Biden Co-Chair: ‘No Surprise’ We Haven’t Deterred Houthis Yet

On Friday’s broadcast of CNN International’s “One World,” Biden Campaign Co-Chair Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE) stated that “it’s no surprise that a couple of rounds of U.S. and British attacks on Houthi launchers have not yet deterred them.”

Coons said, “The Houthis are really quite tough. They endured years of bombardment and attacks by the Saudis. They began the conflict with the Saudis by launching missiles into Saudi Arabia. And so, frankly, it’s no surprise that a couple of rounds of U.S. and British attacks on Houthi launchers have not yet deterred them. But frankly, we could not allow them to continue to attack vessels passing by in the Red Sea. This impacts all of global commerce, a huge percentage of shipping from Asia to Europe and Europe to Asia passes through the very narrow point where Yemen is separated from the continent of Africa. And President Biden approached this in a deliberate way. He assembled a coalition of a dozen countries committed to trying to stop the Houthis. He went to the United Nations and got a Security Council resolution authorizing this multinational action against the Houthis. This is distinct from a number of other recent conflicts, in that it is something that is in the interests of everyone, including the Chinese and the Indians, the Saudis, even the Russians, it is in no one’s interests — except perhaps Iran — for the Houthis to disturb global commerce and for thousands and thousands of ships to be redirected around the Horn of Africa.”

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett