President Trump said on Wednesday that the Iran-backed Houthi militant group in Yemen would be “completely annihilated” by U.S. military strikes and warned Tehran to “immediately” stop supplying it with military equipment and general support and “let the Houthis fight it out themselves.”
His remarks, posted on social media, came as the U.S. military continued a wave of attacks on Houthi targets in Yemen as part of what American officials said was an effort to stop the militant group’s attacks on commercial ships in the Red Sea.
“Tremendous damage has been inflicted,” Mr. Trump said of the effects of the strikes, which began on Saturday. He added: “Watch how it will get progressively worse. It’s not even a fair fight, and never will be. They will be completely annihilated!”
Earlier on Wednesday, the U.S. Central Command posted a video showing American fighter jets shooting down Houthi attack drones. The military has been striking the group’s training sites, command centers and weapons facilities since the weekend in what it says is an attempt to restore freedom of navigation in regional waters.
The Houthis have been targeting Israel and attacking ships in the Red Sea in solidarity with the armed Palestinian group Hamas, which is also backed by Iran and led the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel that set off the war in Gaza.
After Israel and Hamas agreed to a temporary cease-fire in January, the Yemeni militants suspended their campaign. But they vowed to resume attacks as truce talks faltered and Israel blocked humanitarian aid from entering the Gaza Strip this month.
Mr. Trump said on Saturday that he had ordered the military to launch “decisive and powerful” actions against the militia, which controls most of northern Yemen. He said the Houthis “have waged an unrelenting campaign of piracy, violence and terrorism” against American ships and other vessels, attacks he said were funded by Iran. The strikes, he added, were intended also as a warning to Iran.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth echoed the president’s statement, writing on social media Saturday that “Houthi attacks on American ships & aircraft (and our troops!) will not be tolerated; and Iran, their benefactor, is on notice.”
The Yemeni group, for its part, said Tuesday that it had targeted a U.S. aircraft carrier four times in the previous three days and had thwarted an air attack.
In a briefing with reporters on Monday, however, Lt. Gen. Alexus G. Grynkewich of the U.S. Air Force, who is also director for operations of the Joint Staff, dismissed the Houthis’ claims, saying, “They missed by a hundred miles.” He added that it was “hard to tell what they are doing, given their level of incompetence.”
“Initial estimates” showed dozens of Houthi casualties after the weekend strikes, General Grynkewich added, including to technical weapons experts, but he said there were no indications the American-led campaign had led to civilian casualties.
Anis al-Asbahi, a spokesman for the Houthi-run Health Ministry in Yemen, said on Sunday that the strikes had killed at least 53 people and wounded 98 others.
Sean Parnell, a spokesman for the Defense Department, said in the news briefing on Monday, “We will use overwhelming lethal force until we have achieved our objective.” But he said that it would not be an “endless offensive,” and that the “clear end state” would be when the Houthis stopped attacking commercial ships.
Mr. Parnell said that since 2023 the militant group had targeted American warships in regional waters 170 times, and commercial vessels 145 times. In November 2023, the rebels seized the MV Galaxy Leader, holding sailors from Bulgaria, Mexico, the Philippines, Romania and Ukraine for more than a year.
This past January, the rebel group released 25 of the ship’s crew members.
