CENTCOM reported that U.S. and UK forces led “strikes on eight Houthi targets in Iranian-backed Houthi terrorist-controlled areas of Yemen… used to attack international merchant vessels and U.S. Navy ships in the region. The targets included missile systems and launchers, air defence systems, radars and deeply buried weapons storage facilities”. The same day, the head of the U.S. Navy Fifth Fleet contended that “Iran is clearly funding, they’re resourcing, they are supplying and they’re providing training… They’re obviously very directly involved”. Relatedly, the U.S. rejected Houthi claims of a “successful attack against the M/V Ocean Jazz” as “patently false”, adding: “NAVCENT has maintained constant communications with M/V Ocean Jazz throughout its safe transit”. The following day, the IRGC navy commander said that Houthi leadership “acts independently and takes orders from no side”. On 24 January, the Houthis announced a 30-day deadline for UN “officials and workers with U.S. and British citizenships to… leave the country”.