A US airstrike in the Middle East is meant to remind Iran that nothing is out of reach

• The US struck Houthi militant weapons caches in Yemen on Wednesday.
• It used B-2 stealth bombers to target the underground sites.
• It sent a thinly veiled message to Iran amid escalating tensions.

The US on Wednesday targeted underground Houthi militia weapons stores in Yemen using long-range B-2 stealth bombers, damaging the group's capacity to attack international shipping lanes.

In announcing the strikes Wednesday, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin delivered what some observers saw as a warning to the group's chief backer, Iran.

"This was a unique demonstration of the United States' ability to target facilities that our adversaries seek to keep out of reach, no matter how deeply buried underground, hardened, or fortified," said Austin.

"The employment of US Air Force B-2 Spirit long-range stealth bombers demonstrate US global strike capabilities to take action against these targets when necessary, anytime, anywhere."

The strikes were conducted against a backdrop of escalating fears of an all-out war between US-ally Israel and Iran, its longtime regional foe.

On October 1 Iran fired almost 200 missiles at Israel in response to Israel's escalating war against the Islamic Republic's most powerful foreign militia, Lebanon's Hezbollah.

In the wake of the October 7, 2023, terror attacks by Hamas, Israel has launched a campaign to destroy the group in Gaza and exchanged blows with other Iran-backed organizations.

Meanwhile, in solidarity with Hamas, the Houthi have struck vessels on international shipping routes in the Red Sea, which the US and its allies have defended by deploying warships.

Israel is still mulling how to respond to Iran's attack, with some, including former Prime Minister Naftali Bennet, advocating for strikes on nuclear sites.

The US attacks in Yemen and Austin's remarks could be seen as a signal to Iran that the US and Israel have the capability of targeting the heavily fortified underground bases where some of Iran's most sensitive nuclear sites are located.

The B-2, which was used in the strikes on Houthi targets, is the only aircraft capable of carrying the GBU-57A/B Massive Ordnance Penetrator, the "bunker-buster" bomb that'd likely be used to target Iran's underground bases.

But critics have pointed to the difficulty of Israel striking Iran's nuclear program, pointing not just to the underground bunkers where key sites are located, but to the fact that the sites are widely spread out.

It'd need the US's 'bunker buster' weapons to effectively strike them, they say.

Iran has reportedly warned the US' Gulf state allies that if they enable an Israel attack on Iran, they'll be seen as complicit and targeted in response.

The Washington Post on Monday reported that Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told US President Joe Biden Israel wouldn't target Iran's oil or nuclear facilities. 

It led to a drop in oil prices, with Brent crude falling 4.6% on Tuesday to $73.91 per barrel. On Thursday, Brent crude futures were down 4 cents to $74.18 as investors waited to hear about developments in the Middle East.

The US, despite Wednesday's remarks by Austin, has indicated that it opposes a strike on Iranian nuclear sites at this point, fearing it could spark a much broader war and dragging the US in deeper.

Ahmet Kaya, a principal economist at the UK's National Institute of Economic and Social Research, previously told BI that the growing conflict could "exacerbate the instabilities in the global economy, further increase the uncertainties, harm disinflationary efforts, and eventually reduce the global GDP growth."