'Hell will rain down upon you,' Trump orders US military to launch 'powerful' action against Houthis in Yemen

US President Donald Trump on Saturday (March 15) wrote on his Truth Social media platform that he has ordered the US military to launch “decisive and powerful Military action” against Houthi rebels in Yemen.

The US president accused the Iranian-backed militia of waging “an unrelenting campaign of piracy, violence, and terrorism against American, and other, ships, aircraft, and drones.”

He also accused his predecessor “weak” Joe Biden of keeping the “unrestrained” Houthis going.

“It has been over a year since a U.S. flagged commercial ship safely sailed through the Suez Canal, the Red Sea, or the Gulf of Aden. The last American Warship to go through the Red Sea, four months ago, was attacked by the Houthis over a dozen times. Funded by Iran, the Houthi thugs have fired missiles at U.S. aircraft, and targeted our Troops and Allies. These relentless assaults have cost the U.S. and World Economy many BILLIONS of Dollars while, at the same time, putting innocent lives at risk,” Trump wrote.

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“The Houthi attack on American vessels will not be tolerated. We will use overwhelming lethal force until we have achieved our objective. The Houthis have choked off shipping in one of the most important Waterways of the World, grinding vast swaths of Global Commerce to a halt, and attacking the core principle of Freedom of Navigation upon which International Trade and Commerce depends,” Trump wrote further.

“Our brave Warfighters are right now carrying out aerial attacks on the terrorists’ bases, leaders, and missile defenses to protect American shipping, air, and naval assets, and to restore Navigational Freedom. No terrorist force will stop American commercial and naval vessels from freely sailing the Waterways of the World,” he added.

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Directly addressing Houthi fighters, Trump wrote, “YOUR TIME IS UP, AND YOUR ATTACKS MUST STOP, STARTING TODAY. IF THEY DON’T, HELL WILL RAIN DOWN UPON YOU LIKE NOTHING YOU HAVE EVER SEEN BEFORE!:”

Addressing Iran, the US leader wrote, “To Iran: Support for the Houthi terrorists must end IMMEDIATELY! Do NOT threaten the American People, their President, who has received one of the largest mandates in Presidential History, or Worldwide shipping lanes. If you do, BEWARE, because America will hold you fully accountable and, we won’t be nice about it!”

Since November 2023, the Houthis have launched over 100 attacks on ships off Yemen in support of Palestinian militants in Gaza fighting Israel, disrupting global shipping, according to Reuters.

Soon after becoming president, Trump had signed an executive order to designate once again Houthi rebels as a “foreign terrorist organisation.”

When former president Joe Biden took over from Trump in 2021, he removed the designation that Trump had signed near the end of his first term.

Biden’s move came in response to concern from aid groups that they would need to pull out of Yemen as they are obliged to deal with the rebels, who are effectively the government in vast areas including the capital Sanaa.

But weeks after the war in the Gaza Strip broke out on October 7, 2023, the Huthis began launching attacks on shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden in what they said was support for the Palestinians.

They also declared US and British interests to be “legitimate targets.”

Trump’s executive order said the Huthis had “launched numerous attacks on civilian infrastructure, including multiple attacks on civilian airports in Saudi Arabia,” in addition to firing “more than 300 projectiles fired at Israel since October 2023.”