Trump Says US Would Act if Houthis Block Red Sea, Signals More Strikes on Iran

"Iran Wants Talks With the US, but I’m Not Interested"

President Donald Trump said the US would respond militarily if Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi rebels move to block the Red Sea, and he publicly raised the prospect of additional strikes on Iran's underground nuclear facilities. The remarks marked a further escalation in Washington's pressure campaign on Tehran, targeting both Middle East oil shipping routes and Iran's nuclear infrastructure.

Trump brushed aside the Houthi threat on July 21, saying the US would handle it if such a blockade materializes, CNN and other media outlets reported.

He said the blockade has not happened yet, though it could. If it does, the US will respond as it always has. Trump did not spell out what that response would entail, but pointed to past military action.

"We took very strong action against the Houthis for about 45 days, and after that we had no problems with them," he said. "They haven't had any friction with us for quite a long time, including during this conflict."

The Houthis heightened tensions a day earlier by sending a warning message to Saudi ships transiting the Red Sea. The move raised the possibility of a new clash along a key Middle East oil route and appeared aimed at unnerving global shipping companies and businesses.

Trump also suggested the US may soon strike Iran's underground nuclear site known as Pickaxe Mountain. The facility is a fortified underground complex about a mile south of Natanz that Iran reported to the International Atomic Energy Agency as a site for assembling advanced centrifuges.

CNN, citing Israeli intelligence sources, reported that Iran moved some highly enriched uranium and advanced centrifuges to the site after last year's 12-day war. Trump rejected that account, saying there is no record that Iran relocated the centrifuges. What matters is the nuclear material, he said, adding that the US is tracking it.

He added that the area could be hit very hard in the very near future and said Iran has no way to stop it. Trump also said in a conservative radio interview last week that Pickaxe could be attacked soon.

"The United States is not done with Iran, never," Trump said. Even if the US pulled back now, it would take Iran 20 to 25 years to rebuild, he added. On the US maritime blockade against Iran, Trump said no one can break through it and described it as a steel wall, adding that the blockade is being fully enforced.

Trump also said he would discuss with China his earlier claim that Beijing interfered in the 2020 US presidential election. Asked about a fire at a federal building in New York the previous day, he said it was the kind of act committed by people allowed into the country and called them radical lunatics, indicating that he believed immigrants were responsible.

Kang Kyung-joo, Hankyung.com reporter qurasoha@hankyung.com