The US military coordinated an airstrike on Iran-backed Houthi rebel forces in Yemen on Thursday following escalating conflict in the Red Sea, greatly impacting global trade routes for freight shippers.

Norman Roule, Non-resident Senior Adviser for the CSIS (Center for Strategic and International Studies) Transnational Threats project, believes the United States is "facing a choice" in resolving this issue and offset global supply chain disruptions.

"Does it [the US} continue to just play defense, or does it undertake a serious, long-term action to degrade Houthi missile, drone, naval mine, and explosive boat capabilities," Roule, a former senior US intelligence official, tells Yahoo Finance. "We shouldn't underestimate the amount of resources or commitment required to do that, but the alternative is asking ourselves what is victory?"

Roule also comments on Iran's implicated involvement in this conflict.

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Editor's note: This article was written by Luke Carberry Mogan.

Video Transcript

JOSH LIPTON: If they continue attacking even on a limited basis, going after merchant ships or US Naval assets, shutting down the Red Sea, that has just this enormous implications, Norman, for global trade. It's beginning to hit specific companies. I'm sure you saw the news from Tesla today.

That doesn't sound tenable. What would be our next reaction? What would you think we would do next?

NORMAN ROULE: Well, you're absolutely right. And in fact, the United States has urged US-flagged shipping to stay away from the area in the near term. All major flag carriers not associated with Russia and China have avoided the area. And this has imposed new expenses on all shipping costs worldwide to include shipping costs from China to Los Angeles, which does not transit the Middle East, but involves a higher rate of pay for ships that are available.

The United States is facing a choice, does it continue to just play defense or does it undertake a serious long-term action to degrade Houthi missile, drone, naval mined, and explosive boat capabilities? We shouldn't underestimate the amount of resources or commitment required to do that. But the alternative is asking ourselves, what is victory? Is victory just maintaining a long-term presence and catching every drone and missile they fire? There will be a lot of those.

JOSH LIPTON: And Norman, is the real issue here, though-- we can talk about degrading the Houthis, but the real issue is Iran, right? I mean these are all Iranian proxies, Houthis, Hamas, Hezbollah. I mean, is that the real issue? Unless you're really taking on Iran more directly, are you really dealing with the issue?

NORMAN ROULE: Well, you're absolutely correct. Iran is universally understood to be the enabler of all regional violence to include the October 7 massacre against Israel. And this violence now touches the global economy. However, it's paid no price.

The Biden administration has made no mention of Iran in its statement on the conflict. So in essence, the current state of play gives Iran everything you would want if you were a revisionist aggressor, influence over and damaging of your adversaries without any cost. The international community shows no appetite for expanding this conflict into actions on Iran.

JOSH LIPTON: And Norman, I want to ask you this too, as I understand it, it was Trump that designated the Houthis a terrorist group. It was Biden that reversed that. In your opinion, Norman, was that a policy mistake?

NORMAN ROULE: Well, I think the issue is it's always appropriate to consider diplomatic options. But when diplomatic options become something akin to an ideology or religion, that's an error. And it's not a bad thing to say we offered someone an opportunity to turn the page. But if they didn't take the page, somehow we've now made this our problem and not their problem.

The Houthis are behaving like non-state actors and terrorists. They should be designated and treated as such. We should note, however, that doing so may complicate humanitarian deliveries and will complicate some regional diplomacy that has produced a relatively stable ceasefire with Saudi Arabia and the Emirates.