Donald Trump has doubled down on his administration’s aggressive military campaign against Iran-backed Houthi militants in Yemen, triumphantly sharing footage of a drone strike and warning the group — and its sponsors in Tehran — that the attacks won’t stop until US shipping is safe.
On Friday, Trump took to Truth Social to share black and white aerial footage of a US Central Command (CENTCOM) airstrike.
The clip appeared to show a group of Houthis gathering before a massive blast left only a crater and two visible trucks.
“These Houthis gathered for instructions on an attack,” Trump wrote alongside the footage: “Oops, there will be no attack by these Houthis! They will never sink our ships again!”
The airstrike is part of a string of daily bombings ordered by the Trump administration over the past 20 days following renewed threats against Israeli and Western vessels, Fox News reports.
Social Media Responds
After sharing the footage across his social media pages, Trump received a mixed reaction from users online.
The video has currently been viewed more than 42 million times on X, but while Trump was praised by some people for “keeping Americans safe”, not all the responses were supportive.
One person tweeted: “I cannot believe the president of the United States is posting something like this…”
A second added: “This is not why I voted for you. At all.”
Others stated that the group seen in the video were not Houthi rebels, but civilians celebrating Eid.
One X user responded: “They are Muslim civilians celebrating Eid, there are no military vehicles or weapons nearby, you are a war criminal!!!”
Politician George Galloway warned: “I’m genuinely shocked that you did that and saw fit to boast about it. This was a tribal gathering as @RealScottRitter points out and anyone who knows Yemeni society could and should have told you so. For all you know these tribesmen sitting in a neat circle may not even have been ‘Houthis’. Their sons are now…”
A third added: “It was a tribal gathering. They were just villagers celebrating Eid ul-Fitr, and you bombed them. This is a war crime, and you are a criminal. You promised to end the war, but instead, you fueled it. You are a liar and a hypocrite.”
Escalation Of Conflict And Trump’s Warning
The attacks escalated last month after Israel halted humanitarian aid to Gaza, prompting a fresh wave of Houthi aggression in the Red Sea.
Trump later wrote: “Many of their Fighters and Leaders are no longer with us. We hit them every day and night — Harder and harder. Their capabilities that threaten Shipping and the Region are rapidly being destroyed.”
The POTUS wrote on Truth Social last month: “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!”
Trump shared the airstrike footage on social media. Credit: Andrew Harnik / Getty
He made it clear that the campaign would continue until the Houthis cease fire: “The choice for the Houthis is clear: Stop shooting at US ships, and we will stop shooting at you. Otherwise, we have only just begun, and the real pain is yet to come, for both the Houthis and their sponsors in Iran.”
The Houthis have taken credit for strikes on U.S. Navy ships including the USS Harry S. Truman and have downed three MQ-9 Reaper drones since March 3. In response, the State Department rolled out new sanctions targeting financial and procurement networks supporting the militant group.
On Monday, Trump added a direct message to Tehran: If the attacks don’t stop, the U.S. will target Iran next.
National Security Advisor Mike Waltz told CBS’ Face the Nation: “These guys are like al Qaeda or ISIS with advanced cruise missiles, ballistic missiles and some of the most sophisticated air defenses, all provided by Iran.”
US forces carrying out airstrikes against Iranian-backed Houthi targets across Yemen. Credit: CENTCOM / Handout/Anadolu via Getty Images
Trump’s video comes amid a broader campaign that has so far failed to fully neutralize the Houthi threat. Despite US and UK airstrikes and last year’s Operation Prosperity Guardian — a coalition aimed at protecting shipping routes — the Red Sea remains volatile.
More than a year after Houthi attacks began in response to the Israel-Hamas war, commercial shipping through the Suez Canal is down by 50%, with most vessels rerouting around Africa, adding weeks to global shipping times, the Daily Mail reports.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was blunt in mid-March: “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.”
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio echoed the administration’s message to Tehran: “This was a message to Iran: don’t keep supporting them, because then you will also be responsible for what they are doing in attacking Navy ships and attacking global shipping.”
Houthi leader Abdul Malik al-Houthi fired back in a televised speech last month, promising to continue targeting U.S. ships if the attacks persist: “This aggression will not go without response and our Yemeni armed forces are ready to answer escalation with further escalation.”
