Whenever the US starts talking about weapons of war, I tend to focus on the details. I have to say there are more than a few of those missing when it comes to what the United States plans to do in Yemen.

We know the US is sending the USS Theodore Roosevelt to patrol off the coast. That will bring the total to eight US warships in the area.

The announcement and the leaks from the Pentagon were straight out of their usual playbook. On the record, officials said the ship was going. Then came the off the record, not for attribution reporting. Unnamed defence sources told reporters the ships were going in order to “intercept potential shipments of Iranian weapons to the rebels”.

That allowed officials to dial it back a bit the following day, without looking like they actually were. You can’t go back to an unnamed official and say he lied.