The problem is that the Houthis are effectively irregular Iranian troops. You don't win a war by hunting down every band of irregulars, because that wastes a lot of time and resources for little gain. You win a war by destroying the immobile assets that enable the enemy to supply the irregulars. The Houthis wouldn't be firing Iranian anti-ship missiles if Iranian munitions factories were bombed, but the USA chooses not to do that.

IMO treating any attack by Iranian-made missiles as if it were launched by Iran would be a reasonable policy, but thanks to GWB's Iraq adventure the USA is still too tired from that counterproductive war to vigorously defend its interests in the Middle East. (We did Iran a big favor by overthrowing a strong centralized government in Iraq which was quite hostile to Iran and replacing it with a weak government over which Iran wields a great deal of influence.)

I read the article and that headline is clickbait as fuck.

it's clickbait in the same way that vietnam defeated the us in that war they had that one time

probably the purpose of the us navy above all else is to protect shipping. like yes they're set up to fight other navies and project power, but at the end of the day, that's all so that nobody can fuck with the country's logistics.

and even given how much money gets shoveled into it, it completely failed to do so against a group of fighters with a shoestring budget.

all it takes is a handful of persistent mosquitoes to ruin the whole thing and have the entire party pick up their gear

when i go to a picnic i don't normally bring my billion-dollar mosquito killing machine, and when i do, i expect it to protect me

They will just keep running out of expensive interceptor missiles and have to flee again soon enough. That definitely qualifies as defeat in a military sense.