The USS Harry S. Truman (CVN-75) has been attacked by Houthi rebels in Yemen again and again in recent days.
The U.S. has responded with heavy airstrikes on Houthi terrorist training sites, drone infrastructure, weapons manufacturing capabilities, weapons storage facilities, and leadership headquarters.
A U.S. official told the Times of Israel that this month alone, the Houthis launched drones and missiles at the carrier. All of the drones were shot down by U.S. fighter aircraft.
Since the Hamas attacks on Israel in October 2023, the Houthis have launched 136 attacks on warships and commercial vessels, as well as Israeli and other targets. The time for half-measures is gone.
Trump/Hegseth Warn Iran, But The Houthis Persist With Attacks
After the first attack, U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said during an interview that, “This campaign is about freedom of navigation and restoring deterrence. 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.”
The Houthis believe that they are “winning the war.” They proclaim victory after launching Iranian-made missiles and drones at merchant shipping and U.S. warships. They answered Hegseth’s statement with another attack on the Truman’s Carrier Strike Group.
Recently, U.S. President Donald Trump posted on his Truth Social account that he would hold Iran directly responsible for any future attacks by the Houthis, an Iranian proxy group.
“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,” he wrote.
“Any further attack or retaliation by the ‘Houthis’ will be met with great force,” Trump wrote, adding that “Iran has played ‘the innocent victim’” in the conflict.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Commander Hossein Salami says the Houthis “make their own decisions.”
Beyond the Houthis: Iran And Russia Are The Sponsors Of Attacks On Shipping
For decades, the United States has reacted to terrorist attacks by hitting the symptom rather than the host. What do the Houthis, Hamas, Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad, and Iraqi militias have in common? Iran and Russia.
Last September, Iran brokered talks between Russia and the Houthis seeking a deal under which Russia would supply the group with Yakhont missiles—also known as P-800 Oniks—which would allow the terror group to more accurately strike commercial vessels in the Red Sea, and to increase the threat to the U.S. and European warships defending them.
The Russians have done this before, sending P-800 Oniks to Hezbollah in Lebanon. As much as Trump believes he can make a deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin, it was Putin who paid a bounty to the Taliban for killing American soldiers in Afghanistan. And while the Iranians have been state sponsors of terrorism for more than 40 years, Russia now has moved into Yemen in a big way.
The Russian military intelligence service, the GRU, has set up in the Yemeni capital of Sanaa under the guise of providing humanitarian aid. Instead they are providing technical assistance that enhances Houthi military operations.
The Russians are stuck in a quagmire of their own undertaking in Ukraine and want to pressure the West. Tehran and Moscow have long known that armed non-state proxies, when properly equipped, can shape global conflicts as effectively as can standing armies.
Mohammad Abdulsalam, the chief Houthi spokesperson, who many in the West believed was a valuable peace negotiator, has been traveling to Moscow frequently, strengthening a relationship with Russia that is no longer just a matter of convenience, but a calculated military alliance.
The Houthis are proxies for Iran, but simply “useful idiots” for Moscow. The Houthi attacks in the Red Sea have not targeted Russian or Chinese vessels, a fact the Houthis themselves have confirmed.
The Iranians are smarting from the losses that have hit their proxies in the region. Hamas has been crippled by Israel in the ground war in Gaza. Hezbollah suffered a similar fate as the Israelis targeted the group’s leadership and its network of tunnels. But Iran’s biggest loss was the overthrow of Syrian President Bashar al Assad.
What Will The Response Be If The Unthinkable Happens?
If the Houthis hit an American carrier, Trump will be faced with a high-stakes dilemma. What will the U.S. response be? Simply hitting the Houthis with yet another airstrike? Regardless of how massive that strike would be, it would seem reactive and impotent.
The “useful idiots” in Yemen would obviously have to be dealt with severely. But what about the heads of the snake in Tehran and Moscow?
The key here is not to wait until that happens, but to act proactively.
Retired U.S. Navy Admiral James Stavridis has set out a good plan to begin to deal with the Houthis’ benefactors. It begins with sinking Iran’s intelligence and targeting ships, which feed the Houthis their targeting information.
The U.S. also knows where the Houthi command-and-control centers are. Those have to be eliminated now, as does the physical infrastructure used for the Houthis’ attacks: coastal radars, manned Houthi maritime craft, land-based ballistic-missile launchers, unmanned speed boats, maintenance facilities, ammunition caches, and drone-construction centers.
This last suggested objective is probably what current U.S. airstrikes are targeting. But what about Tehran and Moscow? Sinking the Iranian intelligence ships would get Tehran’s attention, but it would not be enough. Blockading Yemen’s ports will be necessary, and striking Iran itself is no longer a taboo subject.
Further, targeting senior Houthi, Iranian, and Russian advisors on the ground should absolutely be on the table. If a U.S. warship is hit, it is an act of war.
Things are getting messy in the Middle East and as always, all roads lead directly to Iran…and to Moscow.
About the Author: Steve Balestrieri
Steve Balestrieri is a 19FortyFive National Security Columnist. He served as a US Army Special Forces NCO and Warrant Officer. In addition to writing for 19FortyFive, he covers the NFL for PatsFans.com and is a member of the Pro Football Writers of America (PFWA). His work was regularly featured in many military publications.
