Warning Iran, Trump orders large-scale strikes against Yemen’s Houthis

The president vowed to use ‘overwhelming lethal force’ against the militant group for its attacks at sea, and told Tehran to end its support or face consequences.

By Alex Horton, Dan Lamothe, Missy Ryan, Mustafa Salim and Niha Masih

U.S. forces launched a “decisive and powerful” attack on Houthi militants in Yemen, President Donald Trump said Saturday, an escalation against the group targeting maritime traffic and American troops in the Red Sea that doubled as a sharp warning to Iran, its major backer.

U.S. warships and jets launched attacks across Yemen, targeting radars, air-defense sites and drone launch points, a defense official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue. The operation marks the beginning of a renewed campaign to degrade Houthi military capabilities, the official added.

“The Houthi attack on American vessels will not be tolerated,” Trump said in a post on social media. “We will use overwhelming lethal force until we have achieved our objective.”

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the operation was a “powerful and clear message” to the Houthis, and that attacks on U.S. vessels and global shipping must stop.

In his statement, Trump directly addressed the militants’ sponsors in Iran, who are believed to provide them with weapons and funding: “Support for the Houthi terrorists must end IMMEDIATELY!” he said, warning the government in Tehran that “America will hold you fully accountable and, we won’t be nice about it!”

Trump in recent days has appealed to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in hopes of securing a new agreement to limit Tehran’s nuclear program. The Iranians so far have declined to engage.

At least 31 people were killed and 101 injured, according to Reuters citing a spokesman for the Houthi-run health ministry. In a statement, the political bureau of the Houthis vowed to retaliate and said the attacks will not deter their support for Gaza. They claimed the strikes targeted residential areas and targeted civilians.

The Houthis’ attacks in the Red Sea were conducted in solidarity with Hamas, the militant group, also backed by Iran, whose cross-border attack on Israel in 2023 triggered the war in Gaza that has upended security across the Middle East and killed more than 50,000 people, mostly Palestinians.

Before leaving office, the Biden administration responded with its own air war against the Houthis, though the effort failed to achieve its goal of halting the group’s capacity to target vessels and some U.S. aircraft. Trump on Saturday called his predecessor’s approach “pathetically weak.”

The Houthis had largely halted their attacks on commercial and naval vessels following Israel’s fragile ceasefire with Hamas in Gaza, but the Yemeni group’s leaders have warned they will resume drone and missile strikes should the deal break down. A Houthi official said the U.S. strikes appeared to be in response to that declaration, according to reports from Yemen.

In Sanaa, Yemen’s capital, white smoke plumes could be seen over multiple sites Saturday night, according to photos circulating on social media. Local media reported that ambulances rushed toward Al-Jiraf, a residential area where some Houthi leaders operate, after reports of casualties.

U.S. Central Command, which oversees American military activity in the region, released video Saturday of U.S. fighter jets launching from an aircraft carrier, the USS Harry S. Truman, along with a brief statement indicating the Yemen operation is intended to “defend American interests, deter enemies, and restore freedom of navigation.” The statement did not indicate whether military officials assessed the possibility of civilian or other casualties, and spokespersons at its headquarters in Tampa did not respond to questions seeking clarity.

The Yemen strikes come as Trump pursues a two-track strategy toward Iran: increasing economic pressure aimed at further isolating Tehran while also offering new overtures for potential negotiations over the country’s nuclear program. While Trump announced this month that he had sent Khamenei a letter, warning that military action would follow if Iran refuses to enter nuclear talks, Iran has publicly rejected negotiations with Trump, who during his last term pulled out of President Barack Obama’s 2015 nuclear deal with Iran.

While Tehran insists its nuclear activities are peaceful, the International Atomic Energy Agency has warned the country has expanded its production of highly enriched uranium, putting it closer to obtaining a bomb. Israel, the United States’ closest regional ally, has vowed that it will not allow that to occur. U.S. intelligence has suggested that Israel intends to conduct an attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities in coming months and has sought to enlist Washington’s support should that occur. The U.S. military has helped defend Israel against a series of unprecedented direct attacks from Iran amid the Gaza war.

The Trump administration re-designated the Houthis as a foreign terrorist organization, citing the waves of violence that the militants had launched against U.S. warships and commercial vessels over many months. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said doing so was the fulfillment of a Trump campaign promise after hundreds of Houthi attacks in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.

The Houthis swept to power in 2014, seizing control of Sanaa. The group, known formally as Ansar Allah, functions as a de facto government across a wide swath of Yemen, and aligns itself with other regional militant groups in armed opposition to Israel and the United States.

U.S. officials have said that while Iran has provided significant military and financial support to the Houthis, they see the group as an independent actor that might not necessarily respond to Tehran’s instructions to stand down its maritime attacks. The Houthis also have established their own substantial, independent weapons production capability.

The Houthi strikes also provide further clues about how Trump, who previously sought to curtail America’s military presence overseas but also authorized escalatory actions like the 2020 killing of Iranian military leader Qasem Soleimani, will use force during his second term.

Since Trump’s return to office, U.S. forces have carried out a handful of attacks against American adversaries elsewhere in the region. On Thursday, a strike in Iraq killed an Islamic State leader, described by officials as the group’s No. 2 man. Another U.S. attack killed a leader in an al-Qaeda affiliate in Syria last month, according to Central Command.

Mohammed Albasha, a Yemen analyst who is founder of the Basha Report, said the strikes were still ongoing Saturday evening Washington time and appeared to be much broader in scope than previous U.S. attacks on Houthi targets following the start of the Gaza war. He said the assaults also targeted the cities of Dhamar and Sa’dah in the Houthis’ northern base.

Basha cautioned that the Houthis could attempt to target U.S. bases in the United Arab Emirates or Djibouti in retaliation.

Salim reported from Baghdad and Lior Soroka from Tel Aviv.