Associated Press:
The U.S. is weighing what military response it should take against Yemen-based Houthi rebels, who U.S. officials say launched two missiles at American warships in the Red Sea on Sunday, the Pentagon said Tuesday.
Navy Capt. Jeff Davis, a Pentagon spokesman, said the U.S. is still investigating the unprecedented incident, including the exact location of the missile launches. Asked if the U.S. was developing targets for a possible retaliatory strike, he said he could not confirm that.
“Those things are things that we’re looking at,” Davis told Pentagon reporters. “We want very much to get to the bottom of what happened. We’re going to find out who did this and we’ll take action accordingly.”
He added that “we will make sure that anybody who interferes with freedom of navigation or anybody who puts U.S. Navy ships at risk understands that they do so at their own peril.”
U.S. officials believe Iranian-backed Shiite rebels, known as Houthis, launched variants of the so-called Silkworm missile at the USS Mason and the USS Ponce. Both missiles fell harmlessly into the water. The Silkworm is a type of coastal defense cruise missile that Iran has been known to use.
Davis said the missiles were fired from Houthi-held territory on the Yemen coast.
This was the first time that U.S. ships were targeted by a missile launch from Yemen. Last week, an Emirati-leased Swift boat came under rocket fire near the same area and sustained serious damage. The United Arab Emirates described the vessel as carrying humanitarian aid and having a crew of civilians, while the Houthis called the boat a warship.
