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Fox News correspondent Lucas Tomlinson reports on the developments on ‘Fox Report.’ #foxnews

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Transcript
00:00Lucas Tomlinson is at the White House for us with the latest on those strikes.
00:04Lucas.
00:05John, these are the most significant airstrikes since President Trump returned to the White
00:10House.
00:11And the first time U.S. jets have struck these Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen since
00:15President Trump returned to the White House.
00:17U.S. officials say F-18 Super Hornets from the flight deck of the USS Harry S. Truman
00:23were the vanguard of the strikes, along with Air Force fighter jets and drones.
00:27President Trump announcing the strikes just a few minutes ago on his True Social saying,
00:33quote, Joe, today I have ordered the United States military to launch decisive and powerful
00:38military action against the Houthi terrorists in Yemen.
00:41They have waged an unrelenting campaign of piracy, violence and terrorism against American
00:46and other ships, aircraft and drones.
00:49Joe Biden's response was pathetically weak.
00:51So the unrestrained Houthis just kept going.
00:54And John, recall just days after taking office, one of President Trump's first executive orders
00:59was re-designating the Houthis a foreign terrorist organization after the Biden administration
01:04removed them.
01:05The State Department made it official earlier this month, marking Houthi leaders ripe for
01:09assassination.
01:10The targets of today's strikes include air defense systems and missile and drone factories,
01:15and also include a strike against one of the Houthis' top missile officers.
01:19The Houthis are backed by Iran.
01:21Many consider them modern day Barbary pirates.
01:23Since the October 7th massacre, they have launched over 100 attacks against commercial
01:27shipping.
01:28U.S. warships also came under the crosshairs of the Houthis.
01:31Dozens of times in recent years, the Houthis launched anti-ship ballistic missiles and
01:35crewed drones at the American warships.
01:37None were successful and all were shot down.
01:40And just a few days ago, Houthis leader said attacks would resume against shipping in the
01:45Red Sea and including Israeli ships.
01:48General Kurila, the head of U.S. forces in the Middle East, has been itching to launch
01:51these strikes to reopen those vital shipping lanes and destroy Iran's proxy force in Yemen.
01:57Kurila ordered Truman, the U.S. Navy aircraft carrier, back to the Red Sea late last month
02:01to be prepared to launch these strikes, those Super Hornets as you can see there.
02:06Last month, the Houthis launched surface-to-air missiles and an Air Force F-16 orbiting overhead,
02:11as well as an American Reaper drone.
02:13And John, it's not just in Yemen where U.S. forces have been engaged.
02:17Last night, President Trump announced the number two leader in ISIS had been killed
02:20in an American drone strike.
02:21We have some video footage, as you can see there.
02:24That happened in western Iraq yesterday.
02:27And John, these airstrikes against the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels were meant to send a message
02:31to Tehran as well, to stop their support for the Houthi rebels.
02:35Of course, that's where these missiles and drones that the Houthis fire at commercial
02:39ships and U.S. warships come from.
02:41I'll also read a little more from President Trump's lengthy statement on Truth Social.
02:46He had a message to the Houthis.
02:47It says, quote, Your time is up and your attacks must stop starting today.
02:52If they don't, hell will rain down upon you like never before.
02:57And to Iran, support for the Houthi terrorists must end immediately.
03:01And President Trump said he won't be nice about it.
03:03John, you're a Navy veteran, Lucas.
03:06I know that during the Biden administration, the Navy said it was basically more engaged
03:12in, you know, seaborne operations than at any time since, I think, World War II.
03:19Do I have that right?
03:20And is this kind of intended to put an end to that kind of thing on the part of the Houthis?
03:26That's right, John.
03:27Multiple times, U.S. warships came under ballistic missile attack in the Red Sea and off the
03:32coast of Yemen, in the Gulf of Aden.
03:33And just for context, that has never happened in world history.
03:37Ballistic missiles have never been launched at U.S. warships before.
03:40Thankfully, they were all shot down, but that was always a concern in the Pentagon.
03:43What if those missiles gets through?
03:45It was notable when President Biden, in his farewell address, he's talked about U.S. forces
03:50not being engaged in combat.
03:52And if you looked at the Navy press release when the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower strike group
03:56returned from the Red Sea, they talked about hundreds of bombs being dropped against the
04:00Houthis, dozens of surface-to-air missiles from those Super Hornets shooting down those
04:05crew drones that are flying overhead.
04:07There was also an issue of cost.
04:09These interceptor missiles launched from the guided-missile destroyers and cruisers in
04:12the strike group, John, those missiles cost millions of dollars shooting down, in essence,
04:18flying lawnmowers launched from the Houthis, very crude drones, just $50,000 or so in cost.
04:24And the fact that these shipping lanes, vital shipping lanes that are needed for commerce,
04:28for oil trade, have been essentially shut down since the October 7th massacre, commercial
04:33ships having to take that long journey around Africa, certainly adding to the cost.
04:37So certainly there's an economic message here with these strikes against the Houthis
04:41today.
04:42And by the way, John, these strikes could go on for a number of days.
04:44That's not immediately clear.
04:45Right.
04:46Because I read that one of the goals is to target their weapons storage facilities, which
04:51are reportedly deep underground.
04:53So they're going to be using those bunker busters and probably repeatedly to try to
04:58get to those warehouses that are essentially buried.
05:02Right.
05:03And it's notable, John.
05:04Super Hornets carry 2,000-pound JDAM satellite guided bombs.
05:08Those are not bunker busters.
05:09So if you needed those, you'd probably have to call in something heavier, some B-52 bombers,
05:13perhaps a B-2 bombers.
05:15We saw that one time during the Biden administration, B-2s launching from White and Air Force Base
05:19in Missouri.
05:20But certainly this is a powerful message being sent.
05:22You know, you also have Tomahawk cruise missiles aboard those guided missile destroyers in
05:27the Truman strike group.
05:28We didn't hear about any Tomahawk strikes today, but certainly there's more firepower
05:33in the area, if caught upon.
05:34A powerful message being sent not only to the Houthis, but as you say, to Iran as well,
05:40Lucas.
05:41There's no question, John.
05:42You know, President Trump recently sent a letter to the Ayatollah saying Iran needs
05:46to end its nuclear enrichment program, stop in this path toward what many in the intelligence
05:52community say is a path to a nuclear bomb.
05:55The Israelis have been itching to strike the Iranians so far.
05:59While the Trump administration has voiced its support for such an operation, President
06:02Trump has said he wants to end this diplomatically.
06:05That's why he sent that letter.
06:06But it was rejected from the Ayatollah.
06:07But the Iranians support these Houthi rebels.
06:10And so there's no question this is a message being sent to Tehran as well in Sana'a in
06:13Yemen.
06:14All right.
06:15Lucas Tomlinson at the White House.
06:17If you get more information on these attacks against the Houthis in Yemen, get back to
06:21us.
06:22Thanks, Lucas.
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