CENTCOM strikes on Houthis will be “unrelenting”

Photo: CENTCOM

Since March 15, U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) has been carrying out a series of strikes against the Iran backed Houthis that, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth says, will be unrelenting.

“Freedom of navigation is basic; it’s a core national interest,” Hegseth said, adding that the current campaign is about restoring deterrents in the region in addition to freedom of navigation.

“The minute the Houthis say, ‘We’ll stop shooting at your ships [and] we’ll stop shooting at your drones,’ this campaign will end but, until then, it will be unrelenting,” he continued.

Hegseth also said the CENTCOM airstrikes were meant to draw Iran’s attention.

“The message is clear to Iran … Your support of the Houthis needs to end immediately. We will hold you accountable as the sponsor of this proxy, and I echo [the president’s] statement [that] we will not be nice about it,” Hegseth said.

The strikes were ordered by President Trump on March 15, with the White House issuing a backgrounder cataloging Houthi activities against shipping that will be more than familiar to to Marine Log readers and that notes that, before the Houthi attacks, 25,000 merchant ships passed through the Red Sea annually. The current number has dropped to around 10,000 ships annually.

While there was a pause in the Houthi attacks during the Gaza ceasefire, the immediate cause of the U.S. strikes looks to have been Houthi statements that, with the Gaza negotiations failing, they would again target shipping.

WHAT HAS CENTCOM TARGETED?

At a Pentagon briefing yesterday, Air Force Lt. Gen. Alexus G. Grynkewich, director for operations for the Joint Staff, said that, under the president’s direction, CENTCOM began precision strike operations against the Houthis to restore freedom of navigation and American deterrence.

“The initial wave of strikes hit over 30 targets at multiple locations, degrading a variety of Houthi capabilities,” he said.

Included among those targets were terrorist training sites, unmanned aerial vehicle infrastructure, weapons manufacturing capabilities and weapons storage facilities.

“It also included a number of command-and-control centers, including a terrorist compound where we know several senior Houthi unmanned aerial vehicle experts were located,” Grynkewich said.

He added that operations struck additional headquarters locations, March 16, 2025, as well as weapons storage facilities, and Houthi detection capabilities that were previously used to threaten maritime shipping.

“The operation continues and will continue in the coming days until we achieve the president’s objectives,” Grynkewich added.

In Yemen, he said, Houthi military casualties might be calculated in dozens, but those are initial estimates. Currently, there is no indication of civilian casualties from the U.S. attacks.

The Houthis claim to have fired on the USS Harry S. Truman, a Nimitz-class aircraft carrier based out of Norfolk, Virginia, but Grynkewich said that is hard to confirm.

“Quite frankly, it’s hard to tell because while we’re executing precision strikes, they missed by over 100 miles,” he said. “I would question anything that they claim to the press that they’re doing or not doing. It’s very hard to tell … just based on the level of incompetence they’ve demonstrated.”

IMPLICATIONS FOR MERCHANT SHIPPING

What does all this mean for merchant shipping? Maritime risk consultancy has issued a new threat circular. Here’s a bullet point summary:

• The Israel-Hamas ceasefire has been declared over with a resumption of operations in the Gaza Strip.
• The U.S. is in the process of conducting an extensive campaign against Ansar Allah (“the Houthis”).
• Merchant shipping is at risk of collateral damage offshore Israel.
• Israel-affiliated shipping is at risk of targeting in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, including companies that trade with Israel.
• A continuation of the U.S. campaign against the Houthis is assessed to highly likely increase the risk to U.S. merchant shipping.
• The U.S. has increasingly threatened Iran with military action since talks have not been established.
• U.S. shipping and related tankers are assessed to be at risk of Iranian retaliation.
• Military action against Iran is assessed probable if negotiations are not commenced.

Download the full circular HERE