President Trump vowed Monday to continue striking the Houthis until the Yemeni terror group stops attacking commercial ships in the Red Sea — warning that the US has “only just begun” its retaliation.
“The Iran-backed Houthi Terrorists have been decimated by the relentless strikes over the past two weeks. Many of their Fighters and Leaders are no longer with us,” Trump posted on Truth Social.
“We hit them every day and night — Harder and harder. Their capabilities that threaten Shipping and the Region are rapidly being destroyed.”
Trump went on: “Our attacks will continue until they are no longer a threat to Freedom of Navigation. The choice for the Houthis is clear: Stop shooting at U.S. ships, and we will stop shooting at you.
“Otherwise, we have only just begun, and the real pain is yet to come, for both the Houthis and their sponsors in Iran.”
The Trump administration began their operation against the Houthis on March 15 after the terror group threatened Israeli ships in the Red Sea amid a cease-fire in the Gaza war.
The terror group later retaliated, claiming responsibility for hitting US warships in the Red Sea.
Houthis have been targeting ships in the region since 2023, wreaking havoc on the trade route along the critical Suez Canal.
The military plans to strike the Houthis were inadvertently disclosed to journalist Jeffrey Goldberg days before the operation took place after National Security Adviser Mike Waltz added The Atlantic editor-in-chief to a Signal group chat with other cabinet and administration officials.
Vice President JD Vance, who was in the chat, expressed his doubts that striking the Houthis would be a good idea, given that the Europeans trade much more through the Suez Canal.
“I think we are making a mistake,” Vance wrote in the chat, which was titled “Houthi PC small group.”
“[Three] percent of US trade runs through the [Suez Canal]. 40 percent of European trade does,” said the VP. “There is a real risk that the public doesn’t understand this or why it’s necessary. The strongest reason to do this is, as POTUS said, to send a message.”
Trump and the White House have been defending the Houthi operation after the bombshell Signal leak, calling the operation a “success” and claiming no classified material was shared.
“I think it’s just a witch hunt and the fake news, like you, talk about it all the time, but it’s just a witch hunt, and it shouldn’t be talked [about],” Trump told NBC News on Sunday about the Signal chat.
“We had a tremendously successful strike. We struck very hard and very lethal. And nobody wants to talk about that. All they want to talk about is nonsense. It’s fake news.”
The president also said he would not be firing Waltz or anyone from his staff over the Signal leak — and White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt announced Monday that an internal investigation of the matter had concluded.
