White House blames IRAN for attacks on commercial vessels in the Red Sea: U.S. in talks with allies about ‘appropriate responses’ after Tehran-backed Houthi rebels shot at vessels and US warship downed three drones

White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan pointed the finger at Iran on Monday as he discussed attacks on commercial ships in the Red Sea by Houthi rebels.

On Sunday, ballistic missiles fired by the Houthis hit three commercial ships, while the US warship, the USS Carney, downed three drones heading in their direction.

Sullivan reiterated that it remained unclear whether the Carney was the intended target of the three unmanned aerial vehicles, but said the incident “is truly a source of global concern and a threat to international peace and stability.”

“We will continue to consult very closely with allies and partners to determine and take all appropriate responses,” Sullivan said.

“We have every reason to believe that these attacks, while launched by the Houthis in Yemen, are fully enabled by Iran,” he added.

White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan pointed the finger at Iran on Monday as he discussed attacks on commercial ships in the Red Sea by Houthi rebels

The USS Carney (pictured) shot down three drones when ballistic missiles fired from a Houthi-controlled area in Yemen attacked three commercial ships on Sunday

The attack continues a pattern of escalation since the advent of the war between Israel and Hamas.

On Sunday, the Carney discovered that a ballistic missile was fired from a Houthi-controlled area in Yemen toward a Bahamas-flagged commercial ship called the Unity Explorer.

That missile missed the ship and a short time later the Carney shot down a drone heading towards him.

A second missile hit the Unity Explorer, while the Carney shot down a second drone as it responded to the Unity Explorer's distress call, the Central Command report said.

The Unity Explorer suffered only minor damage from the missile attack.

Two other commercial airlines, the Panamanian-flagged Number 9 and Sophie II, were also hit by missiles.

The Carney shot down a third drone as the warship responded to the Sophie II's distress call.

The Sophie II reported no significant damage, while number 9 reported some damage as a result of the missile attacks.

There were no casualties.

Sullivan said at Monday's news conference that the ships were connected to 14 different countries — but that they were not necessarily connected to Israel.

'I can't give a definitive answer to that, but we don't think so. We do not believe that all three ships have ties to Israel and it shows the level of recklessness at which the Houthis are operating,” Sullivan said.

“Any ship they shoot at, whether it is owned by Israel or has had past ties to Israel, does not make it any more of a justifiable target under international law than if the ship had no ties to Israel,” he added .

One solution on the table, he said, is so-called maritime task forces, in which military ships from a coalition of countries would escort commercial ships through this part of the Red Sea.

Sullivan noted that “that would be a natural part of the comprehensive response to what we see here.”

The top national security official said the Biden administration wanted to build a coalition to tackle the issue with “as much support as possible from as many countries as possible.”

“This is a problem for the whole world,” he said, reiterating who is ultimately responsible.

“We're talking about the Houthis, they're the ones with their finger on the trigger, that weapon, the weapons here are supplied by Iran and Iran, in our view, is the ultimate party responsible for this,” Sullivan said.