Houthis vow retaliation after deadly U.S. strikes kill at least 31: 'War crime' | 16 March 2025 | U.S. President Donald Trump launched large-scale military strikes against Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis on Saturday over the group's attacks against Red Sea shipping, killing at least 31 people at the start of a campaign expected to last many days. Trump also warned Iran, [allegedly] the Houthis' main backer, that it needed to immediately halt support for the group. He said if Iran threatened the United States, "America will hold you fully accountable and, we won’t be nice about it!" The top Commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guards reacted on Sunday by saying the Houthis are independent and take their own strategic and operational decisions. “We warn our enemies that Iran will respond decisively and destructively if they take their threats into action,” Hossein Salami told state media. At least 31 were killed and 101 others injured in the U.S. strikes, mostly women and children, Anees al-Asbahi, spokesperson for the Houthi-run health ministry said in an updated toll on Sunday. The Houthis' political bureau described the attacks as a "war crime."