The Houthis attempted an attack on aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman (CVN-75) and its escorts in response to a series of U.S. attacks on targets in Yemen earlier this month, according to the group, US Naval Institute News reports.
In a post on X, Houthi spokesman Brig. Gen. Yahya Sare’e claimed the Iran-backed group used 18 ballistic and cruise missiles, as well as one drone, to attack the Harry S. Truman Carrier Strike Group in the northern Red Sea. U.S. Central Command did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the attacks from USNI News.
It is the first time the Houthis have claimed an attack on American warships since the ceasefire between Hamas and Israel went into effect on Jan. 19. A senior defense official told Fox News on Sunday that U.S. warships had shot down a dozen attack drones headed to the strike group since the strikes, and the strike group had been unaffected, according to a post on X.
U.S. Central Command forces launched a series of attacks on Houthi territory in Yemen Saturday, the first strikes since the ceasefire between Hamas and Israel went into effect.
The Trump administration announced Saturday’s attacks via a number of social media posts, which included photos and video from Central Command showing USS Gettysburg (CG-64) and a guided-missile destroyer firing missiles and fighters launching from Harry S. Truman’s flight deck. In addition to the Truman CSG, guided-missile submarine USS Georgia (SSGN-729) is believed to be operating in the region.
The attacks on targets in Yemen follow a Houthi announcement that the group would resume attacks on Israeli ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden in response to Israel cutting off food and humanitarian aid to Gaza. The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations does not have any reports of Houthi attacks on shipping since the ceasefire went into effect, according to the group’s website.
The U.S. attacks were meant to deter the Houthis and Iran, as well as defend American ships, according to a post from the Department of Defense.
“President Trump is taking action against the Houthis to defend US shipping assets and deter terrorist threats. For too long American economic & national threats have been under assault by the Houthis. Not under this presidency,” the White House posted on X.
Central Command referred USNI News to posts from the Department of Defense and the White House on X when asked about details of the attack.
“Per @SecDef Houthi attacks on American ships & aircraft (and our troops!) will not be tolerated,” reads the post.
The Trump administration is taking a “Peace through Strength” approach, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said in an interview on Fox News’ Sunday Morning Futures.
“The minute the Houthis say we’ll stop shooting at your ships, we’ll stop shooting at your drones, this campaign will end, but until then, it will be unrelenting,” Hegseth said on Fox News.
Houthi leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi announced in a Sunday speech that the group will now target American ships as long as the U.S. continues to strike Houthi territory, according to a Houthi-run news site.
The Houthis pushed back against the Trump administration, with a spokesperson disputing President Trump’s claims that the group is a threat to ships in the region.
“The U.S. president’s claims about the threat to international navigation in the Bab al-Mandab Strait are false and misleading to international public opinion. The naval blockade declared by Yemen in support of Gaza is limited to Israeli shipping until humanitarian aid is delivered to the people of Gaza, in accordance with the ceasefire agreement between the Palestinian resistance and the enemy entity. The Yemeni blockade came after a four-day grace period was granted to mediators,” Houthi spokesman Mohammed Abdulsalam said on X.
The Trump administration’s attacks signal that they will use preemptive strikes, rather than reactive ones, as the Biden administration did, an expert on the region told USNI News.
The Houthis will respond to the attacks on Yemen by the U.S., Behnam Taleblu, an Iran expert at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, told USNI News. Previous Israeli strikes did not deter the Yemen-based group either, he said.
“This is going to have to be a campaign, not just a single operation,” Taleblu said. “But this is as much about [signaling] the ability to distribute more punishment over time as well as to signaling to their patron in Tehran that Washington will use preemptive military force to defend its interest across the Middle East.”
The Houthis previously expanded their targets to American commercial and military ships after joint strikes by the U.S. and the United Kingdom following Houthi attacks on Israeli ships in 2023.
