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Houthi military spokesman Brigadier General Yahya Saree said Monday night: “The Yemeni armed forces consider all American and British ships and warships participating in the aggression against our country as hostile targets”. The missile came from near Hodeidah, a Red Sea port city long held by the Houthis, the US said. ..

In mid-December, almost as soon as our currently ailing Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin announced his soaringly named international coalition of high seas passage defenders…BREAKING:⚡ 🇺🇸🇮🇱 U.S. Secretary of Defense General Lloyd Austin will announce a multinational campaign codenamed 'Operation Prosperity Guardian' during his visit to the Middle East next weekAccording to U.S. Officials, the joint mission will be carried out by a multinational task force consisting of several allied countries, to counter the Houthi threat and protect vital shipping lanes in the Red Sea, Bab Al-Mandab & the Gulf of Aden.pic.twitter.com/UoCi83razX— Megatron (@Megatron_ron) December 16, 2023…it started to unravel...

he commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards vowed on Saturday to reach “the enemy” far and near as tensions soar on key shipping routes where Tehran’s allies have been attacking vessels. “Today, we are facing an all-out battle with the enemy,” said Guards commander Hossein Salami at a ceremony in the southern Gulf port city of Bandar Abbas, where the Guards’ navy unveiled a new ship named “Abu Mahdi” and 100 missile launchers.

U.S. President Joe Biden hoped to present a firm international response to Yemen's Houthi attacks on Red Sea shipping by launching a new maritime force, but a week after its launch many allies don't want to be associated with it, publicly, or at all. The Pentagon says the force is a defensive coalition of more than 20 nations to ensure billions of dollars' worth of commerce can flow freely through a vital shipping chokepoint in Red Sea waters off Yemen. But nearly half of those countries have so far not come forward to acknowledge their contributions or allowed the U.S....

A senior Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps general has threatened to close the Straits of Gibraltar to traffic if the US continues to support Israel's crusade to root out the terrorists in Gaza.“They shall soon await the closure of the Mediterranean Sea, [the Strait of] Gibraltar and other waterways,” Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Naqdi, a senior member of the country’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said today.The general did not explain how Iran, which does not border the Mediterranean, intended to make good on its threat.This threat should not come as a shock to anyone after the flaccid US and EU response...

America’s recent troubles in the Red Sea have ramifications that go beyond backtracked cargo and skirmishes with Islamic militias. At stake is global dominance of maritime trade — and the consequent dominance of global politics. As The New American has documented, U.S. naval forces are embroiled in conflict with Iran-backed Houthi militants in the Red Sea in order to prevent this Yemeni militia from targeting Western commercial vessels. Attacks from the Houthi have set back supply chains and prompted big firms such as CGM, Hapag-Lloyd, and BP to avoid the Suez Canal over safety concerns.But while the United States and...

The U.S. on Friday accused Iran of close involvement in attacks on commercial ships by Yemen's Houthi rebels, stepping up the tone as Washington considers tougher measures including possible force. The White House said that Tehran's clerical state has provided drones and missiles to the Houthis as well as tactical intelligence. "We know that Iran was deeply involved in planning the operations against commercial vessels in the Red Sea," National Security Council spokeswoman Adrienne Watson said. "We have no reason to believe that Iran is trying to dissuade the Houthis from this reckless behavior," she said.

<p>Concerns about the high cost of countering the threat posed by the Yemeni armed forces in the Red Sea are growing in the Pentagon, according to US defense officials who spoke with Politico.</p><p>Sanaa has reportedly fired at least 100 drones toward Israeli-linked commercial vessels for the past month in support of the Palestinian people. US estimates place the cost of the domestic-made drones at $2,000 each.</p>

President Biden spoke Thursday with Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, with the two men discussing efforts to reopen ports of entry along the U.S.-Mexico border. The conversation focused on migration issues as lawmakers in the United States are working to clinch a deal on border policy. Biden and López Obrador “agreed that additional enforcement actions are urgently needed so that key ports of entry can be reopened across our shared border,” according to a White House readout of the call.

I’ve had a couple posts already in the past week about the cargo situation in the Red Sea. The latest was on Monday and included news of the US gathering in the area with allies to possibly take a shot at these Houthis.CHART OF THE DAY: Currently, 5 out of 4 largest container shipping companies are turning away their vessels from the Red Sea due to attacks from the Houthis from Yemen, accounting for >50% of the world's capacity (measured by TEU containers). https://t.co/TiwfUc4KSY pic.twitter.com/O9iaphSOm1— Javier Blas (@JavierBlas) December 18, 2023Couldn’t happen a minute too soon for the global economy....

