Iran-backed Huthi rebels in Yemen said Sunday they had attacked a U.S. aircraft carrier group in the Red Sea and would target American commercial vessels, a day after U.S. airstrikes the White House said killed senior rebel leaders. The Huthi health ministry said women and children were among those killed in the U.S. strike on Saturday. “In response to this aggression, the armed forces conducted a military operation targeting the U.S. aircraft carrier U.S.S Harry Truman and its accompanying warships,” the group said in a statement. The Huthis said they had launched 18 missiles and a drone at the American ships

There was no immediate comment from the United States about the claim. Saturday’s American attacks on the rebel-held capital Sanaa as well as Saada, Al-Bayda and Radaa killed 53 people and wounded 98, Huthi health ministry spokesperson Anis al-Asbahi said Sunday, updating an earlier toll. “Final toll from the massacres perpetrated by the American enemy on March 15: 53 martyrs, including five children and two women, as well as 98 wounded, including nine children and nine women,” Asbahi posted on X.

U.S. officials on Sunday vowed further strikes until the Huthis stop attacking Red Sea shipping. The United Nations urged both sides to cease “all military activity.” Before their claimed attack on the carrier, the rebels had carried out no attacks in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden since January 19, when a ceasefire began in the Gaza Strip. On Tuesday, however, the Huthis said they would resume attacks on Israeli shipping over Israel’s halting of humanitarian aid to Gaza. In a televised address late Sunday, rebel leader Abdulmalik al-Huthi added U.S. cargo ships to its targets “as long as it continues its aggression.” He called for a million Yemenis to march on Monday in defiance.

If the American aggression against our country continues, we will move to additional escalatory options,” he said.

Overwhelming force’

U.S. National Security Advisor Michael Waltz told ABC News that Saturday’s strikes “targeted multiple Huthi leaders and took them out.” He told Fox News: “We just hit them with overwhelming force and put Iran on notice that enough is enough.” Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth vowed a “unrelenting” missile campaign until the Huthi attacks stop. “I want to be very clear, this campaign is about freedom of navigation and restoring deterrence,” Hegseth said in a televised Fox Business interview. “The minute the Huthis say, ‘We’ll stop shooting at your ships, we’ll stop shooting at your drones,’ this campaign will end. But until then, it will be unrelenting.”