ANKARA

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio defended President Donald Trump’s decision to order airstrikes on stronghold territories of Yemen’s Houthis, saying the US is "doing the entire world a favor" by targeting the militant group, reports said Sunday.

"We're doing the entire world a favor by getting rid of these guys and their ability to strike global shipping," Rubio said during an appearance on CBS News' Face the Nation program.

"That's the mission here, and it will continue until that's carried out," he added.

His comments followed Trump’s announcement Saturday on his Truth Social platform that he had ordered "decisive and powerful" airstrikes against the Houthis, whom he accused of waging "an unrelenting campaign of piracy, violence, and terrorism against American, and other, ships, aircraft, and drones."

"It has been over a year since a US-flagged commercial ship safely sailed through the Suez Canal, the Red Sea, or the Gulf of Aden," he wrote.

He added that four months ago, the last American warship to pass through the Red Sea was "attacked by the Houthis over a dozen times."

Trump said these attacks have cost the US and the global economy "many billions of dollars" and put "innocent lives at risk."

He warned the Houthis, stating: "Your time is up, and your attacks must stop, starting today. If they don’t, hell will rain down upon you like nothing you have ever seen before!"

Rubio emphasized that the airstrikes were not meant as a warning but as a direct effort to neutralize Houthi capabilities.

"This is not a message," he said. "This is an effort to deny them the ability to continue to constrict and control shipping."

According to Rubio, the Iran-backed group has "struck or attacked 174 naval vessels of the US" over the past year, while also launching 145 attacks on commercial shipping vessels.

"So we basically have a band of pirates, you know, with guided precision anti-ship weaponry and exacting a toll system in one of the most important shipping lanes in the world," Rubio said. "That's just not sustainable."

The Houthis warned Israel on March 7 to allow humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip within four days or face renewed maritime operations against Israeli-linked vessels.

The US launched airstrikes on the Houthi territories as Trump warned of severe consequences if the Iran-backed group continues its attacks on Red Sea shipping.

The Houthis have been attacking Israeli-linked ships passing through the Red and Arabian seas, the Bab al-Mandab Strait and the Gulf of Aden with missiles and drones since late 2023, disrupting global trade for what it said was a show of solidarity with the Gaza Strip.

The group halted attacks when a Gaza ceasefire was declared in January between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas. But it threatened to resume the attacks when Israel blocked all aid into Gaza on March 2.