President Joe Biden belatedly responded last week to Houthi attacks on international shipping. But weakly limited military strikes by the United States and the United Kingdom unsurprisingly failed to deter these Iranian-backed terrorists.

They can see that Biden is terrified of escalation and lacks the stomach to confront the threat they pose seriously. As the Washington Examiner first reported on Dec. 19, Britain was ready to conduct the strikes a month before Washington gave the go-ahead. A timid White House dithered because it feared provoking Iran, as though that tyranny and global menace would be quiescent unless goaded.