CAIRO — Once again, Iran denied supporting the Houthi rebels in Yemen amid the recent airstrikes by the United States. President Donald Trump issued a warning to Tehran, stating that they would be held accountable for the rebels’ actions.
According to the Houthi-run Health Ministry, the airstrikes resulted in the death of at least 31 individuals, including women and children, with over 100 people sustaining injuries. The rebels claimed that one of the strikes targeted two homes in the northern Saada province, leading to the deaths of four children and a woman. Al-Masirah TV, controlled by the rebels, aired footage showing the alleged bodies.
The Houthis have engaged in attacks on international ships in the Red Sea and have launched missiles and drones towards Israel. They claim these actions are in solidarity with the Palestinians in Gaza, who are facing conflict with Israel and are supported by Iran through Hamas.
The attacks stopped when a fragile Israel-Hamas ceasefire took hold in Gaza in January, but the Houthis had threatened to renew them after Israel cut off the flow of humanitarian aid to Gaza this month.
The U.S. and others have long accused Iran of providing military aid to the Houthis and the U.S. Navy has seized Iranian-made missile parts and other weaponry it said were bound for the militant group, which controls Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, and the country’s north.
Gen. Hossein Salami, head of Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, denied his country was involved in the Houthis’ attacks, saying it “plays no role in setting the national or operational policies” of the militant groups it is allied with across the region, according to state-run TV.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, in a post on X, urged the U.S. to halt the strikes and said Washington cannot dictate Iran’s foreign policy.
Trump on Saturday had vowed to use “overwhelming lethal force” until the Houthis cease their attacks on shipping along the vital maritime corridor.
The airstrikes come a few days after the Houthis said they would resume attacks on Israeli vessels sailing off Yemen in response to Israel’s latest blockade on Gaza. There have been no Houthi attacks reported since then.
The Houthis had targeted over 100 merchant vessels with missiles and drones, sinking two and killing four sailors, during their campaign targeting military and civilian ships between the start of the Israel-Hamas war in October 2023 and January of this year, when the ceasefire in Gaza took effect.
The United States, Israel and Britain have previously hit Houthi-held areas in Yemen, but Saturday’s operation was conducted solely by the U.S. It was the first strike on the Houthis under the second Trump administration.
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Associated Press writer Amir Vahdat in Tehran, Iran, contributed to this report.
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