No. of Recommendations: 4
that are being used to ferry Iranian missiles to terrorists.
Not all of them, of course. The Chinese aren't doing this because they want to help missiles get to the Houthis - they're doing it because their naval allies are being harassed by American military forces for no reason.
If they wanted a Chinese naval base in Iran, they could have one any time they want by merely making lots of Port Calls in Bandar-e Abbas. While they were there they'd helpfully pay for port upgrades.
That's how it starts, yes. And the way you get invited to make lots of port calls in Bandar-e Abbas is by providing naval assistance to the Iranian government. And the way that happens is if, say, a foreign power is harassing the Iranian merchant marine....
Watch it head to port and record what cargo gets offloaded from it. Follow the missiles allll the way to the launcher. Then have an airstrike take out the missiles and the Iranian techs loading them.
After that you go to the UN and say, "Iran is now directly involved in attacks on Red Sea shipping". Then you have the legal juice to declare a maritime exclusion zone around Yemen where all ships are required to stop for inspection.
Except that the Yemeni government hasn't been able to do this. And they actually control the port - not just trying to watch from a naval vessel off short. So maybe these shipments aren't as easy to find and record as you suspect?
