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Pete Hegseth Warns Terrorists It Will ‘Only Get Worse’ For Them Unless They Stop ‘Shooting At Our Ships’

[Screenshot/Fox News]

Department of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth warned Houthi terrorists Monday that things will “only get worse” for them unless they stop “shooting” at U.S. ships.

President Donald Trump’s administration has carried out large-scale operations against the Iran-backed Houthi terrorists in Yemen to defend American interests, which will continue if they keep threatening Americans, Hegseth said during an Oval Office press conference. The defense secretary further said that the U.S. will “not relent” its “devastating campaign” against the Houthis until they agree to stop threatening American warships.

“It’s been a bad three weeks for the Houthis and it’s about to get worse,” Hegseth said. “It’s been a devastating campaign whether it’s underground facilities, weapons manufacturing, bunkers, troops in the open, air defense assets. We are not gonna relent and it’s only to get more unrelenting until the Houthis declare they will stop shooting at our ships and we’ve been very clear with the Iranians as well, they should not continue to provide support to the Houthis and that response has been made very clear.”

“So we have a lot more options and a lot more pressure to apply and we know, because we see the reports, how devastating this campaign has been in Yemen and we will not relent,” the defense secretary continued.

WATCH:

The Houthis have attacked U.S. naval vessels over 170 times since 2023, costing commercial vessels nearly $1 million extra in fuel while adding roughly two weeks of transit time around Africa, according to The White House. U.S. forces have deployed around Iran in the wake of strikes against Houthi rebels including a naval strike group led by the USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier.

Trump made a surprise announcement Monday that the U.S. will have a “very big meeting” with Iran on Saturday regarding nuclear talks. The president has repeatedly warned that Iran must sign a new nuclear deal or continue to face military strikes.

Trump said in a March Truth Social post that Iran will be held responsible for any attacks by the Houthis on U.S. commercial and military vessels, warning that the “consequences will be dire.” The president said Iran is “dictating every move” made by the Houthis by supplying the terrorists with weapons and “highly sophisticated military equipment” to carry out the attacks.

Hegseth, along with other members of the administration, had come under fire for inadvertently leaking details regarding an attack on the Houthis to The Atlantic editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg in a Signal chat. Goldberg said that National Security adviser Mike Waltz accidentally added him to the chat, where Hegseth detailed the type of weaponry and timing of the attack.

The DOD Office of the Inspector General (OIG) launched an investigation into Hegseth’s use of the Signal chat to discuss the strike plans.