ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth on Thursday issued a stern warning to Iran over its “LETHAL support” to Yemen’s Houthis. The warning comes even as negotiations between the United States and Iran over Tehran's nuclear program are ongoing.
“We see your LETHAL support to The Houthis. We know exactly what you are doing,” Hegseth wrote in a post on X. “You know very well what the U.S. Military is capable of — and you were warned. You will pay the CONSEQUENCE at the time and place of our choosing,” he warned.
Later in the day, Hegseth, on his personal X account, reposted a mid-March message from US President Donald Trump on Truth Social, in which Trump said that the Houthi attacks “emanate from” Iran.
"Iran has played the ‘innocent victim’ of rogue terrorists from which they’ve lost control, but they haven’t lost control," Trump said, adding that Tehran is “dictating every move, giving them [Houthis] the weapons, supplying them with money, highly sophisticated Military equipment, and even, so-called, ‘intelligence.’”
“Every shot fired by the Houthis will be looked upon, from this point forward, as being a shot fired from the weapons and leadership of IRAN,” noted, warning that “IRAN will be held responsible, and suffer the consequences, and those consequences will be dire!"
Hegseth’s sharply-worded message to Iran comes amid ongoing indirect U.S.-Iran nuclear negotiations. The two sides have held three rounds of talks and are expected to meet again in Rome on Saturday.
Meanwhile, the US has been escalating its military campaign against the Houthis, conducting over a 1000 strikes since early March.
The US strikes are in response to the Houthi attacks on Israeli commercial vessels or vessels affiliated with Israel in the Red Sea since the start of the Israel-Hamas War in October 2023. The Houthis claim the attacks aim to alleviate pressure on their Palestinian allies in Gaza.
The Houthis, officially known as the Ansarullah Movement, are a key part of the Iran-led "Axis of Resistance.” However, despite this alignment, Iranian officials have previously stated that the Houthis are acting independently. The chief commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Hossein Salami in mid-March stated that “Iran has no role in formulating the national or operational policies” of any faction in the Axis, including the Houthis.
Salami’s comments came as the US State Department in mid-March re-designated the Houthis as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO), citing attacks that “threaten the security of American civilians and personnel in the Middle East,” harm key U.S. regional partners, and endanger global maritime trade.
Importantly, the Houthis earlier this week forced the USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier to take evasive action, reportedly resulting in an F-18 fighter jet falling into the Red Sea. The aircraft is valued at approximately $67 million.
