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So, perhaps this too much of a war question, rather than a culture war one, but I'm having trouble understanding why Iran is launching attacks on random cargo ships in the Red Sea via proxies in Yemen, and now apparently directly https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-67811929 .
Ok, at least some of the vessels are Israeli linked, and they're hitting at US warships, but my confusion is what this hopes to achieve. Operation Preying Mantis https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Praying_Mantis seems an apt concern for the Iranians as a repeat: they cant hope to exert serious pressure on Israel's economy, and the moment they sink or damage a warship they're getting hit hard surely? And is it earning them any friends?
Meanwhile Hezbolah is Iranian backed and maybe directly controlled, and has done little in the current conflict. If you want to apply pressure to Israel, isnt that the way, especially given that Hezbolah has resources Hamas does not and could seriously threaten another front that would need actual Israeli resources. Iran isnt going all out with its assets, or the assets in cases are refusing to for self preservation.
So why hit ships? Is it really all they can do? Do they assume the US cant respond? Maybe it earns them some respect from the muslim world for standing up, but it just seems... odd. I'm not exactly Bismark, but I'm clearly missing something.
I think it's what you wrote -- Iranian assets that have leverage are refusing to jump based on their own risk/reward ratio.
What's Hezbollah going to gain from striking harder? They will draw a huge Israeli response that will cost them dearly. Meanwhile they don't have much to gain -- Iran doesn't have an option other than to keep supporting them in Lebanon as the only credible Shiite power. Seems like a basic self-interest judgment. And they have enough of a power base they aren't completely dependent on Iranian support.
The Houthis, meanwhile, are almost totally dependent on Iran. And they benefit greatly since the Saudis are their main enemies and the conflict put the immediate brakes on the Israel<>Saudi thaw. The hotter it burns, the worse for the Saudis and greatly reduces likelihood of the [realignment of Israel/Saudi[(https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-10-20/biden-says-hamas-attacked-to-halt-israel-saudi-normalization) that hurts Iran the most.
YMMV, but "local/domestic self-interest" is always a good first guess.
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