--- title: How Biden Can Stop Houthi Attacks—Without Risking War description: U.S. airstrikes have failed to deter Yemen's Houthis. Yet Biden is refusing to pursue the most obvious and peaceful approach. canonical: https://time.com/6555620/us-strikes-houthis-yemen/ author: Trita Parsi article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2024-01-15T18:02:34.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-01-19T10:20:19.000Z article:section: Ideas og:title: How Biden Can Stop Houthi Attacks—Without Risking War og:description: Airstrikes have failed to deter Yemen's Houthis. But Biden is refusing to pursue the most obvious and peaceful approach. og:url: https://time.com/6555620/us-strikes-houthis-yemen/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf1d6672d32e08fb5/698a43dab3fce3c8db0cb2e7/GettyImages-1925679369.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: Protest against US attacks on Houthis in Yemen og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: How Biden Can Stop Houthi Attacks—Without Risking War twitter:description: Airstrikes have failed to deter Yemen's Houthis. But Biden is refusing to pursue the most obvious and peaceful approach. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf1d6672d32e08fb5/698a43dab3fce3c8db0cb2e7/GettyImages-1925679369.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # How Biden Can Stop Houthi Missile Attacks—Without Risking War > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: August 2026. ## TIME Inside TIME: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition Inside TIME is one of seven email newsletters published by TIME, the news organization founded in 1923. A closer look at TIME's latest cover and our most compelling stories. Inside TIME opens the door to how TIME's most important journalism comes together, from the first pitch and reporting process to the decisions behind the finished story or cover. 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Inside TIME is the newsletter where TIME's Editor-in-Chief explains cover selection and the editorial reasoning behind major stories. It is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Who is the editor of TIME? Sam Jacobs is TIME's Editor-in-Chief. He writes Inside TIME, a twice-weekly newsletter about the newsroom's reporting and editorial decisions. #### Is Inside TIME free? Yes. Inside TIME is a free newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. A paid TIME subscription is separate and available at time.com/subscribe-agent. by [Trita Parsi](https://time.com/author/trita-parsi/) ## Trita Parsi Contributor Contributor Updated: Jan 19, 2026 10:20 AM UTCPublished: Jan 15, 2024 6:02 PM UTC  Members of different tribes shout anti-U.S. slogans with guns in hands as they stage a protest against U.S. attacks on Yemen's Houthis near Sanaa, Yemen in Jan. 14, 2024. Members of different tribes shout anti-U.S. slogans with guns in hands as they stage a protest against U.S. attacks on Yemen's Houthis near Sanaa, Yemen in Jan. 14, 2024.Mohammed Hamoud—Anadolu via Getty Images by [Trita Parsi](https://time.com/author/trita-parsi/) ## Trita Parsi Contributor Contributor Updated: Jan 19, 2026 10:20 AM UTCPublished: Jan 15, 2024 6:02 PM UTC There is a simple reason why [U.S. and U.K. military strikes](https://time.com/6554861/yemen-houthi-rebels-history-cause-israel-hamas-war/) against Yemen’s Houthis will not achieve their objective of re-opening the crucial Red Sea lanes for international shipping: The Houthis don’t have to succeed in striking additional commercial vessels, or even successfully retaliate against U.S. military ships. All they need to do is to try. That is enough to sustain a de facto shipping blockade of the Red Sea, through which a staggering [12% of global trade flows](https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/dec/19/red-sea-shipping-crisis-bp-oil-explained-what-is-happening-and-what-does-it-mean-for-global-trade). Many Western commercial vessels will simply not risk moving their ships through those waters, not in spite of President Joe Biden’s military strikes, but now because of them. The irony is evident as the wealthiest nation in the world bombs one of the poorest. Biden, by escalating tensions with the [Iran-backed Houthis](https://time.com/6554861/yemen-houthi-rebels-history-cause-israel-hamas-war/), has inadvertently bolstered the militant group’s ability to disrupt international shipping. The Houthis had managed to [increase the cost of container shipping](https://time.com/6553141/red-sea-houthi-attacks-consumer-prices-cost/) in the wake of the Israel-Hamas war by launching missile attacks at cargo ships passing