鈥淲e鈥檙e not in an armed conflict with the Houthis,鈥� deputy Pentagon press secretary Sabrina Singh recently , and 鈥減art of why we are in the region is to bolster our deterrence.鈥�
Such words aren鈥檛 assuring for our Navy ships in the Red Sea, which have been fending off missiles and attack drones fired by the Iran-backed rebels for the past several months. Yes, the Navy鈥檚 boast in an Army-Navy Game day video that one of our destroyers is 22-0 against Houthi fire is impressive and a testament to the skill of our Navy crews. But if the scoreboard flips to 100-1, Americans will demand to know why Iran didn鈥檛 feel all that deterred by our naval deployments and why our sailors were injured or killed.