US President Donald Trump said today that the US will hold Iran responsible for any future attacks by Iran-backed Houthis in the Strait of Hormuz. He warned that if the group targeted ships again, they would face major military punishment.
Trump’s warning came after Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis claimed responsibility for the attack on two Saudi Arabian oil tankers in the Red Sea. Just a few days before this, he had announced a naval blockade targeting Saudi ships.
“(If) they do it again, the United States will hold Iran responsible, because the Houthis are Iran’s proxies. Iran and the Houthis themselves will be given major military punishment. I am very disappointed in the Houthis, because until now they have acted very wisely and professionally,” Trump wrote in the ‘Truth Social’ post. Following the news of these attacks, global oil prices crossed $98 per barrel.
Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels represent the country’s Shia Muslim minority, the Zaidis, and are formally known as ‘Ansar Allah’ – meaning Supporters of God.
They emerged as an armed group in the 1990s and waged several insurgencies against Yemen’s central government for two decades. Following the ‘Arab Spring’ in 2011, they captured a northern province and later the capital Sanaa, which they still control; Also, most of the Red Sea coast of Yemen is also under their control. During this time they became part of Iran’s “Axis of Resistance” across the region and began receiving weapons and missile technology from Iran.