President Trump insisted Wednesday that Iran cease all military and other assistance to the Houthis while vowing that the Yemen-based terror group “will be completely annihilated.” The renewed warning came hours after the Tehran-backed Houthis claimed to have carried out another drone attack on the USS Harry S Truman carrier strike group in the Red Sea.

Just four months after President Trump issued an election eve promise never to embroil the U.S. in a distant forever war, he has ordered a series of major airstrikes against the Houthis and threatened their annihilation—moves experts caution could lead to months of open-ended conflict.

Yemen's Houthis will not "dial down" their action against Israeli shipping in the Red Sea in response to U.S. military pressure or appeals from the group's allies such as Iran, the Yemeni militant group's foreign minister said.