The Iran-backed Houthis aren’t backing down, at least not yet. Houthi spokesperson Yahya Saree claimed the country targeted US warships and Israel on April 9. He claimed some of the attacks involved drones.
This included “new drone operations, targeting a US warship in the Red Sea and an Israeli military site in Tel Aviv.” Saree said in a statement on Wednesday that an "operation was carried out against the Israeli military in the occupied region of Jaffa using a drone, which successfully achieved its objective,” the Iranian report said. Saree said that the strike was “in support of the oppressed Palestinian people and their dear Mujahedeen, and in response to the ongoing war of genocide against our brothers in Gaza.”
The group claimed to launch drones targeting the American aircraft carrier, USS Harry Truman. “Yemen will never surrender to American aggression and will continue its operation against Israel until the regime ends its war and lifts the siege on Gaza, he reiterated,” the report added. The strikes come as the US continues to bolster its military power in the region. The US has the Harry Truman as well as six B-2 bombers at Diego Garcia island in the Indian Ocean. The US and Iran are supposed to hold indirect talks in Oman on April 12.
Meanwhile Captain Christopher ‘Chowdah’ Hill, the commander of the carrier Truman has recently posted several images and video from his ship. He posted scenes from the bridge noting “behind the scenes look on the bridge of the USS Harry S. Truman in the Red Sea as the team prepares to launch a fighter into the night. It sounds like chaos, but it’s completely professional.”
US Central Command also showed images of warplanes being armed aboard the carrier. The former commander of the Truman was replaced in February, and Hill took command. He was commanding the USS Eisenhower at the time.
US aircraft carriers in Indian Ocean territory
Meanwhile, satellite images caught the USS Carl Vinson carrier entering the Indian Ocean via the Malacca Strait, Newsweek reported on Monday. “The USS Carl Vinson, originally deployed in the western Pacific, has now moved into the Indian Ocean, on its way to join the USS Harry S. Truman in the Middle East. This increased US naval presence comes amid escalating tensions with Iran and its support for Houthi rebels,” Newsweek noted.
That was around April 5, meaning that this second carrier could be nearing the Gulf of Oman by April 12, depending on its speed, bearing, and route.
The US State Department designated the Houthis as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) on March 5. “The United States will not tolerate any country or commercial entity providing support to foreign terrorist organizations, such as the Houthis, including offloading ships and provisioning oil at Houthi-controlled ports. Such actions risk violating US,” the State Department said on April 9.
