[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 54 (Tuesday, March 25, 2025)]
[Senate]
[Page S1810]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                                  IRAN

  Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, meanwhile, on the international front, 
President Trump is taking a similarly assertive approach to protecting 
our country and our interests.
  Over the last 18 months, since Hamas's October 7, 2023, attack on 
Israel, Iran-backed Houthis in the Middle East have carried out 
literally hundreds of attacks on U.S. international shipping and on 
U.S. forces. Airstrikes by the Biden administration failed to stop the 
Houthis' activities, and international shipping has been significantly 
affected. Ships now routinely avoid the Red Sea and the Suez Canal in 
favor of going around the southern tip of Africa, a route that means 
longer travel times for goods. And those ships that do traverse the Red 
Sea face significant danger to their cargoes and, above all, to their 
personnel.
  This is an unacceptable situation, and so President Trump is taking 
action. Within days of taking office, President Trump had redesignated 
the Houthis as a foreign terrorist organization--after the Biden 
administration took them off the list--and 10 days ago, President Trump 
ordered extensive airstrikes against Houthi targets. Even more 
importantly, he has made it very clear to the Houthis that those 
strikes will continue, unless and until the Houthis cease their attacks 
on U.S. forces and commercial shipping in the Red Sea.
  And because the Houthis do not act alone but with the support of 
Iran, President Trump is also making it clear to Iran that it needs to 
stop aiding and abetting Houthi terror. So much of the violence and 
unrest in the Middle East is carried out by groups funded, armed, and 
sometimes trained by Iran, and any response to this violence must 
recognize Iran's role, as well as that of its proxies, like the 
Houthis.
  I am grateful for the long-overdue action that President Trump is 
taking, both here at home, on our border, and against Houthi terrorists 
abroad. It is this kind of decisive action that will encourage our 
enemies to think twice before menacing our Nation or threatening our 
interests.

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