'We Will Escalate': Houthi Chief Announces Terror Campaign Against U.S. Warships

The leader of Ansarullah, the jihadist terror organization commonly known as the Houthis, announced a new campaign “against American and Israeli oppression” in an unhinged speech on Sunday, threatening to “escalate” against American military assets in the Middle East.

Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, the head of the Houthi terrorist organization governing most of Yemen, was responding to an airstrike campaign against his group that President Donald Trump announced on Saturday. In a message published on his social media outlet Truth Social, Trump said he had approved “aerial attacks on the terrorists’ bases, leaders, and missile defenses” in response to the years-long Houthi initiative to disrupt global trade passing through and near the Red Sea in solidarity with Hamas. The Houthis have been attacking commercial ships — including, on some occasions, ships affiliated with their allies such as Russia, China, and Iran — since shortly after Hamas invaded Israel in October 2023, killing over 1,000 civilians in an unprecedented massacre.

Trump’s airstrikes appear to be a response themselves to the Houthis threatening to resume attacks on commercial ships in the Red Sea region last week after a relative lull in maritime terrorism following the implementation of a tentative ceasefire between Hamas and the nation of Israel.

Abdul-Malik al-Houthi claimed during his remarks on Sunday, according to a translation by the Iranian propaganda outlet PressTV, that Trump’s airstrikes were a “failure” and that they had inspired the Houthis to engage in more jihadist violence.

“Our armed forces have begun responding to the American aggression — this is our choice, our decision, and our direction, as long as the American aggression on our country continues,” Houthi reportedly claimed. “The aircraft carrier and American warships will be targets for us, and the navigation ban will include the Americans as long as they persist in their aggression.”

The aircraft carrier in question is the USS Harry Truman , which is in the region as part of “Operation Prosperity Guardian,” a dubious initiative begun by former President Joe Biden allegedly intended to maintain freedom of navigation in the region. Houthi leaders claimed on Sunday that they had attacked the Harry Truman ; by Monday morning local time, Houthi terror spokesman Yahya Saree claimed that the Houthi attacks had successfully limited American warplane activity against the group.

“For the second time during 24 hours, Saree said that the Yemeni Armed Forces targeted USS Harry Truman with several ballistic and cruise missiles and drones in retaliation for the latest aggression against the Arab nation,” PressTV claimed.

The U.S. military has not confirmed any such successful attack. Multiple reports citing anonymous U.S. government officials confirmed that the Houthis attempted some kind of attack on the Harry Truman , but indicated that they had failed. An unnamed “U.S. official with knowledge” told the military news outlet Task & Purpose that the Houthis had “launched 11 drones and one ballistic missile at the USS Harry S. Truman and the supporting ships of its carrier strike group,” but the Air Force shot down all the drones targeting it. The outlet also noted reports that the Houthis shot ballistic missiles apparently intended to target American Navy ships, but they were “not on a trajectory to threaten” the alleged targets.

The “navigation ban” al-Houthi mentioned in his speech is a piracy campaign in which the Houthis attack commercial ships in and near the Red Sea. They have for over a year insisted that their targets are only Israeli, American, and British ships, but have attacked dozens of ships, the vast majority of them with no clear relation to the war between Israel and Hamas.

Elsewhere in his speech, al-Houthi repeatedly confirmed an intent to “escalate” attacks.

“We will respond to escalation with escalation, and we will strike at the American enemy by targeting its aircraft carrier, warships, and imposing a blockade on its vessels,” he asserted. “If the American aggression on our country continues, we will escalate further with additional measures.”

The Houthi leader declared, in praise of his terrorists, that Ansarullah was “in a faithful, moral, humanitarian, and jihadist position for the sake of Allah Almighty.”

Houthi also claimed he would organize in the coming days a “historic, million-strong march across Sanaa,” the captured Yemeni capital, “and other provinces” to support Hamas and the jihadist cause. In territories of Yemen controlled by the Houthis, civilians are regularly forced to march in solidarity with Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran, and other entities broadly identified with what Iran refers to as the “axis of resistance”: its global network of subsidized terrorist organizations targeting America and Israel.

Saree, the Houthi spokesman, announced on Wednesday that the group was preparing a new campaign of maritime terrorism across “the Red Sea, the Arabian Sea, Bab al-Mandab, and the Gulf of Aden.” On Saturday, Trump announced a “decisive and powerful Military action” to limit the Houthis’ ability to follow through on that threat.

“They have waged an unrelenting campaign of piracy, violence, and terrorism against American, and other, ships, aircraft, and drones,” the president said of the Houthis.

“Our brave Warfighters are right now carrying out aerial attacks on the terrorists’ bases, leaders, and missile defenses to protect American shipping, air, and naval assets, and to restore Navigational Freedom,” Trump explained, blaming “the Houthi thugs” for “relentless assaults [that] have cost the U.S. and World Economy many BILLIONS of Dollars while, at the same time, putting innocent lives at risk.”

“To all Houthi terrorists, YOUR TIME IS UP, AND YOUR ATTACKS MUST STOP, STARTING TODAY. IF THEY DON’T, HELL WILL RAIN DOWN UPON YOU LIKE NOTHING YOU HAVE EVER SEEN BEFORE!” Trump concluded.

Explaining the urgency of the action, the White House documented this weekend a catastrophic drop in commercial traffic through the Red Sea since the Houthis launched their war on global shipping.

“Before their attacks, 25,000 merchant ships passed through the Red Sea annually. The current number has dropped to around 10,000 ships annually,” the White House detailed. “Houthi attacks caused approximately 75% of U.S.- and UK-affiliated vessels to reroute around Africa instead of transiting the Red Sea.”