During the weekend of 15-17 March 2025, the conflict in the Red Sea escalated with heavy US strikes against the Houthis in Yemen, followed by an immediate counterattack. On 15 March 2025, US President Donald Trump ordered "a decisive and powerful military action" against the Houthis in Yemen after they threatened to resume attacks on ships in the Red Sea unless Israel reopened access to humanitarian aid for Gaza. In a message posted on his Truth Social platform, Trump declared, "We will use overwhelming lethal force until we achieve our objective." He also issued a stern warning to Iran, the Houthis' main backer, urging Tehran to "immediately cease" its support for the Yemeni group.
The US strikes, which began on 15 March and continued in the following days, targeted multiple locations across Yemen, including the capital, Sana'a, where powerful explosions rocked residential districts. Radar installations, air defence systems, missile and drone capabilities of the Houthis were struck in the provinces of Saada, al-Bayda, Hajjah, Marib, Dhamar, and Taiz. According to US sources, this military campaign could last several weeks. The attacks were partially carried out by fighter jets launched from the USS Harry S. Truman, currently deployed in the Red Sea.
The Houthi-controlled Ministry of Health reported that at least 53 people, including five children and two women, were killed in the US attacks, with another 98 wounded. In response, the Houthis took a defiant stance, vowing to "respond to escalation with escalation." On 16 March, military spokesman Yahya Saree stated that the group had launched an attack on the aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman and its escort ships in the northern Red Sea, using eighteen ballistic and cruise missiles as well as a drone.
On 17 March, the Houthis announced a second attack on the same US naval group within 24 hours. In a message published on Telegram, a Houthi spokesperson declared that the strikes were "in retaliation for the continued American aggression against our country." Houthi leader Abdul Malik al-Houthi, in a televised speech, stated that his militants would continue targeting US ships in the Red Sea as long as the United States persisted in its attacks on Yemen: "If they continue their aggression, we will continue escalating."
The Red Sea crisis began on 19 October 2023, when the Iran-backed Houthi movement launched missiles and armed drones at Israel, demanding an end to the invasion of the Gaza Strip. Between October 2023 and March 2024, the Houthis attacked more than sixty ships in the Red Sea, forcing hundreds of cargo vessels to reroute around southern Africa to avoid assaults. A database compiled by Acled, a non-profit organisation, recorded 136 Houthi attacks against warships, commercial vessels, and Israeli targets since 19 October 2023. The Yemeni strikes had temporarily ceased when a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas took effect on 19 January 2025, the day before Trump’s inauguration. However, on 12 March 2025, the Houthis announced they would resume attacks on Israeli ships in the Red Sea until Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government restored aid deliveries to Gaza.
This renewed escalation will further delay the return of cargo ships, including container vessels, to the Red Sea and the Suez Canal. Even after the ceasefire announcement in Gaza, major shipping companies remained hesitant to reopen Red Sea routes, despite the higher costs and longer transit times associated with detouring around Africa. These cost increases, however, have been passed on to customers, given the record profits posted by carriers in 2024. Another consequence of Africa’s circumnavigation is the congestion of ports in both the East and the West.
Recent developments confirm that uncertainty in the Red Sea will persist in the coming months. A study by Boston Consulting Group outlines scenarios of instability extending until 2026, with a potential long-term shift in trade flows towards alternative routes. The risk remains that the conflict between the United States (and its allies) and the Houthis could intensify further, potentially continuing until the complete eradication of the Yemeni group.
