President Biden’s failures in the Middle East — symbolized perfectly by the floating pier he ordered for Gaza that can’t float — and his political woes at home may be emboldening Iran and its proxies in the region.
And that can spark a major escalation of the turmoil in the entire Middle East.
On Friday, the Houthis claimed they fired an Iranian-made drone that hit near the US consulate in Tel Aviv. One Israeli was killed, and 10 others wounded.
That came just days after the Iranian-backed rebels fired on two oil tankers in the Red Sea, hitting the MT Chios Lion and causing a 25-mile oil spill.
Ironically, that vessel was transporting 100,000 tons of Russian crude oil destined for China. On that day, at least, Karma won out.
No such luck Friday.
Notably, Israel admits its vaunted Iron Dome air defenses failed to activate even after the drone that struck Tel Aviv was detected earlier.
That suggests the targeting of the former US Embassy on Ben Yehuda Street was intentional. And if so, it’s highly likely Tehran ordered the attack.
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei likely smells US blood in the water — especially as Democratic palace intrigue plays out at the White House.
Biden’s growing domestic weakness is making Iran’s leaders think this is their moment to strike.
As Washington turns inward, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and its affiliated militias see their chance to go on offense.
IRGC-backed groups in Iraq, for example, are once again targeting US soldiers and military assets.
On July 16, one-way drones targeted US and coalition forces at the Ain al Asad Airbase in Anbar.
US CENTCOM can expect more of the same — and for Tehran to keep trying to expand the playing board in and around the Red Sea.
Iran is pushing to secure a Red Sea naval port in Sudan and has been supplying the military regime of Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan with drones.
For now, Burhan has rebuffed Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, yet that may soon change.
Notably, Vladimir Putin is also chasing a naval base in Sudan to complement the Russian port Moscow hopes to build in Libya.
Putin wants these naval ports to tighten his stranglehold on the Sahel in Central Africa — and to threaten US interests in North Africa, the Mediterranean, the Suez Canal, Red Sea, Djibouti and the Gulf of Aden.
Having the United States as a common enemy and nearby ports would be yet more reason for Moscow and Tehran to draw closer.
Biden, meanwhile, appears hapless to stop any of it. But Jerusalem is determined to end to Iran’s multilayered war against the state of Israel with military force.
Despite Biden’s repeated threats not to invade Rafah, the IDF successfully proceeded to do just that: It seized the Rafah border crossing buffer zone into Egypt to stop the flow of arms and munitions being smuggled into Gaza from the Sinai via a series of tunnels built by Iran-backed Hamas.
Equally bold, the IDF targeted Hamas military mastermind Mohammed Deif last week, likely killing him. That’s put Hamas fighters and their top military leader Yahya Sinwar on their back heels in Gaza.
Hamas is not yet destroyed, but it’s sufficiently militarily degraded to the extent that the IDF can soon pivot to Hezbollah.
That time is likely drawing near — and ironically the Houthi drone attack on Tel Aviv may be the straw that breaks Hezbollah’s back.
Israel is signaling “enough.” Jerusalem has made it clear that it holds “the Lebanese government responsible for every single Hezbollah rocket fired from Lebanon.”
Since Oct. 7., IRGC-backed Hezbollah has fired over 6,800 rockets into Israel, killing 28 Israelis, injuring another 184 and displacing 57,000 civilians.
Meanwhile, Israel has been prepping the battlefield in Lebanon if needed for a ground incursion and eliminating Hezbollah commanders. On Thursday, Habib Maatouk became the latest to be taken out by the IDF.
Yet defeating Hezbollah, along with Hamas, is just a steppingstone for Israel to ultimately deal with Iran’s rapidly approaching nuclear breakout.
And that Armageddon-like reckoning will come sooner rather than later.
Biden’s reign may be coming to the end of the road in Washington.
Israel, meanwhile, is determined to avoid having Biden’s failures in the Mideast lead to the same dead-end fate.
Mark Toth writes on national security and foreign policy. Col. (Ret.) Jonathan Sweet served 30 years as a military intelligence officer.