There was an interesting and potentially deadly turn of events in the Gulf of Aden this weekend, increasing the escalating tensions in the Middle East. A Liberian-flagged tanker sailing in the area was approached by a small vessel carrying eight armed attackers who boarded and seized control of the vessel. An American warship, the destroyer USS Mason, was dispatched to the scene to assist. They drove the attackers back into their small vessel and later captured them after returning control of the tanker to the captain. But things became even more interesting when Houthi rebels fired two ballistic missiles from Yemen that splashed down in the vicinity of the Mason. It was “a helluva day at sea, sir,” to quote one mostly forgettable movie scene. (Associated Press)

Armed assailants seized and later let go of a tanker linked to Israel off the coast of Yemen on Sunday before being apprehended by the United States Navy, officials said. Two ballistic missiles fired from Houthi-controlled Yemen then landed near a U.S. warship aiding the tanker in the Gulf of Aden, raising the stakes amid a series of ship attacks linked to the Israel-Hamas war.

Yemen’s internationally recognized government blamed the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels for the attack, though the rebels in control of the capital, Sanaa, did not acknowledge either the seizure or the missile attack.

The attackers seized the Liberian-flagged Central Park, managed by Zodiac Maritime, in the Gulf of Aden, the company, the U.S. and British militaries and private intelligence firm Ambrey said.

While the entire event ended without any death or major destruction, there are a number of alarming elements in this story that the media is currently highlighting. First of all, the tanker, named the Central Park, is being described as an “Israeli-linked” vessel. That’s technically true because the company operating it is owned in part by Israeli billionaire Eyal Ofer. Any incident of a hostile attack on shipping linked to Israel would be problematic in the middle of the ongoing war, but the ship was flying a Liberian flag and it’s unknown if the rebels were even aware of a link to Israel or if they were just engaged in the type of piracy that is all too common to the region.

Then there was the firing of the missiles. The attempted attack is being credited to the Houthi rebels that currently control the Yemeni capital. Since when do they have ballistic missiles? Yemen has been a disaster for years and the Houthis are backed by Iran, so they are well-equipped and funded. But a ballistic missile attack on American military forces would be a major step up and a serious provocation. As it turns out, the Houthis have had ballistic missiles for a while now and have been firing them at Israeli targets in the Red Sea. Fortunately, they’re not very good at using them yet. (The missiles in this case missed the American destroyer by nearly ten miles.)

This was an obvious proxy attack by Iran, first on an Israel-linked tanker and then on an American warship. Simply taking the pirates into custody doesn’t seem like nearly enough. I assume someone has gone to Joe Biden’s vacation mansion and informed him of this by now. Yemen is basically fair game at this point because the country’s central government has been displaced from the capital by Houthi rebels and moved into southern territories. If we wanted to strike back against the Houthi to send a strong message, we would be fully within our rights. And the Saudis, who back up the displaced government, probably wouldn’t raise much of a fuss.

As with nearly everything else awful that’s going on in the Middle East, Iran is at the bottom of all of this. It would probably still be premature to launch a direct strike inside of Iran at this point, but we could knock out some of their proxies in Yemen and perhaps send a message that they need to back down and stop trying to escalate the war in Gaza. This could be one way to do that. But would Joe Biden have the temerity to order such a response? One of our own warships has been attacked. Something needs to be done and Iran only understands and respects force.