The potential confrontation between U.S. warships and a convoy of Iranian ships off the coast of Yemen shouldn’t change the negotiations between the U.S. and Iran on its nuclear program, said House Armed Services Committee Chairman Rep. Mac Thornberry. But the issue shows that the U.S. can’t acquiesce to the country just to get a nuclear deal through, the Texas Republican said Tuesday.
“I don’t think that this changes something directly,” Thornberry said of the potential framework for a nuclear deal reached April 2. “But it does highlight that Iran has a number of activities around the region and around the world that are problematic. It includes their missile programs. It includes their growing influence in Iraq, it includes their propping up of [President Bashar] Assad in Syria and it includes their fueling this war in Yemen.”
On Tuesday the Pentagon said the nine U.S. warships it has sent to the region, including an aircraft carrier, a guided missile cruiser, several destroyers and mine countermeasure ships, will monitor a convoy of Iranian vessels that are suspected of carrying arms for Houthi rebels in Yemen who overthrew the government. Since the overthrow and evacuation of U.S. personnel, the U.S. has provided logistics and intelligence support to a coalition of Arab nations led by Saudi Arabia that are carrying out airstrikes against the Houthis.
Thornberry said the operations in Yemen, Iraq and Syria indicate “a growing open conflict between Sunni and Shiite in various places around the world, and that’s got to be troubling to all of us.”
