Maybe if they just say “pretty please, Iran”:
Secretary Antony J. Blinken With Christiane Baissary of Al Hadath
INTERVIEW
RITZ-CARLTON HOTEL
JEDDAH, SAUDI ARABIA
MARCH 20, 2024
. . . .
QUESTION: From Palestine, Israel, to the Red Sea, the United States and the UK were striking the Houthis in Yemen and were having talks in Amman in order to pressure Iran to use its influence over the Houthis to stop attacks in the Red Sea, and this wasn’t working. Is the United States also doing any other editorial methods to deter the Houthi?
SECRETARY BLINKEN: Well, I think you have countries around the world – much of the international community – that condemns what the Houthis are doing: attacking international shipping, jeopardizing commerce that’s so vital to people around the world. Thousands of ships have had to reroute. Prices have gone up for everything they’re carrying because they have to take longer voyages to get where they’re going. Insurance has gone up. And just recently, what did we see? We saw the Houthis actually kill three sailors from – who were on a boat, Filipinos. We saw them sink a ship that created an environmental disaster because oil was spilled, fertilizer was spilled into the sea. We saw them attack ships that were carrying food to Yemen, to the very people that the Houthis purport to represent.
So no matter what your views are on Gaza, there’s no justification for this ongoing attack on international shipping that’s having terrible consequences for people in Yemen and for people around the world. And dozens of countries, including at the United Nations, have spoken up and spoken out about this. So we would like to see Iran exert the influence that it has, because it’s the primary supplier to the Houthis of weapons, of information, of technology. We would like to see them tell the Houthis to stop. Meanwhile, we and other countries have no choice but to try to defend the shipping and, as necessary, degrade the assets – the military assets – that the Houthis are using to continue to attack shipping.
QUESTION: How are you pressuring Iran to do so?
SECRETARY BLINKEN: Well, we, as you know, have many differences with Iran in many different areas, and we have a lot of pressure that’s imposed on them by us and by many other countries, including through sanctions. But I also don’t think it’s in Iran’s interest to continue to support these Houthi attacks, attacks that, again, are being condemned by countries around the world. The extent to which Iran is seen as being responsible for that – I don’t think that’s good for Iran, so we hope that it will use the influence it has to put an end to this.
Chaser:
“I think he has been wrong on nearly every major foreign policy and national security issue over the past four decades.” — Former Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Joe Biden
“Don’t underestimate Joe’s ability to f__k things up.” — Former president Barack Obama on Joe Biden
