The Trump administration has given a largely muted reaction to the Houthis seemingly breaking their ceasefire agreement with the United States this week.
The Houthis, President Donald Trump said on May 6, had agreed not to attack commercial shipping vessels in exchange for an end to the intense U.S. bombing campaign, though the exact terms of the agreement remains vague. They seemingly disregarded the deal this week when they carried out two of its most aggressive attacks on vessels in the Red Sea.
The Houthis attacked the Eternity C ship, which has since sunk, for days using rocket-propelled grenades, drones, and missiles. Three of the people on board were killed, and about half of the 25 people on board are still unaccounted for. The bulk carrier was carrying a Liberian flag and was operated by a Greek firm.
The U.S. Embassy in Yemen said the Houthis had “kidnapped many surviving crew members.”
Days earlier, the Houthis carried out a similar style assault on the Magic Seas vessel, also forcing the crew of that vessel to evacuate. The Magic Seas also sank, though the crew was safely rescued by a passing ship.
The U.S. “condemns the unprovoked terror attack” on these two ships, State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce said.
“These attacks demonstrate the ongoing threat that Iran-backed Houthi rebels pose to freedom of navigation and to regional economic and maritime security,” she added. “The United States has been clear: we will continue to take necessary action to protect freedom of navigation and commercial shipping from Houthi terrorist attacks, which must be condemned by all members of the international community.”
A White House official directed the Washington Examiner to Bruce’s statement in response to questions about the administration’s reaction to the attack and whether it intends to respond. A Pentagon spokesperson declined to comment, though a defense official told the Washington Examiner, “We are aware of these attacks.”
The U.S. military hit more than a thousand Houthi targets during its seven-week-long operation against them. While the U.S. said it inflicted significant damage on the Houthis, the Iranian-backed Yemeni rebels maintained some of their capabilities at the time they agreed to the ceasefire.
The Houthis were also able to deplete U.S. weaponry in the process. They shot down seven of the U.S.’s MQ-9 Reaper drones, costing more than $200 million in total, and the Navy lost two F/A-18 fighter aircraft that skidded off naval carriers that came under Houthi fire.
“I think it’s likely the start of a new campaign,” Wolf-Christian Paes, a senior fellow for Armed Conflict at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, told the Washington Examiner. “I can’t tell you how intensive it’s going to be, but the fact that they hit two ships within 48 hours is quite impressive.”
He added, “These were actually the most lethal attacks; there have never been as many ships sunk and as many lives lost than before, and they really went after the ships.
“First, they sent speed boats, then they sent drone boats, then they sent missiles. So, they really went all out on it. They really wanted to make a statement, and I think they are in for the long haul. I don’t think this is a one-off.”
The administration decided in March that the military should carry out a significant military operation to degrade the Houthis abilities to launch attacks on shipping vessels in the Red Sea, which they had done more than hundred times in the previous roughly 18 months, but had not at the time carried out one of those attacks in a couple of months.
In the Houthis’ attacks prior to the ceasefire, they sank two ships, seized another, and killed a total of four mariners.
The ceasefire deal was contingent upon the Houthis upholding their promise not to carry out attacks on commercial vessels while the Houthis and Israelis are still engaged in an aerial tit-for-tat war that’s gone on intermittently for months.
Paes said the U.S. is likely “recalibrating” right now, trying to determine “whether they’re willing to go to war at the end of the day over European shipping interest, as opposed to U.S. interests.”
The Biden administration launched Operation Prosperity Guardian in December 2023, a coalition of countries to provide security for vessels transiting the area. The U.S., under Biden, on a handful of occasions, carried out offensive strikes on the Houthis.
But, under the Trump administration and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, the military created a “much broader set of targets,” which allowed for a faster “tempo of operations,” after signing a directive to ease constraints on airstrikes.
Less than a week before Trump announced the ceasefire, Hegseth said the U.S. mission would be “UNRELENTING” until the Houthis “say they will stop shooting at our ships.”
In the roughly two months since the U.S. and the Houthis agreed to their ceasefire, other conflicts across the globe continued, and others began.
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Trump announced he would continue to arm Ukraine with military equipment after a review of where U.S. stockpiles currently sit resulted in a short-term pause. The U.S. military aided Israel in its defense against incoming Iranian ballistic missiles, while both the U.S. and Israel carried out a bombing campaign against Iran, and the U.S. had to defend against a perfunctory Iranian retaliatory response at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar.
All of these conflicts have underlying commonalities, including the use of cheap drones to take out much larger, more expensive equipment that is hard to defend and the unending need for air defense capabilities to prevent such attacks.