878
Views

Pentagon Pledges Long-Running Campaign Against Houthi Rebels

Sailors aboard USS Harry S. Truman prepare to launch an F/A-18 Super Hornet strike fighter, March 2025 (USN)
Sailors aboard USS Harry S. Truman prepare to launch an F/A-18 Super Hornet strike fighter, March 2025 (USN)

Published Mar 18, 2025 8:40 PM by The Maritime Executive

 

The Trump administration has pledged an extended campaign of military strikes on Yemen's Houthi rebels after the group renewed its attacks on Israel.

Following U.S. airstrikes on Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen last weekend and Israeli airstrikes on Gaza on Monday, Houthi forces launched a ballistic missile at a target in Israel. The incoming missile was shot down, according to the Israeli Defense Forces. 

After the attempted Houthi strike, a Pentagon spokesperson told reporters that the U.S. campaign to tamp down Houthi attacks would continue as long as needed, and U.S. Central Command said that it was conducting "continuous operations" against Houthi positions. 

"The Houthis can determine when this ends, and until then, the campaign will be unrelenting. All options are on the table," Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell told reporters Tuesday. "This is not an endless offensive. This is not about regime change in the Middle East, this is about protecting American interests."

U.S. President Donald Trump has warned that his administration will hold Iran responsible for further Houthi attacks, given Tehran's role as the primary supplier of weaponry for Houthi operations.

In public, Iran denies that it has direct control over Houthi decisionmaking, though it counts the group as a member of its "Axis of Resistance" in the Mideast. On Sunday, Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Commander Hossein Salami asserted that the Houthi movement "makes its own strategic decisions, and the Islamic Republic of Iran has no role in setting the national or operational policies of any movement in the resistance front." 

In private, Iranian officials have quietly told reporters that Tehran has asked the Houthis to deescalate the situation. The group does not appear ready to comply: On Monday, Houthi foreign minister Jamal Amer told Reuters that "there will be no talk of any dialing down of operations before ending the [Israeli] blockade in Gaza." He added that Iran "mediates sometimes but it cannot dictate things."

The renewed regional conflict is likely to prolong the timeline for the full resumption of maritime commerce in the Red Sea. Independent analysts suggest that container lines will be reluctant to return to the region until tensions calm down, and the hostilities could keep vessel diversions around the Cape of Good Hope going much longer into the year than expected. This is welcome news for the top-10 container lines, which have projected strong profitability as long as the longer Cape route continues - and low profitability as soon as the Red Sea reopens. The resumption of the Suez route will shorten voyages on the busy Asia-Europe trade lane by weeks, releasing excess vessel capacity onto the market and pushing down rates.