Donald Trump threatened Yemen’s pro-Iranian Houthi rebels and Iran with “major military punishment” in a post on his Truth Social network on Thursday, after the rebels claimed responsibility for strikes against two Saudi oil tankers in the Red Sea.
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“Let this message be clear: If they (the Houthis) do it again, the United States will hold Iran responsible, because the Houthis are proxies for Iran. A heavy military sanction will be imposed on Iran and, of course, on the Houthis themselves, in whom I am very disappointed, because they have, so far, acted professionally and intelligently,” the US president wrote.
The claimed Houthi attacks in the Red Sea further expand the theater of war in the Middle East, two weeks after hostilities resumed between the United States and Iran, shattering the ceasefire agreed in April.
They risk greatly reviving market concerns about hydrocarbon supplies, since Saudi Arabia is the world’s leading exporter of crude oil, and, on the other side of the Arabian Peninsula, the strategic Strait of Hormuz, at the heart of tensions between Washington and Tehran, is once again blocked by Iran.
Yemeni rebels, supported by Tehran, announced a blockade of Saudi ports on Monday. They had since sent radio warnings to ships, threatening to target those who tried to force their way through.
In a statement published on Telegram, they claimed “a qualitative military operation targeting two Saudi oil tankers that violated the blockade”, identifying the vessels as the Encelia and the Layla.
The British maritime safety agency UKMTO had reported shortly before that an oil tanker was hit by an “unidentified projectile” in the Red Sea, which caused no casualties but caused a fire on board, some 130 kilometers off the Saudi port of Al Shuqaiq.
