America bombs a terrorist group that has disrupted the global economy.

That's the headline.

But the backstory here matters.

I'm Jenna, and this is Smarter News.

The Trump administration has moved quickly and engaged countries all over the world,

but remarkably absent from the

regular cadence of news coming from this administration is more of a mention of Iran. Iran is a country.

The U.S. government has designated a state sponsor of terrorism because the U.S. believes that Iran

supports foreign terrorist organizations like Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis based in Yemen.

And that matters because just this weekend, America bombed Houthi targets in Yemen, arguing

that the Houthis continued to attack both military and commercial ships that need to freely sail

through the area around Yemen. Now, the Houthis have done this since the war between Israel and

Hamas began, in a show of

solidarity with Hamas.

And the timing of this operation by the United States matters for a few different reasons,

particularly because it comes after President Trump reportedly wrote a letter to Iran's

Supreme Leader asking for an opening of dialogue of negotiations. And the Supreme Leader publicly rejected this.

Keep that in mind.

Because at the end of the President's announcement this weekend about targeting the

Houthis, the Iran-backed group, he said this, quote,

Every shot fired by the Houthis will be looked upon from this point forward as being a shot

fired from the weapons and leadership of Iran, and Iran will be looked upon from this point forward as being a shot fired from the weapons and leadership

...