US will hold Iran accountable if Houthis attack ships: Trump

US President Donald Trump said Thursday that Washington will hold Tehran accountable if the Yemeni Houthi group attacks commercial vessels.

“A year ago the United States of America attacked, very powerfully, the Houthis, for their interference with commerce and trade, by shooting at ships,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.

“Since that time, and during our conflict with Iran, they have acted very responsibly. Unfortunately, now they are starting up again, shooting at two Saudi Arabian ships last night,” he added.

“Please let this TRUTH serve to represent that if they do this again, the U.S. will hold Iran responsible, in that the Houthis are a Surrogate and/or Proxy of Iran, and major military punishment will be inflicted upon Iran and, of course, the Houthis, themselves, who I am very disappointed with in that they have, until now, acted very professionally and smart.”

His remarks came after Yemen’s Houthi group said earlier Thursday that they carried out a military operation targeting two Saudi oil tankers with ballistic and cruise missiles, as well as drones.

US Secretary of State Rubio on Thursday said that Houthis should “stay out of” the Iran conflict, claiming that they were “suckered into” the war in the Middle East by Tehran.

“I hope that they'll stop. They shouldn't really do that. They got suckered into this by the Iranians,” Rubio told reporters.