Yemen launches new attack on US warship.
Yemeni officials say they are prepared for ‘long-term confrontation’ with the US and UK.
Yemen’s Armed Forces announced an attack on a US warship on 31 January in response to the several violent airstrikes launched against the country this month by Washington and the UK.
“The naval force of the Yemeni Armed Forces … fired several naval missiles at the American destroyer USS Gravely in the Red Sea [ as a] response to the US-British aggression against our country,” Yemeni army spokesman Yahya al-Saree said in a statement on Wednesday morning.
“All US and British warships in the Red and Arab seas participating in the aggression against our country are within the target range of our forces and will be targeted within the right of legitimate defense of our country … and in confirmation of the continued Yemeni position in support of Palestine,” Saree added.
The Yemeni official vowed to continue “to prevent Israeli-linked navigation or navigation towards the ports of occupied Palestine until the aggression against Gaza stops and the siege is lifted.”
CENTCOM announced earlier in the day that the USS Gravely shot down a missile fired from Yemen towards the Red Sea a day earlier.
The USS Gravely is the second US warship targeted by Sanaa over the past two days after firing a missile at the Lewis B. Puller ship on 29 January.
The Yemeni navy attacked a British oil vessel, the Martin Luanda, on 26 January. The ship caught fire as a result of the attack. US and British warplanes launched a fresh round of strikes on Yemen the next day.
Yemen has attacked several US ships in response to recent US and British airstrikes. The operations have not resulted in any deaths or injuries.
The Yemeni army – which is closely aligned with the Ansarallah resistance movement – has vowed to continue its blockade on vessels linked to the US, UK, and Israel.
Defense Minister of the Sanaa government, Major General Mohammad Nasser al-Atifi, said in a statement on 30 January that Yemen is “prepared for long-term confrontation with the [US and British] forces of tyranny.” “US fleets, aircraft carriers, and destroyers will not deter Yemen from carrying out its duties,” he added.
Iran says ‘no threat will be left unanswered’ as US response to Jordan attack looms.
After blaming Iran for ‘providing the weapons’ used to kill several US troops in Jordan, Joe Biden claimed he made a decision on how to respond to the attack by the Iraqi resistance.
The Commander in Chief of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), Major General Hossein Salami, on 31 January, warned that Iran is ready to respond to any threat from the US as Washington weighs an answer to an attack by the Islamic Resistance in Iraq (IRI) that killed three US soldiers earlier this week.
“We hear threats coming from US officials, we tell them that they have already tested us and we now know one another, no threat will be left unanswered,” Salami said on Wednesday.
“The enemies have prepared wars against Iran in all fields, militarily, economically, in the media, and psychologically,” the IRGC chief added.
Iran’s envoy to the UN, Amir Saeid Iravani, also warned on Wednesday that Tehran would respond decisively to any attack on its territory, its interests, or Iranian nationals outside its borders.
The comments from Iranian officials came less than a day after US President Joe Biden announced he had made a decision about the US response to the drone strike that hit the Tower 22 US outpost on the Jordan-Syria border.
Asked on Tuesday by a CNN reporter whether he has decided how to respond, Biden said, “Yes,” but declined to provide further details. Earlier, Biden blamed Iran for providing the weaponry used in Sunday’s attack by the IRI.
Nonetheless, the US president claimed he did not seek a broader war in West Asia. Reports say the White House has been sending messages to the Islamic Republic via third-party back channels urging them not to retaliate after the upcoming response.
When pressed by ABC News on whether direct strikes against Iran were on the table, a senior US official told the outlet that “Biden has deep misgivings about retaliatory strikes on Iran itself.”
As anticipation builds for the US response, Iraq’s Kataib Hezbollah – one of the factions within the IRI – announced on Tuesday the suspension of all military operations against US troops in the region, in a decision they say seeks to prevent “embarrassing” the Iraqi government.
“We announce the suspension of military and security operations against the occupation forces – in order to prevent embarrassment to the Iraqi government – we will continue to defend our people in Gaza in other ways,” the statement reads.
“Our brothers in the Resistance Axis, especially in Iran, do not know the specifics of our jihadist work, and they have repeatedly declared opposition to our escalation against the US forces in Iraq and Syria,” the Kataib Hezbollah statement adds.
According to the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), the IRGC has also communicated with armed factions in Deir Ezzor governorate to stop attacks against US occupation bases.
Over the past three months, armed factions within the IRI umbrella conducted over 150 attacks on US bases in Iraq and Syria in retaliation for Washington’s support for the Israeli genocide campaign in Gaza.