The White House Tuesday said a U.S. aircraft carrier was sent to Yemen this week to join American warships to protect the “free flow of commerce” in the waters off the nation’s coast but did not deny that the move was ostensibly about blocking Iranian weapons shipments to Houthi rebels there.
“The principle goal of this operation is to maintain freedom of navigation and free flow of commerce in the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea,” White House press secretary Josh Earnest said Tuesday of the Navy ship. “This is obviously a region of the world where significant commerce takes place.”
However, U.S. officials have linked the efforts to blocking the Iranians from supplying arms to rebels in Yemen.
“We continue to have concerns about Iran’s support for the Houthis, including supplying them with military equipment and arms,” Earnest said, declining to elaborate on the military mission.
The violence in Yemen is particularly troubling for Obama, who has held the nation up as a model of success for his counterterrorism strategy.
The turmoil there has effectively launched a proxy war between Iran, which supports the rebel forces, and Saudi Arabia, which is backing the Yemeni government. Saudi Arabia is leading a coalition of Gulf States conducting airstrikes there.
The showdown comes as Obama attempts to finalize a nuclear deal with Iran by the end of June. The White House continues to insist that Iran’s meddling in Yemen should not be linked to the nuclear talks.
