US officials on Sunday vowed further strikes in Yemen until the Huthi rebels decide to end their attacks on Red Sea shipping, while also threatening action against the group’s backer Iran.

In a wave of strikes on Saturday, the first against the rebel group since US President Donald Trump returned to office in January, several Huthi leaders were killed, the White House said.

The airstrikes “actually targeted multiple Huthi leaders and took them out,” National Security Advisor Michael Waltz told ABC News.

He added that the United States “will hold not only the Huthis accountable, but we’re going to hold Iran, their backers, accountable as well.”

“And if that means their targeting ships that they have put in to help, their Iranian trainers… other things that they have put in to help the Huthis attack the global economy, those targets will be on the table too.”

In a separate appearance on Fox News, he said the strikes “put Iran on notice that enough is enough.”

The US strikes killed at least 31 people and wounded 101, the Yemeni rebel group’s health ministry said Sunday.

The Tehran-backed group, who have controlled much of Yemen for more than a decade, staunchly oppose Israel and the United States and say the shipping attacks are in protest of Israel’s war in Gaza.

The Huthis have launched scores of drone and missile attacks on ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden since the outbreak of the war, which was spurred by the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel.

US warships have been attacked 174 times and commercial vessels 145 times since 2023, according to the Pentagon, putting a major strain on a sea route that normally carries about 12 percent of world shipping traffic.

Trump, in a lengthy Truth Social post Saturday announcing the latest attacks, warned Huthi leaders that “YOUR ATTACKS MUST STOP, STARTING TODAY. IF THEY DON’T, HELL WILL RAIN DOWN UPON YOU LIKE NOTHING YOU HAVE EVER SEEN BEFORE!”



https://www.vanguardngr.com/2025/03/us-vows-unrelenting-campaign-to-halt-huthi-ship-attacks/