Just two days after reports that Trump canceled a major strike on the Houthis, a senior official in the Yemeni terror group threatened the United States on Wednesday. The official said “all U.S. interests in the region will become targets for the group if it risks supporting Saudi Arabia or intervenes in the Bab al-Mandab strait.” The official didn’t stop there, adding: “We won’t exclude anything, whether in Saudi Arabia, the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden, the Arabian Sea, or the Indian Ocean. We will strike with an iron fist.”
2+The official’s statement came not only after the strike cancellation, but also after Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman requested Trump’s military intervention as Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia escalated. On this, the Houthi said: “We won’t allow what happened in Hormuz—we will fight for that. Bab al-Mandab consists of two open seas, and no neighboring country or any other country bordering us on the Red Sea, whether Djibouti, Eritrea, or any other country that tries to support the Saudi or American enemy, will risk it. They will be a target for us.”
2+Last week, the Houthis claimed that shipping through Bab al-Mandab is safe for everyone except Saudi vessels. This is a severe economic blow to Saudi Arabia—which has significantly increased its use of the Bab al-Mandab strait to export its oil. “The Houthis are dealing with Saudi Arabia measure for measure. They are the ones attacking our country, and we will strike their economic capabilities, strike Aramco, strike Saudi oil, strike economic targets, strike vital targets, we won’t spare anything.”
2+This threat comes after desperate Saudi attempts to calm the attacks by the Yemeni terror group. Bin Salman reached out to the Chinese and Pakistanis to ask the Iranians to calm their Yemeni proxy—but without success. After firing toward the cities of Mecca, Taif, and Jeddah, the Houthis also fired for the first time at the Saudi capital Riyadh over the weekend.