Sources say Trump preparing to intensify activity against Yemen’s Houthis

Trump and other officials in the incoming administration are interested in increasing the activity against the Houthis, including air attacks.

“President Trump likely will add the Houthis back on the [State Department’s] Foreign Terrorists Organizations list, after President Joe Biden’s wrongheaded decision to remove them, as one of his first acts of president in 2021,” Mark Dubowitz, the CEO of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said.

Elliott Abrams, who served as the US Special Representative for Iran from 2020 to 2021, also stated, “Trump will not stand for having US Navy ships attacked every day by the Houthis using Iranian missiles.”

“He will hit the Houthis harder, and he will threaten Iran that if a missile [that] Iran supplied kills an American, Iran will get hit directly,” he added.

Tehran has repeatedly stressed that regional resistance groups do not take orders from Iran, nor does the Islamic Republic have a role in their decisions to carry out retaliatory operations in defense of the Palestinian people.

Over the last month, the Biden administration has decided to change its strategy in Yemen, increasing the number of airstrikes against Houthi targets.

Among other things, the Trump administration is expected to appeal to Persian Gulf states in an effort to upgrade the regional coalition against the Houthis.

Since November 2023, the Houthis have launched nearly 100 attacks on ships in the Red Sea, actions they say are in solidarity with Palestinians suffering under Israel’s war on Gaza, which has killed more than 45,500 people and wounded over 108,000 Palestinians.

The Houthis have stressed they will stop their attacks if Israel’s war on Gaza stops.

Despite attacks by the United States, Britain and Israel on Yemeni territory, the Houthi military operations have continued unabated.