The US will keep attacking Yemen’s Houthis until they end attacks on shipping, the US defence secretary said yesterday, as the Iran-aligned group signalled it could escalate in response to deadly US strikes the day before.
The air strikes, which the Houthi-run health ministry said killed at least 31 people, are the biggest US military operation in the Middle East since President Donald Trump took office in January. One US official told Reuters the campaign might continue for weeks.
The Houthi movement’s political bureau described the attacks as a “war crime” and said Houthi forces were ready to “meet escalation with escalation,” while Moscow urged Washington to cease the strikes.
The Houthis’ military spokesperson yesterday said, without offering evidence, that the group had targeted US aircraft carrier USS Harry S Truman and its warships in the Red Sea with ballistic missiles and drones in response to the US attacks.
A US defence official dismissed the claims, saying they were not aware of any Houthi attack on the Truman.
US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth told Fox News’ Sunday Morning Futures: The minute the Houthis say we’ll stop shooting at your ships, we’ll stop shooting at your drones. This campaign will end, but until then it will be unrelenting.”
“This is about stopping the shooting at assets ... in that critical waterway, to reopen freedom of navigation, which is a core national interest of the US, and Iran has been enabling the Houthis for far too long,” he said. “They better back off.”
The Houthis, who have taken control of most of Yemen over the past decade, said last week they would resume attacks on Israeli ships passing through the Red Sea if Israel did not lift a block on aid entering Gaza.
They had launched scores of attacks on shipping after Israel’s war with Hamas began in late 2023, saying they were acting in solidarity with Gaza’s Palestinians.
Trump also told Iran, the Houthis’ main backer, to stop supporting the group immediately. He said if Iran threatened the US, “America will hold you fully accountable and, we won’t be nice about it!”
In response, Hossein Salami, the top commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, said the Houthis made their own decisions.
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