National Security Adviser Mike Waltz recently revealed some of the Houthi terrorist organization targets President Donald Trump’s administration has eliminated since the president’s inauguration in January.
In a Sunday interview on CBS News’ “Face the Nation,” Waltz told CBS host Margaret Brennan that the Trump administration has unleashed multiple strikes against the Iran-backed Houthi terrorists in response to the repeated attacks the terrorist organization has launched from Yemen against U.S. military ships and commercial vessels in the Red Sea.
“We’ve taken out key Houthi leadership, including their head missileer,” Waltz told Brennan. “We’ve hit their headquarters. We’ve hit communications nodes, weapons factories, and even some of their over-the-water drone production facilities just in the last couple of days.”
Waltz added, “President Trump has decided to hit the Houthis and hit them hard, as opposed to, in the last administration, where literally weeks or months would go by with these kind of one-off pinprick attacks, and, as a result, we have had one of the world’s most critical sea lanes get shut down.”
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During Sunday’s interview, Trump’s national security adviser warned that the Iran-backed terrorist organization is like ISIS or al Qaeda with “advanced cruise missiles, ballistic missiles, and some of the most sophisticated air defenses,” which Waltz said are “all provided by Iran.”
Highlighting the repeated attacks of the Houthi terrorist organization in the Red Sea, Waltz said the last U.S. destroyer to travel through the region was attacked 23 different times. The national security adviser added that due to the danger presented by the terrorist organization in the region, 75% of U.S. flag shipping is currently forced to travel around Africa’s southern coast instead of simply passing through the Suez Canal.
“Keeping the sea lanes open, keeping trade and commerce open is a fundamental aspect of our national security,” Waltz said. “The last administration was not effective. The Trump administration and President Trump have decided to do something much harder, much tougher, and what, we’ll see, but I think will be much more effective.”
During Sunday’s interview on CBS, Waltz also confirmed that the Trump administration is pushing for the “full dismantlement” of Iran’s nuclear program. Waltz told Brennan, “Iran has to give up its program in a way that the entire world can see.”