WASHINGTON – US President Donald Trump has threatened “major military punishment” against Iran and its Houthi allies after the Yemeni group said it struck two Saudi oil tankers in the Red Sea, expanding tensions to a second major shipping chokepoint in the Middle East.
The Houthis, who control northern and western Yemen, said they carried out the strikes on Thursday and were imposing a naval blockade on Saudi Arabia. The group said Saudi Arabia had diverted millions of barrels of oil each day by pipeline to the Red Sea to bypass Iran’s blockade in the Strait of Hormuz.
Responding on social media, Trump said the United States would hold Iran responsible for any future attacks by the Houthis.
“If they do this again, the U.S. 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,” Trump wrote.
Trump also told Axios he was considering re-launching major combat operations in Iran and was close to making a decision. “They haven’t received enough pain yet,” the outlet quoted him as saying.
In a separate social media post, Trump said “any and all damages done” to cargo ships would be paid for with “Iranian Money,” referring to frozen Iranian assets held by the United States, without explaining how the funds would be used.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi rejected the idea, writing on X that “Seizing another nation’s assets to pay for unrelated future claims is an incendiary precedent.”
He added that “No one’s assets” would be safe once governments normalized such confiscation, warning that “Ensuing chaos will not be pretty or peaceful.”
