Iran’s nuclear facilities could be next: That’s the message analysts are taking after an American-led coalition for the first time struck Houthi targets in coordination with the Israeli air force. Many expect additional aerial strikes to follow. 

The largest operation targeting Yemen in more than a year began Friday morning with American and British planes striking weapons facilities, command bases, and underground areas. Hours later, Israel hit Houthi economic targets, including a power station and ports. 

On the eve of President-elect Trump’s inauguration, the coordination between Israel and America — as well as the Israeli air force striking targets farther away from its shores than Iran sits — are seen as a prelude. “This coordinated attack is a message to Iran,” a terrorism researcher and former Likud Knesset member, Anat Berko, told Kan news. 

“Just as we promised, the Houthis are paying, and will continue to pay, a heavy price for their aggression against us,” Prime Minister Netanyahu said in a statement Friday. “The Houthis are a proxy of Iran and they serve the terrorist objectives of the Iranian axis in the Middle East.”    

The Yemen strikes followed interceptions of three Houthi drones Thursday night, amid a recurrent pattern of drone and ballistic missile attacks from Yemen that have increased in recent months. The vast majority of these attacks have been shot down by Israeli and American air defenses. 

The Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps is redirecting most of its arms deliveries to Yemen from Lebanon and Gaza, where its proxies have suffered heavy losses in recent months. As a result, the Houthis are escalating attacks on Israel and America. On Monday their spokesman, Yahya Siree, boasted of hitting the Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier, which arrived recently in the Red Sea. No damage was reported by the Pentagon.   

Unlike in the past, the Friday operations of more than 20 Israeli air force aircraft were conducted in the daytime. The bombings targeting a major Yemeni power station and the ports at Hudeidah and Ras Isa were timed to coincide with a weekly Friday gathering at Sana’a, where Houthi supporters chant anti-Israel and anti-American slogans. Some of the hits were evidently meant to be seen by the crowds and serve as warning. 

“Whoever harms Israel will be struck much, much more,” the defense minister, Israel Katz, said in a video posting. “Thousands of Houthis who participated in a hate march against Israel heard up close the power of the Air Force planes.” Addressing the Houthi leader Abdulmalik al-Houthi by name, he added that “there will be no immunity for anyone.”

Earlier in the week the deputy commander of the U.S. central command, Vice Admiral Brad Cooper, visited Israel, where he reportedly coordinated the operation with Israeli counterparts. American and British aircraft struck as “part of Centcom’s effort to degrade Iranian-backed Houthi attempts to threaten regional partners and military and merchant vessels in the region,” central command said in a statement Friday. Striking hours before the Israeli attack, British and American planes reportedly targeted tunnel networks and arms warehouses at the mountainous region of Harf Sufyan. 

Yemen is one of the world’s poorest countries, and past attacks have failed to deter the Houthis. Ten years ago a Saudi-led military coalition, which included the United Arab Emirates and other Gulf states, bombarded Yemen, killing hundreds of thousand people. 

The Houthis survived, though, and, with backing from the Islamic Republic, became increasingly aggressive, using sophisticated Iranian-made arms to hit targets far outside of Yemen’s border, and forcing major shipping firms to avoid the Red Sea and the Suez Canal. Now the Houthis seem to have become Iran’s most favored proxy group.  

After meeting the president-elect at Mar-a-Lago recently, Israel’s strategic affairs minister, Ron Dermer, reached the conclusion that Trump would support an Israeli military strike against Iranian nuclear facilities, Axios reported this week. The increased military coordination between Israel and America could serve as a signal that Washington would support Israel if it decides to launch attacks in Iran.

Unlike the Biden administration, which has attempted to negotiate with Tehran, several members of Trump’s incoming security team are considered Iran hawks. They are seen as more likely to equip Israel with ammunition that could penetrate Iran’s deeply-dug nuclear facilities.  

Trump himself studiously avoids airing out his plans for dealing with the Islamic Republic. It would be “stupid” to speak publicly about military strategy to prevent Iran from reaching military nuclear capabilities, the president-elect told a reporter Tuesday. 

Mr. Netanyahu gathered his security cabinet Thursday to discuss plans for military attacks in Iran. This week the IRGC conducted a four-day exercise, reportedly meant to beef up defenses against possible Israeli strikes.