through the vital waterways. But the Biden Administration’s retaliatory strikes on Yemen’s Houthis have turned off shipping companies, perhaps irrevocably, until the war ends. The Houthis have continued to fire missiles at ships [almost daily](https://maritime-executive.com/article/houthi-launch-new-attack-in-gulf-of-aden-hours-after-us-uk-strikes) since Thursday. A Houthi missile on Sunday was [shot down by the U.S. Navy](https://twitter.com/CENTCOM/status/1746705110401695779). It never hit its target, but it still served its purpose: Keeping tensions high and scaring away Western ships heading toward Israel. But even the U.S. ability to continue to shoot down missiles is hardly guaranteed: on Monday, a [Houthi missile struck](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-67986226) an American-owned container ship in the Gulf of Aden. As such, the Houthis have already succeeded in [inflicting a cost](https://time.com/6548968/houthi-rebels-shipping-attacks-red-sea-disrupt-global-economy-costs/) onto Israel’s economy, all the while making a mockery of Biden and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s effort to re-establish deterrence. Biden can certainly choose to up the ante and intensify the targeting of Houthi weapons depots and missile launchers. But unless there is a substantial degradation of Houthi military capabilities—a scenario that seems improbable given their large arsenal of [anti-ship missiles](https://www.iiss.org/online-analysis/military-balance/2024/01/houthi-anti-ship-missile-systems-getting-better-all-the-time/) and estimated [200,000 fighters](https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/yemen/)—continued strikes will only beget more of the same: escalating tensions that strengthen the de facto Houthi blockade and elevate the potential for the conflict to expand into a full-fledged regional war. This is an outcome the Biden Administration claims to want to prevent. It didn't need to reach this point. The Houthis had consistently expressed their demands publicly: an end to attacks on Red Sea ships in exchange for Israel halting strikes on Palestinians in Gaza, which have killed at least [23,000 so far](https://www.skynews.com.au/world-news/global-affairs/arent-going-to-go-away-more-than-23000-palestinians-killed-in-israeli-airstrikes/video/d97cb50ea6a1f96b95ae7b8496ccb502), most of them women and children. There's no guarantee the Houthis would have upheld their commitment post-ceasefire. But when a [temporary truce](https://time.com/6341993/israel-hamas-ceasefire-war/) did reign in Gaza from Nov. 24 to 30 of last year, the number of confirmed Houthi attacks in the Red Sea [significantly diminished](https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/israel%E2%80%93hamas-war-iran-updates), according to the Institute for the Study of War. (Iraqi militias also [completely ceased](https://www.thenation.com/article/world/israel-hamas-hezbollah-iran/) attacks on U.S. troops during the truce.) The Houthis issued a [statement](https://twitter.com/army21ye/status/1730292086161678572) on the last day of the truce, reaffirming their “full readiness to resume its military operations” when fighting resumed in Gaza. Biden ignored this warning. In his last call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Dec. 23, 2023, the U.S. President[ did not even raise](https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/12/23/did-not-ask-for-ceasefire-in-gaza-biden-after-phone-call-with-netanyahu) the issue of a ceasefire. Earlier, he had told reporters that there was “no possibility” for a ceasefire. And, of course, his administration [vetoed](https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/08/world/middleeast/israel-hamas-gaza-aid.html) multiple U.N. Security Council resolutions calling for pauses in the fighting. Yet a ceasefire is far more likely to curb Houthi and Iraqi militia attacks; reduce [tensions](https://time.com/6324011/hezbollah-israel-lebanon-hamas-war/) on the Israeli-Lebanese border, where regular exchanges of fire have been taking place; secure the release of [Israeli hostages](https://time.com/6555577/hamas-israeli-hostages-video/) held by Hamas; and, most important of all, stop further civilian casualties in Gaza. Instead, under the guise of restoring deterrence, Biden has done the opposite. If, in the worst-case scenario, Biden’s escalation against the Houthis sparks a regional war, there should be little doubt that this is another war of choice—and one without [Congressional authorization](https://time.com/6554747/congress-reactions-bombing-houthis-yemen-red-sea/). 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