By Phil Stewart and Mohammed Ghobari
WASHINGTON/ADEN, Yemen, March 15 (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump launched military strikes against Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis on Saturday over the group’s attacks against Red Sea shipping, warning “hell will rain down upon you” if the Houthis do not abandon their campaign.
Trump also warned Iran, the Houthis’ main backer, that it needed to immediately halt support to the group. He said if Iran threatened the United States “America will hold you fully accountable and, we won’t be nice about it!”
The unfolding U.S. strikes represent the biggest U.S. military operation in the Middle East since Trump took office in January, and came as the United States ramps up sanctions pressure on Tehran while trying to bring it to the negotiating table over its nuclear program.
ANALYSIS: Despite Tough Talk, Economic Woes May Force Iran to Bargain with Trump
At least nine civilians were killed and nine injured in U.S. strikes on Yemen’s Sanaa, according to the Houthi-run health ministry.
Residents in Sanaa said the strikes hit a building in a Houthi stronghold.
“The explosions were violent and shook the neighborhood like an earthquake. They terrified our women and children,” one of the residents, who gave his name as Abdullah Yahia, told Reuters.
The Houthis launched more than 100 attacks targeting shipping from November 2023, saying they were in solidarity with Palestinians over Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza.
Iran‘s other allies, Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon, have been severely weakened since the start of the conflict. Syria’s Bashar al-Assad, who was closely aligned with Tehran, was overthrown by rebels in December.
But during this period, Yemen’s Houthis have remained resilient and on the offensive, sinking two vessels, seizing another and killing at least four seafarers in an offensive that disrupted global shipping, forcing firms to re-route to longer and more expensive journeys around southern Africa.
The previous U.S. administration of President Joe Biden had sought to degrade the Houthis’ ability to attack vessels off its coast but limited the U.S. actions.
U.S. officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, say Trump has authorized a more aggressive approach.
The strikes on Saturday were carried out in part by aircraft from the Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier, which is in the Red Sea, officials said.
Trump held out the prospect of far more devastating military action against Yemen.
“The Houthi attack on American vessels will not be tolerated. We will use overwhelming lethal force until we have achieved our objective,” Trump wrote.
Iran-Backed Houthis Give Israel Four-Day Deadline to Lift Gaza Aid Blockage
On Tuesday, the Houthis said they would resume attacks on Israeli ships passing through the Red and Arabian seas, the Bab al-Mandab Strait and the Gulf of Aden, ending a period of relative calm starting in January with the Gaza ceasefire.
The U.S. attacks came just days after a letter to Iran‘s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei from Trump was delivered, seeking talks over Iran‘s nuclear program.
Khamenei on Wednesday rejected holding negotiations with the United States.
Still, Tehran is increasingly concerned that mounting public anger over economic hardships could erupt into mass protests, four Iranian officials told Reuters.
Last year, Israeli strikes on Iranian facilities, including missile factories and air defenses, in retaliation for Iranian missile and drone attacks, reduced Tehran’s conventional military capabilities, according to U.S. officials.
Iran has denied wanting to develop a nuclear weapon. However, it is dramatically accelerating enrichment of uranium to up to 60% purity, close to the roughly 90% weapons-grade level, the U.N. nuclear watchdog – the International Atomic Energy Agency – has warned.
Western states say there is no need to enrich uranium to such a high level under any civilian program and that no other country has done so without producing nuclear bombs. Iran says its nuclear program is peaceful. Iran has denied wanting to develop a nuclear weapon.
(Reporting by Phil Stewart in Washington, Mohammed Ghobari in Aden, Yemen and Hatem Maher in Cairo; editing by Michelle Nichols, Nick Zieminski and Diane Craft)
