Trump threatens to escalate Iran war, vows 'major military punishment' over Houthi attacks on Saudi tankers

Trump Threatens to Escalate Iran Conflict Over Houthi Attacks

The U.S. president issued another threat against Iran on Thursday, pledging to hold the country "responsible" for attacks carried out by Houthi forces the previous night against Saudi Arabian ships.

"A year ago the United States of America attacked, very powerfully, the Houthis, for their interference with commerce and trade, by shooting at ships. Since that time, and during our conflict with Iran, they have acted very responsibly," Donald Trump posted on Truth Social, referring to a U.S. airstrike campaign conducted against the Houthis from March to May 2025 after the group attacked commercial ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.

"Unfortunately, now they are starting up again, shooting at two Saudi Arabian ships last night," he continued. "Please let this TRUTH serve to represent that if they do this again, the U.S. will hold Iran responsible, in that the Houthis are a Surrogate and/or Proxy of Iran, and major military punishment will be inflicted upon Iran and, of course, the Houthis, themselves, who I am very disappointed with in that they have, until now, acted very professionally and smart."

Yemen's Houthi militia claimed responsibility for overnight drone and missile strikes against Saudi oil tankers in the Red Sea. In a statement, the Iranian-backed group claimed that the two vessels, the Encelia and Layla, had violated its naval blockade. The Houthis also claimed that the attacks on the two ships had forced approximately 10 other vessels to retreat.

A Saudi Arabian news outlet, SPA, reported that all crew members of the Encelia were safe, but that the attack had started a fire on the bow of the ship.

If acted upon, Trump's warning could open a new front in the already complicated Iran war. Since a preliminary peace deal collapsed earlier this month, the U.S. has struck Iran every day.

Meanwhile, the conflict has taken a serious toll on the American public, with the cost of the war estimated to be well above $100 billion.

Read more: Trump Prepares to Attack Eighth Country of His Second Term

Transportation Secretary Removes Bike Lane Safety Guidance from Federal Website

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy is so afraid of appearing "woke" that he is willing to make roadways more dangerous, critics say.

Earlier this month, Duffy announced that the Trump administration would gut funding for so-called "DEI bike lanes"—even though the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) had previously urged agencies to consider installing lanes for bicyclists to make roads safer for everyone.

Two days later, a staffer at the FHWA's safety office directed staff to update the agency's website to remove that suggestion, NPR reported Thursday.

The FHWA had previously advised that "providing bicycle facilities can mitigate or prevent interactions, conflicts, and crashes between bicyclists and motor vehicles, and create a network of safer roadways for bicycling."

A person who works in web services at the Department of Transportation told NPR that staff were left wondering why the changes were being made. "Why do you need to take down bicycle safety, of all things?" the person told NPR.

"We're not making the sites better, faster, or quicker, you know, able to provide real information to the communities that use these resources," they said. "It's asinine."

The removal of this guidance is part of a wider push to eliminate road safety materials from the department's website—including guidance about bike lanes and speed cameras.

One of the safety tools removed by the FHWA was the Pedestrian and Bicycle Crash Analysis Tool (PBCAT), designed to record detailed accounts of crashes involving bicycles, pedestrians, and motor vehicles in order to help prevent them in the future.

David Harkey, who helped develop the tool at the University of North Carolina's Highway Safety Research Center, said the tool was important because it helped track pedestrian and bicyclist fatalities nationally.

"This is an agency that claims that safety is a priority for them," he told NPR. "It's important that proven tools and resources like PBCAT are there on their site and are available for safety professionals across the country."