On March 15, 2025, the administration of US President Donald Trump launched what it described as a “decisive and powerful” series of airstrikes against Houthi strongholds in Yemen. The aim was to force the Houthis to reopen international shipping lanes in the Red Sea. The Houthis had warned shipping companies on March 12 of the same year that they would target any ship heading to Israel via the Red Sea, Gulf of Aden, Bab el-Mandeb Strait, and Arabian Sea, in response to Israel’s blockade of humanitarian aid to Gaza. The airstrikes resulted in dozens of casualties and targeted numerous locations under Houthi control, including radar systems, air defenses, missile systems, drones, and group leaders. These airstrikes, which have been ongoing for two weeks, mark the first since Trump took office in early 2025 and continue the targeting of the Houthis that began under his predecessor, Joe Biden, at the end of 2023 due to their attacks on the Red Sea and Israel following the aggression on Gaza.
Overview of US Airstrikes
US airstrikes on Yemen began in January 2024, with coordinated attacks alongside Britain on dozens of targets in Houthi-controlled areas. Prior to this, the Biden administration had announced the formation of a military alliance called “Prosperity Guardian” in December 2023, consisting of 20 countries to protect navigation through the Red Sea. In February 2024, the European Union launched Operation “Aspides” after France and other countries refused to join the US-led operation due to their reluctance to be under American command. The crisis began after the Houthis declared in mid-October 2023 that they would target any commercial ships sailing to Israeli ports via the Red Sea if Israel did not stop its aggression on Gaza following Operation “Al-Aqsa Flood” on October 7, 2023. Since then, the Houthis have targeted 145 commercial ships with missiles, drones, and speedboats in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, sinking two ships, capturing one, and killing four crew members.
As a result, major shipping companies have stopped using the Red Sea, through which approximately 15% of global maritime trade passes, causing a 75% decrease in shipping traffic through the Suez Canal in 2024 and increasing shipping times from 7 to 14 days via the Cape of Good Hope. According to a report by the US military intelligence agency in April 2024, Houthi attacks have affected at least 85 countries and 29 major energy and shipping companies. While most of the targeted ships are owned by European companies, at least eight of them are owned by American companies. US National Security Adviser Mike Waltz stated that 75% of US shipping that should pass through the Red Sea is now forced to avoid the area and pass through the southern coast of Africa instead of the Suez Canal.
Despite the repeated attacks launched by the Biden administration on military, civilian, economic, and energy facilities under Houthi control in Yemen, they have failed to deter the Houthis from continuing to target international shipping in the Red Sea or Israel, which conducted airstrikes on Yemen in July 2024, or US warships, which have been attacked 174 times since the end of 2023, according to the US Department of Defense. The US airstrikes on Yemen and efforts to intercept missiles and drones launched by the Houthis have cost the US budget billions of dollars and depleted its air defense stockpiles. Houthi attacks only stopped after the ceasefire agreement between the Islamic Resistance Movement “Hamas” and Israel in Gaza on January 19, 2025, but resumed after Israel violated the agreement in March.
US Calculations and Concerns
The failure of the Biden administration’s military approach to contain and deter Houthi attacks was a factor in Trump’s calculations, who considered Biden’s response to be “pathetically weak” and allowed the “reckless Houthis” to continue their attacks. However, his administration faces significant challenges in developing a different approach from Biden’s, which it criticizes, as Trump had pledged as a candidate and president to keep the US out of new wars. Therefore, he rejected the advice of some of his national security advisers to launch a more aggressive campaign against Yemen that would result in the Houthis losing control of large parts of the north of the country. Instead, he resorted to escalating verbal threats against the Houthis, warning them of “permanent annihilation” and “opening the gates of hell” if they did not stop their attacks in the Red Sea. He authorized more severe and extensive airstrikes against the Houthis’ military arsenal and also threatened Iran directly on the basis that it is their main supporter.
This does not mean that the Trump administration is not trying to explore a different approach to the Houthis than Biden’s. The beginning was in Trump’s decision on January 22, 2025, to reclassify the Houthis as a “Foreign Terrorist Organization” (FTO), which was officially implemented on March 4. President Biden had revoked this designation less than a month after taking office in February 2021 in an effort to encourage peace talks between them and Saudi Arabia.
Trump ordered the US Department of Defense to prepare military plans against the Houthis immediately after his decision to reclassify them as a terrorist organization, despite the fact that they had not launched any attacks on US commercial or military ships in the Red Sea after the ceasefire in Gaza. Therefore, US military preparations for airstrikes against the Houthis accelerated after they shot down a US surveillance drone over the Red Sea on March 3, and the question then became about the best operational timing for the airstrikes, which was determined after the Houthis’ threat on March 12 to resume targeting commercial ships in the Red Sea heading to Israel. US airstrikes began on March 15, after Trump approved them the day before. Although the Houthis accused the US and Britain of launching the airstrikes, US Central Command announced that it carried out the attacks without the assistance of any party, and that the airstrikes were conducted by fighter jets from the aircraft carrier “Harry S. Truman,” currently stationed in the northern Red Sea, in addition to attack aircraft from the Air Force and armed drones launched from bases in the region. According to US confirmations, British support was limited to refueling the US fighter jets.
