Biden’s Iran Policy Called ‘Appeasement’ by Tony Shaffer in Interview with Newsmax

The United States and its allies have issued many warnings to the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels concerning attacks on military and commercial vessels in the Red Sea, but the policy so far toward them has been one of “appeasement,” and that’s why the Iranians are continuing to act out, retired Lt. Col. Tony Shaffer, the president of Project Sentinel, told Newsmax on Sunday.

“This conversation should have happened a month ago,” Shaffer, who appeared on Newsmax’s “Sunday Report” with former deputy assistant secretary of state and senior adviser to the Iran envoy Len Khodorkovsky, commented. “There should have been a concerted effort to go about securing the route that we’re now talking about.”

The mission to protect the Red Sea, Operation Prosperity Guardian, has been only “marginally successful at best” because many nations won’t join because they don’t trust the Biden administration’s ability to act, Shaffer added.

“If I were in charge, if I were [Defense] Secretary [Lloyd] Austin, I would have launched multiple and overwhelming attacks against the Houthi infrastructure to make a point that they cannot make trouble,” he said. “We will see this eventually show up in higher costs across the globe. This is not something that’s going to be isolated in the Middle East, unfortunately.”

But Austin is another issue Shaffer said, responding to reports that the defense secretary has been hospitalized at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center since Monday after complications following a minor elective medical procedure. Reports indicated that the Pentagon did not notify the White House until Jan. 4, two other U.S. officials said.

“This is bad,” said Shaffer. “I’m a [Ronald] Reagan guy. I was. I’m friends and mentors with a lot of the Reagan folks. Late Bud McFarlane, God rest his soul, John Lehman, secretary of the Navy, those guys, when they were in power, talked to each other every day. You would not have had this happen.”

“This tells me that there’s a disconnect of policy as well,” said Shaffer. “That’s one of the reasons you see such a tepid response to most things that they’re challenged by, so there should be an investigation? Absolutely. Should there be consequences? Definitely.”

Meanwhile, the recent actions of the Houthis and Hezbollah show the need for the United States to maintain its position in the Middle East, said Khodorkovsky.

“The one thing all of these groups have in common is they’re puppets of the Iranian regime,” he said. “They’re not independent operators. They’re very much dependent on Tehran for its funding for its training for its arms.”

The Biden administration has failed to distinguish between Iranian proxies and the regime itself, Khodorkovsky said.

“What we’re seeing is the result of that failure,” he added. “Where all of these groups and their puppet master in Tehran have been emboldened to push the envelope to push the limits of how aggressive it can be, and we seem to be always operating on a back foot instead of being much more proactive. We’re letting Iran dictate the terms instead of dictating the terms to Iran and its proxies.”

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