by Brianna Rosen and Tess Bridgeman
February 15, 2024
Covert Action, Cyber, Cyberattacks, Houthis, Iran, Iran-backed militia, Red Sea, Use of Force, Yemen
by Brianna Rosen and Tess Bridgeman
February 15, 2024
Earlier today, NBC reported, and the New York Times confirmed, that the United States conducted a “covert” cyber operation against an Iranian ship in the Red Sea, the MV Behshad, over a week ago. The MV Behshad is a merchant vessel registered to the Rahbaran Omid Darya Ship Management Company. It is believed to have been used by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to provide the Houthis with real-time intelligence to guide strikes on ships transiting the Red Sea. 
Unnamed U.S. officials are reported to have described the operation as aimed at inhibiting the ship’s “ability to share intelligence with Houthi rebels in Yemen,” who have been attacking mostly cargo ships in the Red Sea since November and have vowed to do so until Israel ceases military operations against Hamas in Gaza. The officials also said, however, that the U.S. operation was “part of the Biden administration’s response to the drone attack by Iranian-backed militias in Iraq that killed three U.S. service members in Jordan late last month and wounded dozens of others [at Tower 22].”
Here are a few key questions to address as more details emerge: 
What was the nature of the “cyber attack”? “Cyber attack” can mean many different things – the specific facts of any cyber operation matter, both in terms of legal and policy implications. Was this a simple jamming operation that interfered with transmission of information? Or another type of cyber operation that would likely fall below the threshold of a use of force (perhaps deleting or modifying data, which could potentially explain the Houthis’ seemingly errant attack last week on a cargo ship bound for Iran)? If the operation did not constitute a use of force, did it violate any other potentially applicable international laws (such as duties related to sovereignty and non-intervention) and, if so, was the operation viewed by the United States as a lawful countermeasure – an otherwise unlawful action short of armed force that is designed to induce compliance with international law on the part of a breaching state? 
If a use of force, was it necessary in self-defense? If the operation rose to the level of a use of force (possibly by permanently destroying infrastructure on the Iranian ship, although this seems unlikely based on what has been reported to date), it would of course not be a lawful act of self-defense in response to the attack on Tower 22 in Jordan. Instead, it is clearly related to Houthi attacks on shipping in the Red Sea. U.S. officials have reportedly said “Iran uses the ship to provide targeting information to the Houthis so their attacks on the ships can be more effective.“ What is the relationship between the “Iranian spy ship” and Houthi attacks on vessels in the Red Sea? Does the United States believe Iran bears State responsibility for the Houthi attacks? 
How is Iran likely to respond? Iran has been vocal about the MV Behshad in the past two weeks, stressing that it would retaliate for an attack on the ship. In a video posted on its Telegram channel on Feb. 11, the Iranian Army claimed the MV Behshad was engaged in a mission to “counteract piracy” in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. The video urged the United States not to attack, warning that “those engaging in terrorist activities against the MV Behshad or similar vessels, jeopardize international maritime routes, security and assume global responsibility for potential future international risks.” Iran has a large cyber arsenal that includes an ability to conduct sophisticated data deletion and Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) attacks on critical infrastructure, capabilities that could be deployed against U.S. ships or military assets in the region. 
What are the implications for potential conflict escalation – or de-escalation – with Iran? U.S. and Iranian redlines in cyberspace are unclear, and even non-lethal cyber attacks may have unintended consequences. Signaling in cyberspace is notoriously complex, and it is difficult to predict and control the impact of malware, for example, once it has been released (the Stuxnet virus that targeted Iranian nuclear facilities at Natanz, for example, also infected computers around the world, including at U.S. oil refineries). 
