President Donald Trump watched air strikes targeting Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis while wearing a Make America Great Again hat and a Trump-branded golf shirt, official White House photos show.
The administration released the images of Trump remotely observing the attacks Saturday on a display screen at an unspecified Florida location along with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and National Security Advisor Michael Walz.
Video posted to social media by onlookers at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach show the president was there earlier in the day, as well as at the Trump International Golf Club West Palm Beach.
ADVERTISEMENT
Trump first announced the strikes in a post on his Truth Social platform, where he demanded the Iranian regime “IMMEDIATELY” halt support for the Yemeni militant group, adding: “America will hold you fully accountable and we won’t be nice about it!”
Iran’s military chief Hossein Salami said Sunday that his country “will not wage war, but if anyone threatens, it will give appropriate, decisive and conclusive responses.”
Trump also addressed the Houthis: “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!”
The strikes targeting the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, and areas in Saada and Al-Bayda continued into the early hours of Sunday. They are believed to be the first such attack on the Houthis during Trump’s second term.
The Houthi-run Yemeni health ministry said Sunday that at least 32 people were killed and 101 more injured as a result of the strikes, most of them women and children.
The political bureau of the Houthis issued a statement calling the attack a “war crime” and said its armed forces “are fully prepared to respond to escalation with escalation.”
Trump’s administration ordered the strikes, which were launched by US Central Command from an aircraft carrier in the region, in response to Houthi attacks on shipping vessels in the Red Sea.
The Houthis have said they are targeting international shipping in support of Palestinians and the militant group Hamas, which also counts Iran as its backer.
The Yemeni militant group, a central belligerent in the country’s civil war, has also fired drones, missiles, and rockets at Israel since the start of the Gaza conflict.
The State Department said in a release on Saturday that Rubio called Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to inform him of the strikes against the Houthis.
Russia and Iran have strengthened their military and trade relationship in recent months.
In a statement, the Russian Foreign Ministry said Lavrov stressed to Rubio “the need for all Parties to immediately cease the use of force and the importance for all Sides to engage in political dialogue so as to find a solution that would prevent further bloodshed.”