Unlike the Biden administration, which focused primarily on reducing the Houthis’ ability to threaten commercial and military ships in the Red Sea without killing large numbers of their fighters and leaders for fear of triggering a wider regional war involving Iran, the Trump administration sees things differently. It has been given a greater opportunity to launch extensive airstrikes against the Houthis and use them to send a message to Iran not to continue supporting them, as the region has witnessed significant developments, including the weakening of Hezbollah in Lebanon, the reduction of Hamas’ military capabilities in Gaza, the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria, the withdrawal of Iraqi Shia factions from the equation, and Israel’s destruction of a large part of Iran’s air defenses in October 2024. Trump warned Iran that Washington would hold Tehran “fully accountable, and we won’t be nice about it.” Resuming airstrikes against the Houthis also aims, on the other hand, to pressure Iran to engage in negotiations regarding its nuclear program, as Trump wants to reach a new nuclear deal with them, but he does not rule out military action if the Iranians refuse to negotiate. On the other hand, some hardliners in his administration and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are pushing for a joint US-Israeli military operation to destroy Iran’s nuclear facilities, taking advantage of what they claim is the exposure of these facilities after Israel destroyed a large part of Iran’s air defenses, which Trump is still hesitant about.
Conclusion
Despite the wide scope of US airstrikes against the Houthis under the Trump administration, there are doubts about their ability to achieve better results than those achieved by the Biden administration. The Houthis insist that their operations in the Red Sea will not stop unless the Israeli aggression on Gaza stops, a ceasefire is implemented, and humanitarian aid is allowed to enter the Strip. Additionally, reclassifying the Houthis as a “Foreign Terrorist Organization” will not have a significant impact, as they are an ideological movement, and their support for Gaza and US targeting of them are reasons that give them greater legitimacy. Moreover, Iran does not fully control the decisions of the Houthi group, and there are US concerns about the Trump administration’s ability to formulate a comprehensive and effective strategy towards the Houthis and the Middle East, especially after National Security Adviser Waltz inadvertently added a journalist to a group chat on the Signal app (which is not completely secure and vulnerable to foreign hacking) discussing plans to attack the Houthis.
The chat included The Atlantic’s editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg, who was mistakenly added to these discussions, Vice President J.D. Vance, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, and others.
The chat revealed a disagreement among Trump administration officials about the feasibility of targeting the Houthis at this time, as some officials feared that US airstrikes could lead to an increase in oil prices, which could affect Trump’s economic agenda. The discussions also showed that Vance believed it was necessary to delay the airstrikes until Europe bore their cost, as it was the most affected by Houthi attacks on commercial ships in the Red Sea.
References
[1] Malu Cursino, “US Launches Wave of Air Strikes on Yemen’s Houthis,” BBC News, 16/3/2025, accessed on 27/3/2025, at: https://acr.ps/1L9zQkN
[2] Eric Schmitt & Jonathan Swan, “Trump Orders Attacks on Militant Sites in Yemen and Issues a Warning to Iran,” The New York Times, 15/3/2025, accessed on 27/3/2025, at: https://acr.ps/1L9zQog
[3] Christopher M. Blanchard, “Yemen: Conflict, Red Sea Attacks, and U.S. Policy,” Library of Congress, 20/3/2025, accessed on 27/3/2025, at: https://acr.ps/1L9zQXn
[4] “Explainer: What are the US and Europe Doing to Counter Houthi Strikes in the Red Sea?” Reuters, 25/3/2025, accessed on 27/3/2025, at: https://acr.ps/1L9zQEx
[5] Jon Gambrell, “Yemen’s Houthi Rebels Say ‘Any Israeli Vessel’ in Nearby Mideast Waterways Again a Target,” Associated Press, 12/3/2025, accessed on 27/3/2025, at: https://acr.ps/0001ZXo66w
[6] “Explainer.”
[7] Ibid.
[8] Transcript: National Security Adviser Mike Waltz ‘Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan’,” CBS News, 23/3/2025, accessed on 27/3/2025, at: https://acr.ps/1L9zQma
[9] “Explainer.”
[10] “Trump Administration’s Actions Made Houthi Terrorists Pay,” The White House, 25/3/2025, accessed on 27/3/2025, at: https://acr.ps/1L9zRlE
[11] Schmitt & Swan.
[12] Ibid.
[13] Barak Ravid, “U.S. Conducts Wide-Ranging Strikes against the Houthis in Yemen,” AXIOS, 15/3/2025, accessed on 27/3/2025, at: https://acr.ps/1L9zR4L
[14] Schmitt & Swan.
[15] “Designation of Ansar Allah as a Foreign Terrorist Organization,” The White House, 22/1/2025, accessed on 27/3/2025, at: https://acr.ps/1L9zRhg
[16] Marco Rubio, Secretary of State, “Designation of Ansarallah as a Foreign Terrorist Organization,” U.S. Department of State, 4/3/2025, accessed on 27/3/2025, at: https://acr.ps/0001Rfmohw
[17] Nick Schifrin, “In Foreign Policy Shift, Biden Lifts Terrorist Designation for Houthis in Yemen,” PBSNews, 16/2/2021, accessed on 27/3/2025, at: https://acr.ps/0003ZKGn83
[18] Lara Korte, “US Drone Lost Over Red Sea on Same Day as Houthi Claim of MQ-9 Reaper Downing,” Stars and Stripes, 5/3/2025, accessed on 27/3/2025, at: https://acr.ps/1L9zRgJ
[19] Ravid.
[20] Schmitt & Swan.
[21] Ibid.
[22] Cursino.
[23] Schmitt & Swan.
[24] Farea Al-Muslimi, “Redesignating the Houthis a Terrorist Group is not a Bad Policy: It is No Policy at All,” Chatham House, 19/1/2024, accessed on 27/3/2025, at: https://acr.ps/1L9zR9e
[25] Jeffrey Goldberg & Shane Harris, “Here Are the Attack Plans That Trump’s Advisers Shared on Signal,” The Atlantic, 26/3/2025, accessed on 27/3/2025, at: https://acr.ps/1L9zRlv
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