MARCH 18, 2025 – In the Red Sea, Iran-backed Houthi terrorists have been for years attacking U.S. ships and other nations, disrupting legal commerce for all seafaring nations.
Chief Pentagon Spokesman Sean Parnell said today during his first public briefing at the Pentagon that the U.S. Central Command, at the direction of President Donald J. Trump, launched a series of attacks at key terrorist Houthi targets in Yemen, March 15, 2025.
“Over the weekend, U.S. Central Command forces initiated a series of operations consisting of precision strikes against Iran-backed Houthi targets across Yemen to restore freedom of navigation and re-establish American deterrence,” Parnell said.
The Houthis, he said, have been targeting U.S. military ships and aircraft as well as commercial ships and the ships of other nations.
“They threaten our personnel overseas,” he said. “Houthi terrorists have launched missiles and one-way attack drones at U.S. warships over 170 times and at commercial vessels 145 times since 2003.”
The U.S., Parnell said, will continue to use “overwhelming, lethal force” against the terrorist Houthi targets until the U.S. achieves its goals.
“There is a very clear end-state to this operation, and that begins the moment that the Houthis pledge to stop attacking our ships and putting American lives at risk,” he said.
Right now, he added, it’s not apparent the Houthis are interested in stopping attacks against U.S. targets.
“Firing at U.S. military personnel in the region and shooting at our ships and … drones and putting American lives at risk is not a good way to end this conflict,” Parnell said. “The Houthis could stop this tomorrow if they [agree] to stop shooting at [our] people. But they’ve clearly chosen not to do that. And so, this campaign will be relentless to degrade their capability and to open up shipping lanes in the region and to defend our homeland.”
Air Force Lt. Gen. Alexus G. Grynkewich, director for operations for the Joint Staff, said that, under the president’s direction, U.S. Central Command began precision strike operations against the Houthis to restore freedom of navigation and American deterrence.
“The initial wave of strikes hit over 30 targets at multiple locations, degrading a variety of Houthi capabilities,” he said.
Included among those targets were terrorist training sites, unmanned aerial vehicle infrastructure, weapons manufacturing capabilities and weapons storage facilities.
“It also included a number of command-and-control centers, including a terrorist compound where we know several senior Houthi unmanned aerial vehicle experts were located,” Grynkewich said.
He added that operations struck additional headquarters locations, March 16, 2025, as well as weapons storage facilities, and Houthi detection capabilities that were previously used to threaten maritime shipping.
“The operation continues and will continue in the coming days until we achieve the president’s objectives,” Grynkewich added.
In Yemen, he said, Houthi military casualties might be calculated in dozens, but those are initial estimates. Currently, there is no indication of civilian casualties from the U.S. attacks.
The Houthis claim to have fired on the USS Harry S. Truman, a Nimitz-class aircraft carrier based out of Norfolk, Virginia, but Grynkewich said that is hard to confirm.
“Quite frankly, it’s hard to tell because while we’re executing precision strikes, they missed by over 100 miles,” he said. “I would question anything that they claim to the press that they’re doing or not doing. It’s very hard to tell … just based on the level of incompetence they’ve demonstrated.”
By C. Todd Lopez, DOD News