It is striking that the unnamed U.S. officials framed the operation as a response to the attack on Tower 22 in Jordan carried out by Iran-backed militia groups in that region, as opposed to part of its efforts to protect against Houthi attacks on vessels in the Red Sea. The common denominator is a level of Iranian involvement, although precisely what level is unclear. If this operation was intended to signal to Tehran that the United States holds Iran accountable for the actions of both sets of non-state actors, and will respond in kind, does it increase the likelihood of direct confrontation between U.S. and Iranian armed forces? Alternatively, if the operation fell below the level of a use of force (which again, seems quite plausible based on what has been reported thus far), does it signal potential room for de-escalation through the use of non-kinetic and non-lethal levers of coercion?
Covert Action, Cyber, Cyberattacks, Houthis, Iran, Iran-backed militia, Red Sea, Use of Force, Yemen
All-source, public repository of congressional hearing transcripts, government agency documents, digital forensics, social media analysis, public opinion surveys, empirical research, more.
by Maggie Mills, Thomas Poston and Oona A. Hathaway
Feb 20th, 2024
by Norman L. Eisen, Ryan Goodman, Siven Watt and Francois Barrilleaux
Feb 18th, 2024
by Ambassador Daniel Fried
Feb 16th, 2024
by Norman L. Eisen, Ryan Goodman, Siven Watt and Francois Barrilleaux
Feb 15th, 2024
by Matthew Levinger
Feb 13th, 2024
by Andrew Weissmann and Ryan Goodman
Feb 10th, 2024
by Eliav Lieblich
Feb 6th, 2024
by Oona A. Hathaway
Feb 5th, 2024
by Amichai Cohen and Yuval Shany
Feb 1st, 2024
by Senator Ron Wyden
Jan 31st, 2024
by Richard Gowan
Jan 30th, 2024
by Just Security
Jan 26th, 2024
by Ryan Goodman and Siven Watt
Jan 26th, 2024
by Steven Katz and John Ramming Chappell
Jan 25th, 2024
by Vadim Prokhorov
Jan 24th, 2024
by Thomas Carothers
Jan 22nd, 2024
by Paloma van Groll
Jan 19th, 2024
by Ambassador Thomas Graham Jr. and David Bernell
Jan 12th, 2024
by Ambassador Thomas Graham Jr. and David Bernell
Jan 12th, 2024
by Clara Apt
Jan 11th, 2024
by Sean Murphy
Jan 10th, 2024
by Joshua Matz and Laurence H. Tribe
Jan 10th, 2024
by Norman L. Eisen, Matthew A. Seligman and Joshua Kolb
Jan 9th, 2024
by Bruce Hoffman and Jacob Ware
Jan 8th, 2024
by Meghan Conroy and Justin Hendrix
Jan 6th, 2024
by Samuel Issacharoff
Jan 5th, 2024
by Kayla Blomquist and Keegan McBride
Jan 4th, 2024
by Amichai Cohen and Yuval Shany
Jan 2nd, 2024
by Megan Corrarino
Dec 29th, 2023
by Wa’el Alzayat and Jeremy Konyndyk
Dec 22nd, 2023
by Brianna Rosen
Dec 15th, 2023
by Jasmine D. Cameron, Judge Dariusz Mazur and Anna Wójcik
Dec 12th, 2023
by Jane Stromseth
Dec 2nd, 2023
by Clara Apt
Nov 30th, 2023
by Tess Bridgeman and Ryan Goodman
