Officials from Iran and its Yemeni ally have warned that any action taken against them by the United States would not go answered after President Donald Trump issued a stark threat amid a series of escalations in some of the world’s most crucial trade corridors.
One day after ordering strikes across positions linked to the Iran-aligned Ansar Allah movement, also known as the Houthis, in Yemen, Trump warned Monday in a Truth Social post that additional attacks by the group that has targeted more than 100 vessels accused of having ties to Israel “will be met with great force.”
The president further asserted that Iran had full “control” over Ansar Allah, and that Tehran also “will be held responsible, and suffer the consequences, and those consequences will be dire” should Ansar Allah press on with its operations.
Iranian Permanent Representative to the United Nations (U.N.) Amir Saeid Iravani hit back in a letter shared with Newsweek and sent to U.N. leadership, warning that “recent belligerent statements by senior officials of the United States administration, including the president of the United States, while they were attempting desperately to unlawfully justify the US’ acts of aggression and war crimes against Yemen, leveling baseless accusations against the Islamic Republic of Iran and openly threatening the use of force against Iran.”
“While committed to its obligations to international peace and security, the Islamic Republic of Iran will resolutely defend its sovereignty, territorial integrity, and national interests under international law against any hostile action,” Iravani said. “The Islamic Republic of Iran warns that any act of aggression will have severe consequences, for which the U.S. will bear full responsibility.”
A source within Ansar Allah also told Newsweek that the group would react decisively to any U.S. strikes against the group or Iran as the two allies condemn Israel’s blockade of humanitarian assistance to the Gaza Strip.
“We will not allow Trump to support the Zionist enemy in its crime of killing the people of Gaza with hunger and thirst,” the Ansar Allah source said. “We will increase pressure on the Zionists, and if the Americans escalate, we will confront their escalation with an escalation they do not expect.”
“As for Iran, it is stronger and more capable of defending itself,” the source added. “If it is subjected to any aggression, the majority of the people of our nation and region will stand with Iran because they hate America’s policy and its unlimited support for the Zionist enemy, which remains the primary enemy of our people. Any attack against Iran will create an extraordinary state of sympathy for it.”
MOHAMMED HUWAIS/AFP/Getty Images
Why It Matters
Ansar Allah is a key faction within Iran’s broader Axis of Resistance coalition that intervened in support of the Palestinian Hamas movement after its October 7, 2023, attack on Israel. The ensuing conflict has marked the longest and deadliest episode of the decades-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict, resulting in a war that has played out across several fronts in the Middle East, including Iran and Yemen.
While located more than 1,000 miles away from the frontlines, Ansar Allah has fired missiles and drones against Israel and targeted ships suspected of doing business with Israel until a ceasefire reached between Israel and Hamas in January. Ansar Allah’s leader, Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, announced last week the group would resume attacks after Israel began to cut off aid to Gaza over disagreements pertaining to the progress of their truce.
Iran, for its part, has repeatedly threatened to strike back against Israel over its latest attack on the Islamic Republic last October, part of an unprecedented exchange of strikes between the longtime foes in line with the war in Gaza.
The strikes conducted Monday by the U.S. military against Ansar Allah targets marked the largest-scale operation ordered by Trump since beginning his second non-consecutive term in office in January. U.S. Central Command warned at the time that the attacks were only the beginning of a longer-term strategy of deterrence against Ansar Allah.
What To Know
The latest U.S. strikes against Yemen came exactly a decade after a Saudi-led coalition launched its own military campaign against Ansar Allah, which had forced Yemen’s internationally recognized government into exile after seizing the capital in 2015. The country’s civil war has largely fallen into a stalemate since a 2022 truce brokered by the U.N.
The U.S., Israel and Saudi Arabia have accused Ansar Allah of directly receiving weapons from Iran, though the two allies have repeatedly denied the accusations.
The Saudi-led campaign began just months after the U.S. and other world powers had reached a nuclear deal with Iran. The agreement, which lifted sanctions on Iran in exchange for the Islamic Republic severely restricting its nuclear program, was then scrapped by Trump in 2018, sparking a new series of escalations that culminated with the killing of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force commander, Major General Qassem Soleimani, in 2020.
Upon coming to office the following year, then-President Joe Biden pursued negotiations toward reentering the nuclear deal, known officially as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), but talks ultimately unraveled. Iran’s role in the Israel-Hamas war only heightened tensions between Washington and Tehran.
What People Are Saying
Iranian Permanent Representative to the U.N. Amir Saeid Iravani in a letter sent to the U.N. and shared with Newsweek: “As a responsible member of the international community, the Islamic Republic of Iran has consistently adhered to its obligations under international law, and supports the maritime safety and freedom of navigation.”
“The Islamic Republic of Iran has never been involved in any activities inconsistent with the provisions of relevant Security Council resolutions on Yemen. Consequently, Iran strongly and categorically rejects any accusation on the violation of relevant Security Council resolutions on arms embargoes in Yemen or involvement in any destabilizing activities in the region.”
“I wish to emphasize once more that Ansarallah and Yemeni authorities operate independently in their decision-making and actions, asserting that their operations are conducted in support of the people of Gaza and in response to violations of Yemen’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.”
An Ansar Allah source to Newsweek: “We are not those who can withstand threats and intimidation. Any American escalation in service of the Zionists and the Zionist lobby will be paid for by the American citizen, who pays taxes and incurs increased shipping costs as a result of the Trump administration’s foolishness.”
President Donald Trump in a Truth Social post on Monday: “Let nobody be fooled! The hundreds of attacks being made by Houthi, the sinister mobsters and thugs based in Yemen, who are hated by the Yemeni people, all emanate from, and are created by, IRAN.”
“Any further attack or retaliation by the ‘Houthis’ will be met with great force, and there is no guarantee that that force will stop there. Iran has played “the innocent victim” of rogue terrorists from which they’ve lost control, but they haven’t lost control. They’re dictating every move, giving them the weapons, supplying them with money and highly sophisticated Military equipment, and even, so-called, ‘Intelligence.'”
“Every shot fired by the Houthis will be looked upon, from this point forward, as being a shot fired from the weapons and leadership of IRAN, and IRAN will be held responsible, and suffer the consequences, and those consequences will be dire!”
What Happens Next?
Trump had promised to extricate the U.S. from open-ended conflicts around the world, particularly in the Middle East. But after the White House’s offer of negotiations with Iran toward a nuclear peace treaty were rebuffed over ongoing U.S. sanctions, Trump’s decision to oversee large-scale strikes against Yemen and directly threaten Iran mark the most serious indication yet of the other end of his “peace through strength” doctrine.
