The U.S. Secretary of Defense has made clear that his concerns about the grinding conflict that has engulfed Yemen for more than a decade only extend as far as U.S. shipping interests in the region.
“I don’t… we don’t care what happens in the Yemeni civil war,” Hegseth said in this weekend’s appearance on Fox News’ Sunday Morning Futures.
The Defense Secretary had been discussing ongoing attacks by Houthi rebels—a militant group backed by Iran, and a key player in the civil conflict that has claimed at least 370,000 lives over the past ten years—against international shipping vessels passing through the Gulf of Arden and into the Red Sea on their way to the Mediterranean.
“This is about stopping the shooting of assets in that critical waterway to reopen freedom of navigation, which is a core national interest of the United States,” Hegseth went on.
He added that “Iran has been enabling the Houthis for far too long,” and that “they better back off.”
Hegseth’s comments came after 31 people were killed on Saturday in a series of large-scale military strikes sanctioned by President Donald Trump against rebel targets in the Middle-Eastern country.
Those actions, which officials have said may continue for weeks to come, represent the largest U.S. military operation launched in the region since the president resumed office in January.
They were also preceded by a typically bellicose online post from Trump himself.
“To all Houthi terrorists, YOUR TIME IS UP, AND YOUR ATTACKS MUST STOP, STARTING TODAY. IF THEY DON’T, HELL WILL RAIN DOWN UPON YOU LIKE NOTHING YOU HAVE EVER SEEN BEFORE!” as he posted on Truth Social late Saturday night.
The strikes have also been widely received as a direct message to Iran, accompanied by the Trump administration ratcheting up sanctions against Tehran in a bid to force the repressive Islamic republic to negotiating table with respect to its nuclear armament program.
