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Iran Must Pay the Price for Its Aggression
(New York Post) Mark Dubowitz - Iran is on the offensive. On the day after Christmas, U.S. forces in the Red Sea had to shoot down 12 suicide drones, three anti-ship missiles and two land-attack cruise missiles, all launched by the Iran-backed Houthi terrorist group in Yemen. The Houthis are torturers whose official motto is "Death to America, death to Israel, curse the Jews, and victory to Islam." Yet one of President Biden's first decisions after taking office was to remove the Houthis from the U.S. list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations. Reward the bad guys for bad behavior and you get more of it. Every ship that passes through the Suez Canal has to traverse the Red Sea. BP - one of the world's largest energy companies - announced on Dec. 18 it would temporarily pause the shipping of oil and natural gas through the Red Sea due to Houthi attacks. If the U.S. Navy loses control of these high seas, shipping costs will spike and shipping companies could refuse to dock in Israel, Egypt and other Middle Eastern ports of call. The consequences for the global economy and international security would be severe. Iran's proxies are now escalating on every front, while Iran itself hangs back. Its multifront war against the U.S. and Israel will end only when the regime itself has to pay the price for its aggression. If President Biden wants to protect U.S. and allied naval forces in the Red Sea while keeping its shipping lanes open, he needs to show the Houthis they will pay a heavy price for attacking the U.S. and its friends. Instead of pinprick counterstrikes, which have little deterrent value, the president should put the Houthis back on the terror list and direct the U.S. military to destroy substantial military assets they control. The writer is chief executive of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.