White House says ‘multiple’ Houthi leaders killed, Iran ‘on notice’

A White House official on Sunday said a wave of US airstrikes on Yemen killed senior leaders from the Houthi militia and sent a message to their Iranian backers.

Attacks on the Houthi-held capital Sanaa as well as Saada, al-Bayda and Radaa killed at least 31 people and wounded 101, “most of whom were children and women,” Houthi health ministry spokesperson Anis al-Asbahi said.

US President Donald Trump said he had ordered Saturday night’s strikes and threatened more if the Houthis kept up their attacks on Red Sea and Gulf of Aden shipping.

The Houthis, who have fought for years in their country, vowed a response.

Witnesses to the bombing said on Sunday they were taken aback by its intensity.

The Houthis have carried out no attacks in the waterways since January 19, when a ceasefire began in the Gaza Strip, but on Tuesday said they would resume attacks on Israeli shipping.

US National Security Advisor Michael Waltz told ABC News the strikes “targeted multiple Houthi leaders and took them out.”

He told Fox News: “We just hit them with overwhelming force and put Iran on notice that enough is enough.”

Waltz also reiterated a US warning that “all options are on the table” to prevent Iran from attaining a nuclear weapon.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said that the US would conduct “unrelenting” strikes against the Houthis in Yemen until the militant group ceases their military actions targeting US assets and global shipping.

Speaking on Fox News on Sunday, Hegseth said the campaign “will continue until you say ‘We’re done shooting at ships. We’re done shooting at assets,’” Hegseth said.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio told CBS News’ “Face the Nation” program on Sunday that US strikes on Yemen will continue until the Houthis no longer have the capability to attack global shipping and the US Navy.

He said there was no talk of US ground raids in Yemen, adding: “I don’t think there’s a necessity for it right now.”

Rubio also said that there was “no way” the Houthis would have the ability to attack global shipping without support from Iran.

Trump last month sent a letter to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei proposing nuclear talks and saying that in the absence of a deal the matter could be handled “militarily.”

Tehran chafed at that suggestion, saying it would not negotiate while being “threatened.”

Waltz, in his ABC interview, said flatly: “Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon. All options are on the table to ensure it does not have one.”

He added: “They can either hand it over and give it up in a way that is verifiable, or they can face a whole series of other consequences, but either way, we cannot have a world with the ayatollahs with their finger on the nuclear button.”

Trump, posting on social media, vowed to “use overwhelming lethal force” to end the Houthi attacks, which the militia says are in solidarity with Palestinians during the Gaza war.

“To all Houthi terrorists, 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!” he said.

Trump also issued a stern warning to Tehran.

“To Iran: Support for the Houthi terrorists must end IMMEDIATELY!” he said.

The Houthis seized Sanaa in September 2014, forcing the government to flee south and leaving the militia controlling large parts of the country.

An Arab coalition in March 2015 began a military campaign against the Houthis.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi condemned the deaths in the US strikes and said Washington had “no authority” to dictate Tehran’s foreign policy.

US Central Command, which posted videos of warplanes taking off and a bomb demolishing a compound, said “precision strikes” were launched to “defend American interests, deter enemies, and restore freedom of navigation.”

The Houthis’ political bureau said its “forces are fully prepared to confront escalation with escalation.”

They have launched scores of drone and missile attacks on ships in the two key waterways.

Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said the Houthis had “attacked US warships 174 times and commercial vessels 145 times since 2023.”

The Yemen Conflict Observatory database set up by ACLED, a non-profit monitor, shows 136 Houthi attacks against warships, commercial vessels, Israeli and other targets since October 19, 2023.

The campaign put a major strain on the vital trade route, which normally carries about 12 percent of world shipping traffic, forcing many companies to take a costly detour around southern Africa.

The Palestinian group Hamas, which has praised Houthi support, branded the US strikes “a stark violation of international law and an assault on the country’s sovereignty and stability.”

Iran denounced them as a “gross violation of the principles of the UN Charter.”

The head of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Hossein Salami, said: “Iran will not wage war, but if anyone threatens it, it will give appropriate, decisive and conclusive responses.”

The United States had already launched several rounds of strikes on Houthi targets.

Israel has also struck Yemen, most recently in December, after Houthi missile fire towards Israeli territory.

Trump’s administration this month reclassified the Houthis as a “foreign terrorist organization,” banning any US interaction with the group.

Rubio also spoke to his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov. Moscow is close to Tehran.

“Continued Houthi attacks on US military and commercial shipping vessels in the Red Sea will not be tolerated,” Rubio told Lavrov, according to the State Department.

Russia’s foreign ministry said “Lavrov stressed the need for an immediate cessation of the use of force and the importance for all sides to engage in political dialogue... (to) prevent further bloodshed.”

Fighting in Yemen’s own war has largely been on hold since a 2022 ceasefire, but the promised peace process has stalled in the face of the Houthi attacks on Israel and Israel-linked shipping.

The war killed hundreds of thousands either directly or indirectly through causes such as disease. The country plunged into one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.