Houthi rebels vow ‘escalation’ after U.S. airstrikes in Yemen

The Trump administration on Sunday traded threats of escalation with Yemen’s Houthi rebels and their patron state, Iran, on the heels of massive U.S. airstrikes against the Houthis that signaled a hardball approach from President Trump and a willingness to deepen America’s military engagement in the Middle East.

The Houthi rebels vowed to “meet escalation with escalation,” and Iranian Gen. Hossein Salami, the commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, promised a “devastating” response to any military actions against Iran.

On Saturday, Mr. Trump vowed that “hell will rain down” on the Houthis unless they permanently end all attacks against commercial ships in and around the Red Sea. He warned Tehran that “America will hold you fully accountable” if it continued to back the Houthis with money and weapons. That Iranian support has allowed the Houthis to target more than 100 ships, including U.S. military vessels, over the past 16 months.

The Trump administration has indicated openness to a diplomatic deal to limit Iran’s nuclear program but has not ruled out direct military action against Tehran. The strikes on the Houthis could be viewed in the region as a sign that Mr. Trump is serious about that threat.

“What the president has repeatedly said is that Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon. All options are on the table to ensure it does not have one,” White House National Security Adviser Mike Waltz told ABC’s “This Week.” “And that’s all aspects of Iran’s program. That’s the missiles, the weaponization, the enrichment. They can either hand it over and give it up in a way that is verifiable, or they can face a whole series of other consequences.”

U.S. Central Command, which oversees military operations in the Middle East, shared videos and photos of what it said were strikes against Houthi positions in Yemen, including near Sanaa, the capital. The strikes reportedly hit Houthi radars, missiles and drones.

Houthi leaders said more than 30 people were killed, though those figures were not independently verified.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the U.S. campaign would continue as long as necessary.

“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,” Mr. Hegseth told Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures.”

A back-and-forth between the two sides suggested more mutual attacks on the horizon.

In a post on X, senior Houthi leader and spokesman Mohammed al-Bukhaiti said the U.S. “aggression” was not justified and would be met with escalation.

He said the group threatened to resume attacks on commercial ships because Israel had not abided by a ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip, where the Jewish state has been battling the terrorist group Hamas for 18 months.

“The Zionist entity has not adhered to the ceasefire agreement, so our naval operations target it alone with the aim of lifting the siege on Gaza,” Mr. al-Bukhaiti said. “This is a moral and humanitarian position. America’s involvement in the aggression against Yemen is unjustified and will result in a response. We will meet escalation with escalation, and the one who starts it is the most unjust.”

Gen. Salami denied that Tehran had direct control over the actions of the Houthis but delivered a warning to the Trump administration.

“Any threat against Iran, if it takes a practical form, will be met with a resolute, firm and devastating response,” he said, according to Iranian state-run media.

Escalation on the horizon?

Mr. Trump delivered an explicit warning to Tehran in a lengthy Truth Social post Saturday.

“To Iran: Support for the Houthi terrorists must end IMMEDIATELY! Do NOT threaten the American People, their President, who has received one of the largest mandates in Presidential History, or Worldwide shipping lanes,” the president posted. “If you do, BEWARE, because America will hold you fully accountable and we won’t be nice about it!”

The strikes appear to be the most significant U.S. military action abroad since Mr. Trump took office on Jan. 20. He warned the Houthis about further bombing if they didn’t stop their aggression.

“The Houthi attack on American vessels will not be tolerated. We will use overwhelming lethal force until we have achieved our objective,” the president posted on social media. “The Houthis have choked off shipping in one of the most important Waterways of the World, grinding vast swaths of Global Commerce to a halt, and attacking the core principle of Freedom of Navigation upon which International Trade and Commerce depends.”

He added: “To all Houthi 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!”

The Houthis have targeted commercial ships in and around the Red Sea since Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas, which is also backed and financed by Iran, attacked Israel. Since January 2024, the U.S. has led an air campaign targeting the Houthis in Yemen, though the attempted Houthi strikes against Israel and on commercial ships continued.

Britain has taken part in some of the airstrikes against the Houthis over the past 14 months, but reports said only the U.S. military carried out the most recent round.

The Houthis had targeted more than 100 ships, including U.S. vessels, with missiles and drones. The terrorists scaled back attacks in recent months during the U.S.-backed efforts for an Israel-Hamas ceasefire.

The Yemen-based militants warned last week that “any Israeli vessel” traveling through Middle Eastern waters would be targeted. Concern was growing that American military ships and commercial ships in the region would again come under fire from the Islamists.

Some lawmakers said the U.S. strikes sent a strong message to Iran.

“I applaud the president’s decisive action in Yemen,” said Sen. James E. Risch, Idaho Republican and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

“With Iran’s support, the Houthis have operated with impunity for far too long, attacked American sailors, attacked Israel, and have shut down Red Sea shipping and passed costs to Americans. From maximum pressure to dismantling Iran’s proxies, President Trump has made good on his promise to reverse Biden’s failed Middle East policies,” Mr. Risch said in a statement. “His decisive action today sends a clear message to the Iranian regime that its terrorists can no longer dominate the Middle East.”