Nov 28th, 2023
by Elizabeth Goitein and Noah Chauvin
Nov 27th, 2023
by Faiza Patel
Nov 21st, 2023
by Shahed Ghoreishi
Nov 16th, 2023
by Arthur Holland Michel
Nov 13th, 2023
by Tom Joscelyn, Norman L. Eisen and Fred Wertheimer
Nov 10th, 2023
by Karen Smith
Nov 9th, 2023
by John Ramming Chappell, Annie Shiel, Seth Binder, Elias Yousif, Bill Monahan and Amanda Klasing
Nov 8th, 2023
by Elizabeth Goitein and Noah Chauvin
Nov 7th, 2023
by Daniel Balson and Jane Buchanan
Nov 7th, 2023
by Dr. Hiba Alamin, Dr. Hafeez Abdelhafeez and Dr. Abdallah Tom
Nov 3rd, 2023
by Fionnuala Ní Aoláin
Nov 2nd, 2023
by Justin Hendrix
Nov 1st, 2023
by Alexander Bellamy
Oct 31st, 2023
by Janina Dill
Oct 26th, 2023
by Rebecca Barber
Oct 24th, 2023
by Rachel Levinson-Waldman and José Guillermo Gutiérrez
Oct 19th, 2023
by Brianna Rosen
Oct 18th, 2023
by Simon Chesterman
Oct 18th, 2023
by Ryan Goodman, Michael W. Meier and Tess Bridgeman
Oct 17th, 2023
by Tess Bridgeman
Oct 13th, 2023
by Nora Benavidez
Oct 13th, 2023
by Tom Dannenbaum
Oct 11th, 2023
by David Aaron
Oct 11th, 2023
by Brianna Rosen and Viola Gienger
Oct 9th, 2023
by Maksym Vishchyk and Jeremy Pizzi
Oct 6th, 2023
by Nathan Kohlenberg and Joshua Rudolph
Oct 5th, 2023
by George Croner
Oct 4th, 2023
by Brian Finucane
Oct 4th, 2023
by Brianna Rosen
Oct 3rd, 2023
by Robert S. Taylor
Sep 27th, 2023
by Gwendolyn Whidden, Katherine Fang and Clara Apt
Sep 27th, 2023
by Tess Bridgeman
Sep 26th, 2023
by Brian Finucane
Sep 25th, 2023
by Tess Bridgeman, Ryan Goodman and Megan Corrarino
Sep 22nd, 2023
by Brian Finucane and Heather Brandon-Smith
Sep 18th, 2023
by Norman L. Eisen and Tom Joscelyn
Sep 15th, 2023
by Eugene R. Fidell
Sep 15th, 2023
by Jordan Street and Ilya Jones
Sep 14th, 2023
by Harold Hongju Koh
Sep 12th, 2023
by Brianna Rosen
Sep 11th, 2023
by Harold Hongju Koh
Sep 11th, 2023
by Jane McAdam
Sep 5th, 2023
by Morgan Moon and Jon Lewis
Sep 1st, 2023
by Terry Rockefeller
Aug 31st, 2023
by Patrick C. Toomey, Sarah Taitz and Kia Hamadanchy
Aug 30th, 2023
by Suzanne Nossel
Aug 28th, 2023
by Ryan Goodman, Norman L. Eisen, Siven Watt, Allison Rice, Francois Barrilleaux, Beth Markman and Michael Nevett
Aug 25th, 2023
by Faiza Patel and Harsha Panduranga
Aug 25th, 2023
by Ciara Torres-Spelliscy
Aug 24th, 2023
by Ioannis Kouvakas
Aug 22nd, 2023
by Maksym Vishchyk
Aug 21st, 2023
by Sareta Ashraph
Aug 21st, 2023
by Maksym Vishchyk
Aug 18th, 2023
by Norman L. Eisen, Joshua Kolb, Joshua Stanton, Andrew Warren and Siven Watt
Aug 16th, 2023
by Brian Finucane
Aug 16th, 2023
by Erica J. Hashimoto
Aug 15th, 2023
by Mariana Olaizola Rosenblat
Aug 15th, 2023
by Brian Finucane
Aug 14th, 2023
by Stephany Caro Mejia
Aug 9th, 2023
by Owiso Owiso and Sharon Nakandha
Aug 9th, 2023
by Laurence H. Tribe
Aug 8th, 2023
by Erin Sikorsky and Admiral Sam Locklear (Ret.)
