Iran-backed Houthis push Washington into a corner

A person holds up a dagger, known as jambiya, as Houthi supporters rally to commemorate ten Houthi fighters killed by the U.S. Navy in the Red Sea, in Sanaa, Yemen January 5, 2024.
A person holds up a dagger, known as jambiya, as Houthi supporters rally to commemorate ten Houthi fighters killed by the U.S. Navy in the Red Sea, in Sanaa, Yemen January 5, 2024.
REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah

The US could be on the verge of directly targeting Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen for the first time since the Israel-Hamas war began after the militants aimed a massive barrage of projectiles – 18 drones, an anti-ship missile, and two cruise missiles – at shipping lanes in the Red Sea late Tuesday.

The Houthis have been going after commercial vessels in the Red Sea for weeks in response to Israel’s offensive in Gaza, disrupting global commerce in the process. Tuesday’s attack, which was ultimately thwarted by US and UK warships, stood apart in terms of its sheer size and sophistication.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who’s on a tour of the Middle East and trying to prevent a broader conflict in the region, declined to say what specific steps Washington would take in response – but signaled that it would not go unanswered.

“We’ve made clear, we’ve been clear with more than 20 other countries that if it continues, as it did yesterday, there will be consequences,” Blinken said Wednesday. This echoed a warning from the US and its allies last week that emphasized the Houthis would face serious consequences if it continued attacks in the area.

In late December, US Navy helicopters killed 10 Houthi fighters and sank several of their vessels as they targeted a cargo ship in the first deadly clash since the Red Sea attacks began. Still, the Biden administration has so far avoided retaliating against the Houthis on land as it seeks to lower the temperature in the region, despite the US’s recent targeting of other Iranian proxies in Iraq and Syria. Washington has been more cautious about carrying out strikes in Yemen, which is barely holding together a fragile truce after years of devastating civil war.

But everything the US has done to deter the Houthis from continued attacks in the Red Sea has failed up to this point, and Washington may feel it has no choice but to respond with force. The US has prepared options to strike the Houthis, according to recent reporting, and we’ll be watching to see what happens next.

More from GZERO Media

A drone view shows the scene where U.S. right-wing activist, commentator, Charlie Kirk, an ally of U.S. President Donald Trump, was fatally shot during an event at Utah Valley University, in Orem, Utah, U.S. September 11, 2025.
REUTERS/Cheney Orr

The assassination of 31-year old conservative activist Charlie Kirk at a college event in Utah yesterday threatened to plunge a deeply divided America further into a cycle of rising political violence.

Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro stands next to members of the armed forces, on the day he says that his country would deploy military, police and civilian defenses at 284 "battlefront" locations across the country, amid heightened tensions with the U.S., in La Guaira, Venezuela, September 11, 2025.
Miraflores Palace/Handout via REUTERS

284: Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro has deployed military assets to 284 “battlefront” locations across the country, amid rising tensions with the US.

A member of Nepal army stands guard as people gather to observe rituals during the final day of Indra Jatra festival to worship Indra, Kumari and other deities and to mark the end of monsoon season.
REUTERS/Navesh Chitrakar

Nepal’s “Gen-Z” protest movement has looked to a different generation entirely with their pick for an interim leader. Protest leaders say they want the country’s retired chief justice, Sushila Karki, 73, to head a transitional government.

Trump's silhouette as a wrecking ball banging into the Federal Reserve.
Gemini

President Trump has made no secret of his longstanding desire for lower interest rates to juice the economy and reduce the cost of servicing the $30 trillion federal debt.

The Nepalese government’s decision last week to ban several social platforms has touched off an ongoing wave of deadly unrest in the South Asian country of 30 million.

The Nepalese government’s decision last week to ban several social platforms has touched off an ongoing wave of deadly unrest in the South Asian country of 30 million.

General Wieslaw Kukula, chief of the General Staff of the Polish Armed Forces, takes part in an extraordinary government cabinet meeting at the Chancellery of the Prime Minister, following violations of Polish airspace during a Russian attack on Ukraine in Warsaw, Poland, on September 10, 2025.
(Photo by Aleksander Kalka/NurPhoto

NATO jets last night shot down Russian drones that had entered Polish airspace. Poland said the unmanned aircraft had crossed the border en route to a strike on Ukraine.