'We just put Iran on notice': White House says 'multiple' Huthi leaders killed in air strikes

Washington: US strikes killed "multiple" Huthi leaders in Yemen, the White House said Sunday, adding Iran was "put on notice" to stop backing the rebel group and its attacks on Red Sea shipping.

The airstrikes Saturday "actually targeted multiple Huthi leaders and took them out," National Security Advisor Michael Waltz told ABC News.

"We just hit them with overwhelming force and put Iran on notice that enough is enough," he said in a separate appearance on Fox News.

Yemen's Iran-backed Huthis vowed to meet "escalation with escalation" after a wave of deadly US air strikes, with witnesses to the bombing saying Sunday they were taken aback by its intensity, even after years of war.

US President Donald Trump said he had ordered the strikes and threatened more were to come if the rebels kept up their repeated attacks on shipping vessels in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.

Attacks on the rebel-held capital Sanaa, as well as on areas in Saada, Al-Bayda and Radaa, killed at least 31 people and wounded 101, "most of whom were children and women", Huthi health ministry spokesperson Anis Al-Asbahi said.