President Trump warns that he will hold Iran responsible for any further attacks by Houthi militants on vessels in the Red Sea area. In a post on Truth Social, Trump said Iran is dictating every move of the Houthis, giving them weapons, money and 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, and IRAN will be held responsible, and suffer the consequences, and those consequences will be dire!" Trump wrote.
The president's comments come after the US launched a large scale attack against the Iran-aligned militants Sunday, killing at least 53 people and wounding almost 100 in the Yemen capital Sanaa and surrounding area, according to the Houthi-run health ministry.
The Houthis began targeting dozens of military and commercial vessels shortly after the war in Gaza began late 2023, choking off transit in one of the world's busiest waterways. In early 2024, the Biden administration mounted a coalition of about 20 nations to help secure the Red Sea, including retaliatory strikes against militants and shooting down its drones and missiles.
The Houthis stopped targeting ships in January after a ceasefire was announced between Israel and Hamas, but last week said it would renew attacks after Israel cut off the flow of humanitarian aid to Gaza earlier this month.
The US strikes are meant to open up international shipping lanes in the Red Sea, after months of attacks by Houthi militants forced vessels to find new routes, often around the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa, adding time and cost to each journey, and threatening global supply chains.
But Jonathan Roach, an analyst at Braemar ACM Shipbroking in London, says even if there is a cessation of hostilities in the Red Sea, it's unlikely shipping vessels will return immediately. He says shipping companies need certainty.
"So, it's probably going to take a good three to six months of no hostilities to container ships before they'll actually risk it", he says.
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