The United States will keep attacking Yemen's Houthis until they end attacks on ships.

Axar.az reports this was stated by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

He told Fox News: "The minute the Houthis 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."

The airstrikes on Saturday, which the Houthi-run health ministry said killed at least 53 people, are the biggest US military operation in the Middle East since President Donald Trump took office in January.

Houthi leader Abdul Malik al-Houthi said on Sunday his militants would target US ships in the Red Sea as long as the US continues its attacks on Yemen.

"If they continue their aggression, we will continue the escalation," he said.

"This is about stopping the shooting at assets ... in that critical waterway, to reopen freedom of navigation, which is a core national interest of the United States, and Iran has been enabling the Houthis for far too long," he noted.

Last week Yemen’s Houthi group said that they are resuming a ban on the passage of all Israeli ships in the Red Sea, Arabian Sea and Bab al-Mandab Strait after a four-day deadline they gave Israel to allow humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip expired.