WORLD NET DAILY | Published March 18, 2025
Further attacks ‘will be met with great force, and there is no guarantee that that force will stop there’
President Donald Trump warned the Islamic Republic of Iran that he will hold Tehran responsible for any military strikes carried out by the Houthi rebels in Yemen, who enjoy funding and support from the mullahs.
“Let nobody be fooled! The hundreds of attacks being made by Houthi, the sinister mobsters and thugs based in Yemen, who are hated by the Yemeni people, all emanate from, and are created by, IRAN,” the president posted on Truth Social Monday. “Any further attack or retaliation by the ‘Houthis’ will be met with great force, and there is no guarantee that that force will stop there.”
“Iran has played ‘the innocent victim’ of rogue terrorists from which they’ve lost control, but they haven’t lost control,” Trump added. “They’re dictating every move, giving them the weapons, supplying them with money and highly sophisticated Military equipment, and even, so-called, ‘Intelligence.'”
He drew a line in the sand: “Every shot fired by the Houthis will be looked upon, from this point forward, as being a shot fired from the weapons and leadership of IRAN, and IRAN will be held responsible, and suffer the consequences, and those consequences will be dire!”
The Houthi rebels in Iran have attacked over 100 merchant vessels with drones and missiles from November 2023 until January. Houthi leaders claim the attacks aim to end Israel’s war against Hamas. Yemen’s geography juts into the Red Sea, creating a choke point between the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, a major shipping route.
President Trump launched airstrikes against the Houthis this weekend, targeting missile sites and Houthi leadership and killing at least 53 people.
“We’re doing the entire world a favor by getting rid of these guys and their ability to strike global shipping,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio told CBS News’ “Face The Nation” on Sunday. “That’s the mission here, and it will continue until that’s carried out.”
President Trump has resurrected his “maximum pressure” sanctions on Iran after former President Biden relaxed sanctions, allowing at least $71 billion to flow to Tehran before the Hamas attacks on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. Iran bankrolls Hamas, the Houthis, Hezbollah, and militias in Iraq, which have all attacked Israel or U.S. interests in the Middle East.
[Editor’s note: This story originally was published by The Daily Signal.]
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SOURCE: www.wnd.com
RELATED: Trump ramps up pressure on Iran with fresh Houthi threats
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt speaks to members of the media, as images are displayed of U.S. President Donald Trump receiving information on military strikes launched against Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis, in the briefing room at the White House on Monday. | REUTERS
JAPAN TIMES | Published SMarch 18, 2025
U.S. President Donald Trump has ratcheted up pressure on Iran to rein in the Houthis, raising the possibility of retaliatory strikes against the Islamic Republic if the militant group in Yemen doesn’t stop its attacks.
“Any further attack or retaliation by the ‘Houthis’ will be met with great force, and there is no guarantee that that force will stop there,” Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social. “Every shot fired by the Houthis will be looked upon, from this point forward, as being a shot fired from the weapons and leadership of IRAN, and IRAN will be held responsible.”
Trump wrote the post after ordering a fresh round of strikes on the Iran-backed Houthis over the weekend for persistent attacks that disrupt commercial traffic through the Red Sea. The Houthi health ministry said 53 people were killed and 98 wounded in strikes on the capital, Sanaa, and other provinces.
The Houthis have survived years of bombardment including by Saudi Arabia, whose intervention in Yemen’s civil war failed to dislodge the group. In an appearance on ABC on Sunday, White House national security adviser Mike Waltz said Iranian targets in and around Yemen — including ships near the coast that provide intelligence and trainers — “will be on the table, too.”
Successive U.S. administrations have accused Iran of supplying training, expertise and weapons to the Houthis, and former U.S. President Joe Biden ordered a series of strikes on the group after it began targeting ships in the Red Sea.
“Although the U.S. has been striking at Houthi targets for over a year, the scope and scale of this new campaign, including the targeting of senior Houthi figures, marks a significant escalation in the conflict,” Eurasia analysts Firas Maksad and Gregory Brew said in a note to clients.
A U.S. battleship fires missiles at an undisclosed location after Trump launched military strikes against Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis over the group’s attacks on vessels in the Red Sea, on Saturday. | U.S. Central Command / via REUTERS
On Monday, new airstrikes hit Houthi targets in Yemen’s Hodeida province, according to Houthi media. Later, there were fresh strikes on targets in Sanaa, according to residents and Houthi media.
Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell told reporters Monday that the U.S. attacks on Yemen continue, but it’s “not an endless offensive.” He said targets in the initial U.S. attacks included “key individuals” who led the Houthis’ drone operations.
“There is a very clear end state to this operation,” he said. “And that begins the moment the Houthis pledge to stop attacking our ships.”
Lt. Gen. Alexus Grynkewich, director for operations on the Joint Staff, said at the same briefing that Houthi claims are often greatly exaggerated. Citing Houthi statements that they struck the USS Harry S. Truman after the initial U.S. attacks, Grynkewich said they missed the aircraft carrier “by over a hundred miles.”
On Saturday, Trump said he ordered “decisive and powerful” action against the Houthis. In a post on Truth Social, Trump said they had “choked off shipping in one of the most important Waterways of the World, grinding vast swaths of Global Commerce to a halt.”
On Sunday, the Yemeni Armed Forces said it retaliated by launching missile and drone attacks against the USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier twice in 24 hours. The statement couldn’t be immediately verified.
The Yemeni statement followed a promise by the Houthis’ ruling political council to counter U.S. “aggression,” saying its operations would continue until Israel ended a ban on aid entering the Gaza Strip.
Israel stopped aid supplies entering the Palestinian territory about a week ago, saying the move was necessary to pressure Hamas, another Iran-backed militant group, and get it to release more hostages. The Houthis began their maritime attacks in the southern Red Sea and Gulf of Aden in late 2023, ostensibly in support of the Palestinians after the Israel-Hamas war erupted in Gaza.
The attacks rattled shipping markets and pushed up freight rates for vessels traveling between Asia and Europe.
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SOURCE: www.japantimes.co.jp
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