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Along with Iran’s heightened anti-American rhetoric and local naval deployments, the recent Houthi missile attacks against U.S. vessels raise fears that Tehran’s clients may take the war into a new and more dangerous phase.

As the Yemen war enters its twentieth month, the fighting has escalated beyond the country’s confines, with Iranian-backed Houthi rebels firing what appeared to be Iranian antiship cruise missiles at foreign vessels operating around the Bab al-Mandab Strait. The U.S.-flagged, Emirati-operated supply ship Swift was struck on October 1, and U.S. Navy ships were unsuccessfully targeted in subsequent days. In response, U.S. forces struck Houthi-controlled portions of Yemen’s coast, destroying three surveillance radars of undisclosed type that were reportedly active during the missile attacks.

While U.S. military sources have yet to confirm the type of weapons fired at their ships, the prime suspect is the C-802 Noor, a cruise missile system that Iran has reportedly provided to its traditionally anti-American Houthi clients. Two other possibilities cannot be ruled out yet. The first is the C-801, an older cruise missile in the Yemeni navy’s arsenal, which could have fallen into rebel hands given that the Houthis are allied with former elements of the country’s armed forces and have taken over significant territory. The second is a converted version of the S-75 (SA-2) surface-to-air missile. Since 2015, a majority of Yemeni radar and air-defense systems have been attacked and rendered useless by the Saudi-led coalition’s airpower due to fears that they would be employed by the Houthis or their allies. In January, however, IHS Jane’s reported that forces opposing the Yemeni government had converted at least some S-75s to strike at surface targets at significant ranges. These same weapons could theoretically have been used in the recent antiship attacks.

Whatever the case, the threat that Houthi antiship missiles pose to international shipping is real. And while Iran may have sent C-802 missiles to the rebels well before the current war began in 2015, it could still further help the Houthis improve their tactics, equipment, and targeting effectivene...