US officials on Sunday vowed further strikes in Yemen until the Houthi rebels decide to end their attacks on Red Sea shipping, while also threatening action against 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 Houthi leaders were killed, the White House said.
The airstrikes “actually targeted multiple Houthi leaders and took them out”, National Security Advisor Michael Waltz told ABC News. He added that the United States “will hold not only the Houthis 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 Houthis 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 on Sunday.
The group, which has controlled much of Yemen for more than a decade, staunchly opposes Israel and the United States and says the shipping attacks are in protest of Israel’s military offensive in Gaza.
The Houthis have launched scores of drone and missile attacks on ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden since the outbreak of the fighting, which was spurred by Hamas’ October 7, 2023 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.
