President Trump on Wednesday threatened Yemen’s Houthis, saying they will be “totally annihilated” by the US bombing campaign on Yemen, and issued a new warning to Iran.
Trump’s latest threat came amid reports that the US bombed the Yemeni capital of Sanaa again on Wednesday. According to Yemen’s Al Masirah TV, the attack targeted a residential area and wounded seven women and two children. US strikes were also reported in Sadaa and hit targets across Yemen early Wednesday morning.
Trump previously said that he would blame Iran for each Houthi attack even though US officials have acknowledged the Yemeni group, officially known as Ansar Allah, acts independently and likely wouldn’t take orders from Tehran and has its own weapons supply.
Trump claimed that Iran “lessened” its support of the Houthis. “Reports are coming in that while Iran has lessened its intensity on Military Equipment and General Support to the Houthis, they are still sending large levels of Supplies,” he wrote on Truth Social.
“Iran must stop the sending of these Supplies IMMEDIATELY. Let the Houthis fight it out themselves. Either way they lose, but this way they lose quickly,” Trump said.
Iran is aligned politically with Ansar Allah but has always denied that it arms the group. The Houthis have missiles and drones similar to Iranian ones, which means they probably received support from Tehran for the initial development of the weapons, but they are produced domestically inside Yemen. Citing US officials, The Washington Post recently reported that the Houthis have “established their own substantial, independent weapons production capability.”
While Trump is still claiming Iran is supplying the Houthis, his statement appears to put less of the blame on Iran for the Yemeni group than he did before. On Monday, Trump warned that “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 that Tehran would “suffer the consequences.”
In his Truth Social post on Wednesday, Trump said, “Tremendous damage has been inflicted upon the Houthi barbarians, and watch how it will get progressively worse — It’s not even a fair fight, and never will be. They will be completely annihilated!”
The Houthis have shown no sign of backing down in the face of renewed US airstrikes, which began on Saturday with a massive bombing that killed 53 people, including women and children. The Houthis message has been that they will meet “escalation with escalation,” and they have claimed four attacks on the US aircraft carrier USS Harry Truman since Saturday.
The Houthis ceased their attacks on Israel and shipping in the region once the Gaza ceasefire went into effect on January 19. Trump launched the bombing campaign in Yemen after the group announced it would reimpose its blockade on Israeli shipping in response to Israeli ceasefire violations.
The Houthis have maintained that a real ceasefire in Gaza and an end to the Israeli blockade on aid entering the territory is the only way to end their attacks.
US officials say the goal of the bombing campaign is to hurt the Houthis enough that they won’t have the capability to launch missile or drone attacks. But the group is resilient, having survived a US-backed Saudi war from 2015 to 2022, which involved heavy airstrikes, a blockade, and a ground campaign.
According to the UN, the war killed at least 377,000 people, with more than half dying of starvation and disease caused by the siege. A ceasefire between the Houthis and Saudis has held relatively well since April 2022, but new US sanctions are blocking the implementation of a lasting peace deal.
