"We see your DEADLY support to the Houthis. We know exactly what you're doing", writes Hegseth on X.
"You know very well what the American military is capable of – and you were warned. You will suffer the CONSEQUENCES at the time and place we choose", he writes further.
The Iran-backed Houthi movement, which after a long bloody civil war controls large parts of Yemen, started attacking and threatening international vessels along the vital trade routes outside its coast in connection with the outbreak of the war between Israel and Hamas.
Since mid-March, Houthi-controlled areas in Yemen have been subjected to almost daily American airstrikes. Over 1,000 targets have been attacked and "hundreds" of fighters and several leaders of the movement have been killed, according to the US military.
The movement is one of the few Iran-backed groups still considered to have the capability to attack Israel with Iranian weapons.
