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President Donald Trump warned Tuesday that the United States would respond if Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels carry out threats to block shipping and energy exports from Saudi Arabia.
Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office during a meeting with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, Trump said the administration is prepared to act if the Houthis move forward with their warning.
“So far, it hasn’t happened, might happen, but we take care of things,” he said.
“If something like that happens, we take care of it. You know, we’ve done that with the Houthis before, and we haven’t heard from them in a while since we did what we did originally.”
President Trump’s remarks followed a Houthi announcement declaring what the group described as a “maritime embargo against the criminal Saudi enemy,” prompting renewed concerns about security along one of the world’s busiest commercial shipping routes.
The threat also raises questions about the durability of a ceasefire reached in May 2025 through Omani mediation between the United States and the Houthis. The agreement ended Houthi attacks on U.S. vessels but did not include Israeli-linked ships traveling through the Red Sea.
President Trump credited a previous U.S. military campaign with restoring deterrence after months of Houthi attacks on commercial shipping.
“That was about 45 days of very powerful action we took against the Houthis, and we’ve had no problem with the Houthis,” he said. “They’ve had no problem with us for a long period of time, including during this conflict.
“I think that if there is something like that, we’ll just have to take care of business.”
From March through May 2025, U.S. forces conducted a broad air campaign against the Iran-backed group following repeated attacks on commercial vessels in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.
According to The Hill, the Pentagon said the campaign struck more than 1,000 Houthi targets, including missile launch sites, drone facilities, military infrastructure and senior militant leaders.
The Red Sea is one of the world’s most important maritime trade corridors, handling about 15 percent of global shipping traffic.