The United States has launched “decisive and powerful military action” to end the threat posed to Red Sea shipping by Yemen’s Huthi rebels, President Donald Trump said Saturday.
In a social media post that came after Huthi media reported strikes on the Yemeni capital Sanaa, Trump also warned that Iran must “immediately” cut support to the rebels.
“We will use overwhelming lethal force until we have achieved our objective,” he said.
In Huthi-held Sanaa, AFP correspondents reported hearing distant explosions and al-Masirah TV said “an American-British aggression raided a residential neighborhood in the Shuub district.”
The new US strikes came shortly after the Huthis announced that they would target all Israeli ships in the Red Sea, Arabian Sea, Baba al-Mandab Strait, and the Gulf of Aden.
Their threat came in protest at Israel’s blockade of aid into the Palestinian territory of Gaza.
Trump’s statement did not reference the dispute over Israel, but focused on previous Huthi attacks on US and international warships and commercial tankers.
“To all Huthi terrorists, YOUR TIME IS UP, AND YOUR ATTACKS MUST STOP, STARTING TODAY. IF THEY DON’T, HELL WILL RAIN DOWN UPON YOU LIKE NOTHING YOU HAVE EVER SEEN BEFORE!” he said.
In addition to announcing action against the Huthis, who regularly harass international shipping off Yemen’s coast, Trump issued a stern warning to the group’s backer.
“To Iran: Support for the Houthi terrorists must end IMMEDIATELY!” he said.
“Do NOT threaten the American People, their President… or Worldwide shipping lanes. If you do, BEWARE, because America will hold you fully accountable and, we won’t be nice about it!”
Since November 2023, a month into the war between Hamas and Israel in the Gaza Strip, the Huthis have waged a campaign against shipping that they say is in solidarity with Palestinians.
They have attacked ships in the key waterways of the Gulf of Aden and Red Sea with drones and missiles, saying they are targeting vessels linked to Israel, the United States and Britain.
In January, after the ceasefire was declared in Gaza, the Huthis said they would limit their attacks to vessels linked to Israel.
The attacks have disrupted commercial shipping in a zone vital for trade, and dealt huge losses to cash-strapped Egypt, which depends on the Suez Canal for foreign currency.
Earlier this month, the United States re-classified the Huthi movement as a “foreign terrorist organization,” banning any US interaction with the group that controls swaths of Yemen.
