causing significant disruptions and endangering the lives of hundreds of crewmen. 

U.S. National Security Council (NSC) spokesperson Sean Savett told Fox News Digital the U.S. has "aggressively employed a whole-of-government approach" in response to the Houthis, including sanctions, listing the group as a specially designated global terrorist organization and disrupting the group's supply lines. 

Houthi fighters march during a rally of support for the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and against the U.S. strikes on Yemen outside Sana'a Jan. 22, 2024. (AP Photo)

"As we have said, we will continue to make clear to the Houthis that they will bear the consequences if they do not stop their illegal attacks, which harm regional economies, cause environmental damage and disrupt the delivery of humanitarian aid to Yemen and other countries," Savett said. 

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Earlier this summer, officials described the back and forth with the Houthis over a six-month period as the "most intense running sea battle," according to The Associated Press. One commander told the outlet the Houthis launch missiles, drones or "some other type of attack" nearly every day.

"I don't think people really understand just kind of how deadly serious it is what we're doing and how under threat the ships continue to be," Cmdr. Eric Blomberg with the USS Laboon told the AP on a visit to his warship on the Red Sea.

A missile is launched from a warship during the U.S.-led coalition operation against Yemen's Houthi rebels in early February. (U.S. Central Command)

"We only have to get it wrong once," he said. "The Houthis just have to get one through."

The group most recently hit a Greek-flagged oil tanker in the Red Sea Aug. 21, leaving it "not under command" and drifting ablaze. While the Houthis did not directly take credit for the attack, the British military labeled the group as responsible. 

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CENTCOM over the weekend announced it destroyed at least one Houthi uncrewed aerial vehicle and one uncrewed surface vessel near Yemen after determining both presented a "clear and imminent threat" to U.S. and coalition forces. 

Rear Adm. Marc Miguez of the U.S. Navy revealed during an interview with YouTube personality and retired Navy aviator Ward Carroll that more aggressive strategies had been suggested, but command passed on them over fears of an Iranian response.

The oil tanker Marlin Luanda on fire after an attack in the Gulf of Aden Jan. 27, 2024,  (Indian Navy via AP)

"There are definite strategies that were put forward, but our National Command Authority decided that those — I would call more aggressive postures and more aggressive strikes — was not something we wanted to challenge," Miguez said in the interview, which was posted at the end of August.

"We all know Iranian-backed groups like the Houthis, where that threat's emanating from," Miguez said. "And so that is the calculus that's handled at echelon zero at the National Command Authority with NSA and everybody else.

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"Moving forward, we are going to have to continue to deal with this," he added. "It'll be up to our National Command Authority to probably be more aggressive with our strike groups and all of our assets, not just the Navy."

The U.S. Navy did not respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment by time of publication, but an NSC spokesperson separately insisted that "the assertion that the administration decided against a more aggressive policy over concerns about Iran's response is wrong." 

The Associated Press contributed to this report.