US President Donald Trump warned Iran on Thursday that it would be held responsible if the Houthis in Yemen continue to target Saudi shipping, after the terror group fired on two Saudi tankers overnight.
The threat from Trump is the latest indication that a new front was opening up in the Middle East war, while fears also grew in Israel of renewed Iranian attacks. On Monday, the Houthis, an Iranian proxy group that controls western Yemen, announced that they were imposing a naval blockade on Saudi Arabia.
A blockade on Saudi ports would further choke off the flow of oil in the Middle East, given that Iran is also obstructing shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, another key energy artery.
In his warning, Trump referenced the US’s bombing campaign against the Houthis last year, which aimed to stop their attacks on Red Sea shipping.
“A year ago the United States of America attacked, very powerfully, the Houthis, for their interference with commerce and trade, by shooting at ships,” wrote Trump on Truth Social. “Since that time, and during our conflict with Iran, they have acted very responsibly.”
“Unfortunately, now they are starting up again, shooting at two Saudi Arabian ships last night,” he continued. “Please let this TRUTH serve to represent that if they do this again, the US will hold Iran responsible, in that the Houthis are a Surrogate and/or Proxy of Iran, and major military punishment will be inflicted upon Iran and, of course, the Houthis, themselves.”
On Thursday, Oman, which has attempted to mediate between the US and Iran, announced that it was now trying to broker calm between Saudi Arabia and the Houthis, with the help of the UN envoy for Yemen. Oman’s foreign ministry stressed the need to avoid escalation and any threats that could worsen the situation in the Red Sea and endanger freedom of navigation.
That new effort commenced even as the US continued striking Iranian targets and Iran kept firing missiles and drones at countries in the region. Iran and the US both accused each other of hampering negotiations to end the war.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio also blamed the Houthi attacks on Iran, and EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas called on the Houthis to immediately stop activities that endanger shipping.
“Navigation must be unimpeded, in the Strait of Hormuz as well as in the Red Sea,” she said.
Israel has not been involved in the latest round of fighting, or in the talks between the US and Iran. But on Thursday, the mayors of several cities announced that their public bomb shelters would reopen, indicating growing fears that Iran may renew attacks on Israel.
The announcements came from the central city of Ramat Gan, which was hard hit in previous rounds of conflict with Iran, as well as Kiryat Gat and Eilat in southern Israel and Karmiel in the north.
“The assessment is that the threat of missiles from Iran over the weekend has grown and is no longer negligible,” Ramat Gan’s Carmel Shama-Hacohen wrote on Facebook. He called on apartment supers to similarly open their buildings’ shelters.
