US warns Iran over Houthi support, says militias threatening Red Sea

United States President Donald Trump’s administration has warned Iran again over its financial and material support of Houthis in Yemen and reiterated the danger the militias are posing to international waters over the control of the Bab-el-Mandeb strait.

The warnings came Army General Joseph Votel told the House Armed Services Committee on Wednesday that the US does not want Yemen to be used as a sanctuary for attacks against the US.

The Bab el-Mandeb Strait connects the Red Sea to the Indian Ocean, a strategic passage for world trade.

"I am extraordinarily concerned about another contested maritime chokepoint in the region," Votel said, referring to tensions with Iran over the Strait of Hormuz.

In this image released by the U.S. Navy, the USS Mason (DDG 87), conducts maneuvers as part of a exercise in the Gulf of Oman on Sept. 10, 2016. For the second time this week two missiles were fired at the USS Mason in the Red Sea, and officials believe they were launched by the same Yemen-based Houthi rebels involved in the earlier attack, a U.S. military official said Wednesday. AP_

His warnings to Congress comes just days after White House officials confirmed that the Trump administration are mulling US actions in Yemen, specifically against Houthi militias to liberate the strategic al-Hudaydah port.

Reports in recent weeks also pointed out the Iranian intelligences sources who have helped Houthi militias recalibrate their missiles to reach further distances, increasing the chances of attacks on Saudi soil from the Yemeni capital Sanaa.