The start of this week began badly for the Pentagon, as it revealed it had ‘lost’ a fighter jet in the Red Sea amid the ongoing Yemen bombing campaign. A US Navy F/A-18 Super Hornet fighter jet “fell overboard from the USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier while it was being towed on board” – the US military said, and supposedly while the large carrier was making an evasive turn amid inbound Houthi drones or missiles.
The Houthis have been celebrating this as a ‘win’. But Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has on Thursday put Iran on notice, alleging close support from Tehran to the Houthis, saying it ‘will pay’.
Hegseth addressed the Iranians in a fresh message on X, saying: “We see your lethal support to the Houthis. We know exactly what you are doing.”
“You know very well what the US military is capable of — and you were warned. You will pay the consequence at the time and place of our choosing,” he continued.
Hegseth as part of the message shared a screenshot of a prior Trump post on his Truth Social, originally written in mid-March, in which the president charged that Iran is “dictating every move” the Houthis make as well as providing arms and intelligence.
“Every shot fired by the Houthis will be looked upon, from this point forward, as being a shot fired from the weapons and leadership of Iran,” the president wrote at the time.
But the Islamic Republic has firmly rejected the accusations, highlighting that the Houthis are a political and military movement which acts independently and makes its own decisions, especially on the battlefield.
“Ansar Allah (the Houthis), as the representative of the Yemenis, makes its own strategic decisions, and Iran has no role in setting the national or operational policies of any movement in the resistance front,” Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Commander Hossein Salami said soon after the US renewed its bombing campaign on March 15.
The Houthis have pledged not to stop attacks on Western warships in the Red Sea as well as Israel, so long as Israel’s military remains active in Gaza. The Red Sea conflict started again almost immediately after the Hamas-Israel ceasefire and hostage exchange deal collapsed.
International shipping through the vital water-way has been essentially blocked for well over a year, and the industry has been forced to adjust. Russian and Chinese commercial vessels have been allowed safe-passage by the Houthis.
https://t.co/DKl55mmFaT pic.twitter.com/vsVttencfH
— Pete Hegseth (@PeteHegseth) May 1, 2025
Hegseth’s fresh threat toward Iran strongly suggests the Iran debate is still alive and well within the administration. Trump has been urging Iran to sign a fresh nuclear deal or else face possible bombing campaign by the US, and likely Israel. Hegseth has previously been reported to be on DNI Tulsi Gabbard’s side – against the hawks and desiring climb-down in terms of Iran tensions.
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