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australia will send 11 military personnel to support a U.S.-led mission to protect cargo shipping in the Red Sea, but it will not send a warship or plane, the defense minister said Thursday. Defense Minister Richard Marles said Australia’s military needs to keep focused on the Pacific region. The United States announced this week that several nations are creating a force to protect commerecial shipping from attack by drones and ballistic missiles fired from Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen. Marles said 11 military personnel will be sent in January to Operation Prosperity Guardian’s headquarters in Bahrain, where...

Somebody at Houthi central command has a great sense of humor or has been chewing a lot of khat.I vote for the latter, but perhaps I underestimate our friends who own the Red Sea at the moment.The logo on the plane reads: "God Is Great, Death to America, Death to Israel, Curse on the Jews, Victory to Islam". The Houthi motto. @JoeBiden delisted the Houthis as a terrorist group within days of taking office. Be sure to thank him and @TheDemocrats for their foreign policy https://t.co/ooNaeKtlMH— Joel Pollak (@joelpollak) December 19, 2023Jazz has written multiple times about the current state...

Railroad companies and business groups are pressing the U.S. government to reopen trade routes on the Texas-Mexico border, after authorities closed two crossings in response to a rise in migrant crossings in recent days. U.S. Border Patrol apprehended about 10,800 migrants at the southwest border Monday, according to an internal agency report reviewed by Reuters. About 40% were families or unaccompanied children

Joe Biden's economy is a disaster, but that doesn't mean it can't get worse. A couple of little publicized commerce/transport events make new problems, specifically, shortages of consumer goods, all but certain. Start with what's going on around the Saudi Arabian peninsula, where Houthi rebel rocket and drone attacks on ten commercial ships has reached crisis levels, and major shipping lines, such as Maersk, have opted to go around the horn of Africa the way Magellan had to do, in order to deliver their cargo loads to Europe and beyond.According to the trade publication Insurance Journal:Shipping in the Red Sea...

For years San Francisco's streets have been polluted by unsightly and unhealthy homeless encampments, aggressive and menacing panhandlers, piles of human excrement and discarded hypodermic needles. Residents, businesses, and pedestrians have suffered financial losses, physical harm, and inconvenience. City and state officials have refused to deal with these problems. However, this week's visit by China's President Xi Jinping inspired these same officials to take quick action. It took only three days to make the areas that could be seen or videotaped during Xi's visit appear respectable. Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) explained that "when the leader of the world's most powerful...

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A new trade agreement between the United Kingdom and Florida was signed here in Jacksonville Tuesday by Governor Ron DeSantis and UK Secretary of State for Business and Trade Kemi Badenoch. The new memorandum of understanding is the ninth agreement of its kind between the UK and states here in the US and according to Secretary Badenoch, it is by far the largest to date. The agreement is aimed at increasing investments between Florida and the UK as well as strengthening trade, academic research, and business relationships. Priority areas laid out in the agreement include space, fintech,...

The record number of supertankers sailing toward the shores of the US is getting ever larger. There are 51 ships headed to the nation’s ports over the next three months. That’s the most in at least six years, climbing by three from the previous week’s record. About 80% of the vessels are empty, indicating that they intend to pick up cargoes in the US. The growing volume comes after US crude exports surged this year to a record. Overseas shipments have averaged 4.1 million barrels a day, based on the Energy Information Administration’s weekly data, up from 3.5 million in...

WASHINGTON, D.C. (LifeSiteNews) — The Biden administration has decided to remove four African nations from a trade program this week, citing “gross violations” of left-wing values framed as “human rights.”In an October 30 letter to Republican Rep. Mike Johnson, the newly elected speaker of the House, and to the president of the Senate, Vice President Kamala Harris, President Joe Biden announced his intention to remove the Central African Republic, Uganda, Niger, and Gabon from the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). The reasons for cutting the four nations off as beneficiaries of the trade agreement are related to what Biden...

In accordance with section 506A(a)(3)(B) of the Trade Act of 1974, as amended (19 U.S.C. 2466a(a)(3)(B)), I am providing advance notification of my intent to terminate the designation of the Central African Republic, the Gabonese Republic (Gabon), Niger, and the Republic of Uganda (Uganda) as beneficiary sub-Saharan African countries under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). I am taking this step because I have determined that the Central African Republic, Gabon, Niger, and Uganda do not meet the eligibility requirements of section 104 of the AGOA. Specifically, the Government of the Central African Republic has engaged in gross violations...

Foreign investments are leaving China. Half of the $250 billion to $300 billion foreign bond investments since 2019 have exited, and U.S. private equity and venture capital investments in China have fallen by more than 50 percent, according to a JP Morgan report last month. Foreign direct investment into China in the second quarter of this year reached a 25-year low at $4.9 billion, with a year-on-year decline of 87 percent, according to Chinese official data.Bloomberg and fDi Markets data on new investment projects—a more telling indicator of whether foreign firms are still investing in the country—show a 40 percent...