Iranian-backed Houthi terrorists threaten to hitch struggle in opposition to America: ‘Our fingers are on the set off’
The Iran-backed Houthi terrorist organization has announced that it is prepared to get involved in the conflict raging across the Middle East and fight the US and Israel.
The primarily Yemen-based Houthis are one of several terrorist organizations that are part of Iran‘s ‘Axis of Resistance,’ which also includes the Lebanon-based Hezbollah, Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad in the Gaza Strip and Shiite militias in Iraq.
On Thursday, the leader of the Houthis, Abdul Malik al-Houthi, announced: ‘Regarding military escalation and action, our fingers are on the trigger, ready to respond at any moment should developments warrant it.’
And in a phone interview with the New York Times, a senior political official for the Houthis named Mohammed al-Bukhaiti said: ‘The expansion of the conflict to include other countries, including Yemen, is only a matter of time.’
‘Our hands are on the trigger,’ al-Bukhaiti added, echoing the statement of his organization’s leader.
The official slogan of the Houthis is as follows: ‘Allah is Greater. Death to America. Death to Israel. Curse on the Jews. Victory to Islam.’
Nadwa Al-Dawsari, an expert on Yemen and an associate fellow at the Middle East Institute, explained to Fox News why the Houthis have just begun saber-rattling and have not yet joined the conflict.
‘The reason why the Houthis have not intervened is they are the last line of resistance for the axis. Especially after other axis members were degraded,’ Al-Dawsari told the outlet.
Houthi leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi announced on Thursday that his terrorist organization is prepared to get involved in the ongoing conflict raging across the Middle East. The terrorist leader is pictured on a poster during a parade in Yemen in solidarity with Gaza in 2024
The Houthis have de facto control of Yemen, and they are an essential ally to Iran. Houthi soldiers are pictured with heavy machine guns mounted on vehicles in 2024
The Houthis and their control of Yemen are essential for the survival of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps if the Iranian regime collapses. Houthi soldiers are pictured on the back of a pickup truck in 2025
The Houthi slogan is ‘Allah is Greater. Death to America. Death to Israel. Curse on the Jews. Victory to Islam.’ American and Israeli flags are pictured burning at a recent protest in Yemen
Indeed, Hamas has been greatly weakened by its multi-year conflict with Israel, and the Iranian-aligned Ba’athist regime in Syria fell apart after its leader, Bashar al-Assad, was deposed by rebels in late 2024.
But Al-Dawsari emphasized that the Houthis’ threat should be taken seriously. ‘The longer the war continues, the more likely the Houthis will intervene,’ she told Fox News.
‘I think what the Houthis want to do – and they have been itching for a while to do – is to attack the Saudis. If the Saudis intervene, the Houthis will find a reason to attack the Saudis.’
Al-Dawsari said that another reason the Houthis have not yet joined the conflict is that maintaining the organization’s strength is key for Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to survive if the regime in Iran collapses.
In that case, she said, the IRGC would regroup in Yemen, where the Houthis control one-third of the country and up to 80 percent of the population, or Somalia, where the organization also has influence.
‘The IRGC can’t afford to lose the Houthis. Yemen is so important to them. They need to preserve the Houthis for tomorrow for the IRGC to continue even after the regime,’ Al-Dawsari said.
The expert on Yemen added that Iran’s strategy is to prolong the war, expand it across the region and create pressure on the US.
By disrupting shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, through which about 20 percent of the world’s oil passes, the Iranian regime hopes to survive by creating enough political pressure in the US to end the conflict early, which would essentially mean victory for the country.
Houthi supporters and militia members are pictured at a demonstration in support of the killed supreme leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei
Heavily-armed Houthi fighters are pictured while participating in a rally in support of Gaza in 2024
Iran has disrupted shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, through which about 20 percent of the world’s oil passes, in a bid to pressure the US to end the war. It is a strategy the Houthis have used in the Red Sea in the past. Houthi soldiers are pictured boarding a commercial vessel
Houthi disruption of trade in the Red Sea took place during the Israel-Gaza war. Three soldiers with the terrorist organization are pictured occupying a commercial vessel
It is a strategy that the Houthis have previously used against the US. During the Israel-Gaza war, from 2023 to 2025, the Houthis conducted attacks against US commercial and military ships in the Red Sea.
The terrorist organization also targeted vessels from more than 40 other nations in a bid to help Hamas by disrupting the global economy and pressuring Israel to stop the war.
The US was engaged in direct conflict with the Houthis and conducted several bombing operations against the organization.
In May 2025, a tentative truce was reached and Trump announced an end to the bombing campaign, saying the Houthis ‘don’t want to fight.’
‘They just don’t want to, and we will honor that. We will stop the bombings,’ the president said at the time.
If the Houthis resume their attacks in the Red Sea or fight the US and Israel in other ways to support Iran, that will mark another escalation in the already broadening Middle East conflict.
