Trump Says Iran Will Be Held Responsible For Future Houthi Attacks

President Donald Trump threatened to hold Iran responsible for renewed attacks by the Houthis, with war in the Middle East escalating after the collapse of a ceasefire earlier this month.

In a Thursday Truth Social post that came after the Yemen-based militant group took credit for attacks on two Saudi oil tankers in the Red Sea, Trump predicted grave consequences for Tehran if the Houthis remained on the offensive.

“Please let this TRUTH serve to represent that 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, who I am very disappointed with in that they have, until now, acted very professionally and smart,” he wrote.

Wednesday marked the 12th straight day that American forces have struck Iran, U.S. Central Command wrote on X. The two sides are angling for control over the Strait of Hormuz, and Trump has said he plans to strike a bridge or power plant every time the Iranians go after a ship in the waterway.

It comes as the White House grapples with the grim effects that its increasingly unpopular war could have on the November midterm elections. Even the president’s biggest fans have soured on the conflict. Just over a third of self-identified MAGA Trump voters told a POLITICO poll in July that the war in Iran was worth the economic cost.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth did not give a timeline for the war’s end in a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing Tuesday, but he insisted Tehran is “in the worst place they’ve ever been” militarily.

The Houthis declared a “maritime embargo” against Saudi Arabia this week. Iran had pressed the rebel group to cut off the Bab el-Mandeb gateway to the Red Sea, which would choke off the flow of yet more energy as the war continues to rage.

"I hope that will de-escalate, because I think the Houthis frankly got snookered into this thing by the Iranians," Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters in the Philippines on Thursday. "And they were smart to stay out of it and they should stay out of it and they should stop. We’ll see what happens there. Obviously, it’s not a positive development."

Iran has long been a strong financial backer of the Houthis, who peppered the Red Sea with strikes during the administration of former President Joe Biden.

The White House embarked on a nearly two-month-long bombing campaign on the rebel group last March, which Trump announced had come to a close after the Houthis told him “they want to stop the fighting.”

“A year ago the United States of America attacked, very powerfully, the Houthis, for their interference with commerce and trade, by shooting at ships,” Trump wrote on Thursday. “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.”

Liset Cruz contributed to this report.