Former US Ambassador: Iran will attack US forces unless Biden Administration gets tough and strikes back against rogue nation’s clerics who are funding Houthi assaults

A former ambassador to Iraq has warned that Iran is responsible for multiple confirmed attacks on US warships in the Red Sea – and that the only way to stop them is for Biden to fight back.

Nathan Sales, former Ambassador to Iraq and the Levant, discussed the Pentagon-confirmed attacks on US maritime vessels linked to the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas.

“Iran is behind everything we're seeing in terms of attacks targeting U.S. forces,” Sales further said Fox news.

“We see Iranian allies attacking Americans in Syria and Iraq, and now from Yemen. And they will continue to do so until we force them to stop.”

On Sunday, US Central Command confirmed this there were four attacks on three separate commercial ships in the southern Red Sea, fired from Houthi-controlled areas in Yemen, which are financed with Iranian government money.

“These attacks pose a direct threat to international trade and maritime security,” the US Central Command said.

“They have endangered the lives of international crews representing multiple countries around the world. We also have every reason to believe that these attacks, although launched by the Houthis in Yemen, are fully enabled by Iran.”

Sales, who served as counterterrorism coordinator for the State Department, said the military will have to take stronger action to stop the attacks.

“Instead of blowing up empty ammunition depots in the desert in the middle of the night, you will have to actually take action and launch attacks against the people responsible for these attacks,” he said.

'And we don't just mean the powers of attorney. That also means the Iranian puppeteers, the ones pulling the strings.”

Sales said: “It's only a matter of time before one of these Iranian proxies gets lucky and actually causes fatalities. At least fifty American soldiers have been injured in this Iranian-backed terror campaign.”

“The time to prevent these types of attacks, the time to establish deterrence, is now the moment when we can gain the upper hand and maintain dominance on the escalation ladder.”

“The message they've gotten is that it's open season on Americans in the Middle East and the White House will take no action to protect them,” Sales said.

The Pentagon confirmed that the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Carney, based in the waters between Africa and Asia, was attacked.

On October 19, footage showed the US ship defending itself against a combination of Iranian-backed Houthi missiles and aircraft – which it successfully downed.

Yemen's Houthi rebels later took credit for attacking two ships — without saying they were American — one with a missile and one with a drone.

Houthi military spokesman Brig. General Yahya Saree said the attacks will continue as long as Israel remains at war with Hamas in Gaza.

The Pentagon said Sunday morning: “We are aware of reports of attacks on the USS Carney and commercial ships in the Red Sea and will provide information as it becomes available.”

Sales proposed adding the Iran-backed Yemeni Houthis back to the list of terrorist organizations after they were removed shortly after Biden took office.

He said: 'What else do they have to do to ensure that we can label them as a terrorist organisation? That's actually something we did during the Trump administration.”

“Within weeks of taking office, the Biden administration took them off the terror list, so maybe they should reconsider that and put them back on the list.”

On November 21, national security spokesman John Kirby said the administration was considering adding the Houthis back to the list after seizing the cargo ship Galaxy Leader, which has ties to Israel.

“In light of the recent attacks on civilians by the Houthis, and now the piracy of a ship in international waters, we have begun an assessment of possible terrorist leads and will also consider other options together with our allies and partners. Kirby said.

Biden withdrew the nomination early in his presidency, saying it hampered efforts to deliver humanitarian aid to war-torn Yemen.

Houthi rebels have carried out a series of attacks on ships in the Red Sea – and have also launched drones and missiles targeting Israel as it wages war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

Just last week, Iran-backed Houthi rebels fired missiles at a US Navy destroyer off the coast of Yemen, in a “significant escalation” with US forces.

The USS Mason had responded on Sunday to a distress call from an Israeli-linked chemical tanker in the Gulf of Aden that had been seized by armed rebels.

The Central Park tanker was carrying a cargo of phosphoric acid when the crew called for help, saying “they were under attack by an unknown entity.”

Allied ships from a counter-piracy task force operating in the Gulf of Aden and off the coast of Somalia, including the USS Mason, responded to the call for help and “demanded the release of the ship” when they reached the tanker .

“Subsequently, five armed individuals disembarked the vessel and attempted to flee via their small boat,” the US Central Command said in a statement, adding: “The Mason pursued the attackers, resulting in their eventual surrender.”

Hours later, at 1:41 a.m. local time, two ballistic missiles were fired from Houthi-controlled Yemen and subsequently landed near the US warship – a guided missile destroyer. .

Both missiles fell 10 nautical miles short and landed in the water.

The tanker that was hijacked last Sunday was identified as the Liberian-flagged Central Park after its seizure by the shipping company Zodiac Maritime.