The Biden administration responded this week to attacks against merchant ships in international waters from the Houthi terrorist organization by saying that the goal was not to “contain” the Houthis.
Coordinator for Strategic Communications for the National Security Council John Kirby was confronted about the matter during Wednesday’s press briefing after the Houthis launched 18 suicide drones and three missiles at a group of ships in international waters in the Red Sea.
“The best solution to this situation not escalating is for the Houthis to stop these attacks,” Kirby said when pressed on the dozens of attacks that the Iranian-backed terrorist group has launched. “In the interim, since they’ve shown no predilection to do that, we’re going to do everything we have to do to protect shipping in the Red Sea. And I think I’ll just — going leave it there.”
When pressed on the fact that the administration’s “warnings” to the Houthis have done nothing to deter the attacks, Kirby claimed that the administration was “successful,” even though the attacks keep happening.
“They will bear the consequences for any failure to do so,” he said. “And I think I’m just going to leave it there.”
Kirby was then confronted over the administration’s statements from last week that they were giving the Houthis their final warning to stop the attacks.
“Just given that the administration specifically said last week that the warning last week was the last warning from the U.S., can you at least say whether we should expect to see something different coming from the U.S.?” a reporter asked.
“No, I cannot say that,” Kirby responded. “And I’m not going to telegraph punches one way or the other.”
Kirby was then asked if it was a mistake for the Biden administration to remove the Houthis from the Foreign Terrorist Organization list.
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“The goal here isn’t to contain the Houthis, just to be clear,” he said. “We don’t want to see these attacks on commercial shipping, and we’re going to do what we have to do to counter and defend against those attacks. And as I said earlier, the Houthi — they have — they’ve — they’ve made certain decisions up to this time. They have to make certain decisions going forward. And we’ll see what decisions they make. They will bear the consequences for those decisions going forward.”
REPORTER: Was Joe Biden's decision to delist the Iranian backed Houthis as a Foreign Terrorist Organization in 2021 a mistake?
BIDEN SPOX JOHN KIRBY: "The goal here isn't to contain the Houthis, just to be clear!" pic.twitter.com/zkXJ99lGb3
— Steve Guest (@SteveGuest) January 10, 2024