Aug 8th, 2023
by Jonathan Panikoff
Aug 7th, 2023
by Tom Joscelyn
Aug 3rd, 2023
by Caroline D. Krass
Jul 31st, 2023
by Gwendolyn Whidden, Katherine Fang and Clara Apt
Sep 27th, 2023
by Clara Apt
Jan 11th, 2024
by Karl Mihm, Jacob Apkon and Sruthi Venkatachalam
Jan 30th, 2023
by Clara Apt and Katherine Fang
Nov 18th, 2022
by Noah Bookbinder, Norman L. Eisen, Debra Perlin, E. Danya Perry, Jason Powell, Donald Simon, Joshua Stanton and Fred Wertheimer
Oct 27th, 2022
by Megan Corrarino
Feb 20th, 2024
by Joumana Seif
Feb 19th, 2024
by Gwendolyn Whidden
Oct 31st, 2023
by Brianna Rosen
Oct 18th, 2023
by Brianna Rosen
Sep 11th, 2023
by Just Security
Jul 17th, 2023
by Just Security
May 9th, 2023
by Paul R. Williams, Milena Sterio, Yvonne Dutton, Alexandra Koch, Lilian Waldock, Floriane Lavaud, Ashika Singh and Isabelle Glimcher
Feb 13th, 2023
by Eileen B. Hershenov and Ryan B. Greer
Jan 26th, 2023
by Ambassador Peter Mulrean (ret.) and William J. Hawk
Jan 4th, 2023
by Clara Apt and Katherine Fang
Nov 18th, 2022
by Amanda L. White Eagle
Oct 10th, 2022
by Brianna Rosen
Oct 25th, 2022
by Oona A. Hathaway
Sep 20th, 2022
by Tess Bridgeman and Brianna Rosen
Mar 24th, 2022
by Nasir A. Andisha and Marzia Marastoni
Aug 15th, 2022
by Megan Corrarino
Feb 18th, 2022
by Mary B. McCord
Jan 24th, 2022
by Emily Berman, Tess Bridgeman, Megan Corrarino, Ryan Goodman and Dakota S. Rudesill
Jan 20th, 2022
by Laura Brawley, Antara Joardar and Madhu Narasimhan
Oct 29th, 2021
by Leila Nadya Sadat
Sep 13th, 2021
by Tess Bridgeman, Rachel Goldbrenner and Ryan Goodman
Sep 7th, 2021
by Just Security
Jul 19th, 2021
by Kate Brannen
Jun 30th, 2021
Brianna Rosen (@rosen_br) is a Senior Fellow at Just Security and a Strategy and Policy Fellow at Oxford University’s Blavatnik School of Government. She previously served for a decade in the U.S. government, including at the White House National Security Council and Office of the Vice President.
Tess Bridgeman (@bridgewriter) is co-editor-in-chief of Just Security and Senior Fellow and Visiting Scholar at the Reiss Center on Law and Security at NYU School of Law. She previously served as Special Assistant to the President, Associate Counsel to the President, and Deputy Legal Adviser to the National Security Council (NSC), and prior to that served at the U.S. State Department in the Office of the Legal Adviser as an attorney adviser in the Office of Political-Military Affairs and as Special Assistant to the Legal Adviser.
Send A Letter To The Editor
by Lawrence Norden, Mekela Panditharatne and David Harris
Feb 16th, 2024
by Matthew Levinger
Feb 13th, 2024
by Tess Bridgeman and Clara Apt
Feb 9th, 2024
by Vadim Prokhorov
Jan 24th, 2024
by Don Chen
Jan 19th, 2024
by John Ramming Chappell and Paras Shah
Jan 19th, 2024
by Ria Chakrabarty
Jan 16th, 2024
by Don Chen
Jan 12th, 2024
by Brian Finucane
Jan 8th, 2024
by Gwendolyn Whidden
Jan 5th, 2024
by Talita de Souza Dias and Rashmin Sagoo
Jan 2nd, 2024
by Megan Corrarino
Dec 29th, 2023
Just Security is based at the Reiss Center on Law and Security at New York University School of Law.

source