UANI Applauds U.S.-Led Strikes Against Houthis, Urges More Proactive Measures To Deter Iran

(New York, NY) – Today, United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) Chairman Senator Joseph I. Lieberman and CEO Ambassador Mark D. Wallace released the following statement on yesterday’s U.S.-led military coalition strikes against the Iran-backed Houthis:

“The United States has exercised restraint against the Iran-backed Houthis for far too long. This week, the Houthis unleashed their largest salvo of attack drones and missiles against various international commercial and military vessels in the Red Sea to date. This threatened global maritime security and severely disrupted shipping.

“We applaud Australia, Bahrain, Canada, the Netherlands, the United States, and the United Kingdom for their strikes against the Houthi militants on Thursday. This operation signifies a step in the right direction for the U.S. government, but it will not single-handedly deter Iran from its ongoing belligerent actions through its terror proxies in the region.

“Iranian-backed aggression against the United States and its allies must be deterred by aiming directly at the source of the threat: Iran. We cannot wait for months to respond and to do so merely against expendable proxies. The U.S. government needs to be proactive, rather than reactive, in stamping out the growing threats emanating from the Iranian regime.  

“In order to maintain safety in the Red Sea, the United States must deploy F-35 combat aircrafts to sink Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) fast boats that are harassing commercial vessels. U.S. forces should also target military and intelligence targets in Iran, including IRGC sites and missiles and drone bases where Iran’s proxies are trained.

“Iran’s ongoing aggression should serve as a reminder to the international community that under no circumstances can Iran be trusted with a nuclear weapon. Responding now with force on Iranian soil to its non-nuclear aggression will help deter Iran from pursuing a nuclear weapon. Real deterrence means consistently deterring our enemies and reassuring our allies. Real deterrence is about American reliability which builds broader coalitions founded on American strength and steadiness. This will be the only way to change Tehran’s calculus and deescalate tensions in the region.”