Trump warns Houthis, threatens military action if ship attacks continue

Donald Trump warned Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels against further attacks on ships, saying the US would hold Iran responsible for any renewed aggression and threatened major military action if such incidents continue

Cairo: US President Donald Trump says he is “very disappointed” in Yemen’s Houthis and has threatened “major military punishment” against the Iran-backed rebels if their attacks on ships continue. The president said on social media Thursday that “if they do this again, the US will hold Iran responsible, in that the Houthis are a Surrogate and/or Proxy of Iran, and major military punishment will be inflicted upon Iran and, of course, the Houthis themselves.”

Trump said the Houthis had previously been acting “very responsibly” after facing US strikes last year in response to rebel attacks on commercial vessels. “Unfortunately, now they are starting up again, shooting at two Saudi Arabian ships last night,” he said.