CAIRO — The United States and Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen have both threatened to escalate the conflict after the US launched airstrikes to deter the rebels from attacking military and commercial vessels on one of the world’s busiest shipping routes.
“We won’t let these people decide which ships can and cannot pass through. So your question is: how long will this go on? “It will continue until they are no longer capable of doing so,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio told CBS on Sunday. He stated that these are not isolated retaliatory strikes carried out by the Biden administration in response to Houthi attacks.
On Saturday, President Donald Trump vowed to use “overwhelming lethal force” until the Houthis stopped attacking, and warned that Tehran would be held “fully accountable” for its actions.
The Houthis have repeatedly targeted international shipping in the Red Sea, sinking two vessels in what they claim are acts of solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza, where Israel is at war with Hamas, another Iranian ally.
The attacks ceased when Israel and Hamas agreed to a ceasefire in January, a day before Trump took office, but the Houthis announced last week that they would resume attacks on Israeli vessels after Israel cut off the flow of humanitarian aid to Gaza this month.
No Houthi attacks have been reported since then.
The Houthi-run Health Ministry reported that US strikes overnight killed at least 31 people, including women and children, and injured over 100 in Sanaa and the northern province of Saada, the rebels’ stronghold on the Saudi border.
The airstrikes were one of the most widespread attacks on the Houthis since the conflict in Gaza began in October 2023.
Michael Waltz, Trump’s national security adviser, told ABC on Sunday that the strikes “actually targeted multiple Houthi leaders and took them out.” He did not identify them or provide evidence. Rubio stated that some Houthi facilities had been destroyed.
The Houthis’ political bureau has stated that the rebels will respond to the US strikes by “meeting escalation with escalation.”
The rebels claimed on Sunday that they had launched missiles and a drone at the USS Harry S. Truman carrier strike group, but two US officials told The Associated Press that they were not tracking anything. The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity while discussing military operations.
According to Rubio, over the last 18 months, the Houthis have attacked the US Navy “directly” 174 times and targeted commercial shipping 145 times with “guided precision anti-ship weaponry.”
The attacks sparked the most serious combat the US Navy had seen since WWII.
On Sunday, Gen. Hossein Salami, head of Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, denied his country was involved in the Houthis’ attacks, saying it “plays no role in setting the national or operational policies” of the militant groups it is allied with across the region, according to state-run TV.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, writing on X, urged the US to stop its airstrikes and stated that Washington cannot dictate Iran’s foreign policy.
The United States and others have long accused Iran of providing military assistance to the rebels. The US Navy seized Iranian-made missile parts and other weapons it claimed were destined for the Houthis.
The US, Israel, and the UK had previously targeted Houthi-held areas in Yemen, but the new operation was carried out solely by the US. It was the first strike against the Houthis by the second Trump administration.
The USS Harry S. Truman carrier strike group, consisting of the carrier, three Navy destroyers, and one cruiser, is in the Red Sea and participated in the mission. The USS Georgia cruise missile submarine has also been active in the area.
