Trump Warns Houthis, Says He May Ask Turkey to Strike

President Donald Trump warned Yemen’s Houthi militants against carrying out more attacks on Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, saying he may ask Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to join a response.

“I might do it,” Trump told reporters when asked whether he would request Erdogan’s help against the group. “I have a lot of respect for the president of Turkey. President Erdogan, I think, would do as I ask.”

Earlier Tuesday, Trump wrote in a Truth Social post that the Houthis were “behaving very badly” and accused them of trying to drive up oil prices ahead of the Nov. 3 midterm elections. “I’ll be there after the elections, and I will never forget!” he wrote.

The warning followed a series of Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia in recent days, including strikes on King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh. The assaults killed more than a dozen people, including one American citizen, and wounded more than 300, according to U.S. and Saudi accounts. The strikes forced the closure of the airport, and the group has escalated attacks on commercial shipping in the Red Sea and the Bab al-Mandab Strait.

Trump has held off on attacking the Houthis since a May 2025 ceasefire that halted strikes on U.S. vessels in the Red Sea. Over the weekend, he said the United States was weighing retaliatory attacks after the Riyadh airport strike.

The Houthis, an Iran-backed group that controls large parts of Yemen, have been fighting the Saudi-backed Yemeni government in a civil war since 2014. The conflict has intensified since the United States began its eight-month war with Iran, raising concerns about disruptions to global oil supplies and shipping routes.

Trump’s remarks Tuesday were the sharpest yet from the White House since the Riyadh attacks, and the first to name a potential foreign partner for retaliation.