Xi’s Latest Act of ”Strategic Arson” - A Tanker War with His Proxies

A new tanker war has erupted in the waters of the Middle East, with Iranian proxies attacking, seizing and otherwise targeting vessels in the Red and Arabian Seas. The immediate object of such piracy, ostensibly carried out by Houthi rebels based in Yemen, is to endanger Israel-tied commercial shipping. 

These attacks, however, fit a pattern of calculated “strategic arson” being perpetrated elsewhere by Iran’s sponsor – Chinese dictator Xi Jinping – as he prepares for a shooting war of his own. 

Notably, a U.S. destroyer that interrupted one such attack on Sunday subsequently had two Houthi ballistic missiles splash down in her vicinity.

The more our too-small Navy is tied down half-a-world away from the Pacific the better for a man who likely has more such depleting distractions in mind before he moves against Taiwan and us in the months to come. 

This is Frank Gaffney.