The Anti-Iran Coalition Takes Shape

By Noah Rothman

Friday, January 10, 2025

 

In a development that would have been all but unthinkable 20 years ago, a series of airstrikes against Houthi targets in Yemen were carried out earlier today by the Israeli air force in coordination with the United States and Great Britain.

 

According to the Jerusalem Post’s reporting, U.S. CENTCOM commander Brad Cooper discussed efforts to coordinate offensive operations against Iran-backed targets during a recent visit to Jerusalem. That preparation was put into practice early Friday.

 

Another source confirmed the strike was coordinated with the American-British coalition, which attacked certain targets – and at the same time, Israel attacked other targets. There was no cooperation in the attack on the targets themselves, but each party struck different targets. The attacks were the largest coordinated Israeli-US-British attack on the Houthis since the start of the war. More than 20 Israeli aircraft partook in the strikes, with around 50 munitions being dropped on terror targets in Yemen, Israeli media reported.

 

The Post’s sources detailed the division of labor that will be “split” across the coalition as it attempts to degrade the Houthis’ capacity to attack, hijack, and disrupt maritime traffic in the Gulf of Aden. “The coalition will allegedly attack weapons facilities, control and command bases, and underground places,” the report read, “while Israel strikes the Houthi’s economic facilities — which have military and civilian use such as ports, airports, power plants, etc.”

 

The Trump administration will inherit both this coalition and its vital mission: showing this rag-tag militia, its sponsors in Tehran, and the Russian and Chinese actors who have capitalized on the disruption it has wrought where the real power lies. And make no mistake: The Iranian regime is watching.

 

The mullahs know that an Israeli operation aimed at neutralizing their nuclear weapons program is unlikely to be entirely successful — even with U.S. logistical support, for example, over the skies of Iraq. A multinational coalition that includes the United States and the U.K., as well as the Israeli military, though, would increase the prospects for operational success to a degree that must shake Iran’s faith in its defenses.

 

The Biden administration deserves credit for assenting to this operation and giving the Islamic Republic something to worry about. The Trump administration should take this opening to its logical conclusion. The survival of Iran’s nuclear-weapons program and, indeed, the regime itself is in the crosshairs. If ever there was a strong position to negotiate from, this is it.