SANAA – By all accounts, the United States unleashed its most formidable weapons. The B-2 Spirit bombers, those trillion-dollar shadows of American might, roared over Yemen in late March 2025, dropping bunker-busting bombs on Ansarallah strongholds with the drama of a Hollywood blockbuster. 

The mission? Smash their underground lairs, choke their missile supply, and send a warning across the Red Sea to Tehran: cross us, and this is what you get. But as the dust settles over Sanaa’s rugged terrain on April 9, 2025, the U.S. has a problem: its shiniest toys couldn’t seal the deal. And Iran, ever watchful, is jotting down lessons on how to turn America’s military bravado into a fading whisper.

Rewind to mid-March. Operation Rough Rider saw six B-2s—nearly a third of the fleet—stage out of Diego Garcia, their engines humming with promises of precision and power. The targets? Ansarallah missile complexes, burrowed deep into Yemen’s unforgiving mountains, a persistent threat to Red Sea shippings destined to dock in Occupied Palestine. The Pentagon hailed the strikes as a triumph: 65 dead, key sites hit, a general command HQ in Sanaa levelled. Yet, Ansarallah persists—downing a third U.S. MQ-9 Reaper by April 6—and continues to defy the superpower that vowed to crush them.

The evidence stings. Satellite images from late March show collapsed tunnel entrances, yes, but Ansarallah didn’t flinch—they carved new ones. Those GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrators, built to slice through earth like a hot blade cutting butter, didn’t erase the Yemenis’ subterranean caches. The White House boasts of over 200 strikes, yet Red Sea cargo traffic languishes at 70% below late 2023 levels. The U.S. and its allies brand Ansarallah as “rebels” for their disruption of trade flows to Israel, a stand taken in solidarity with the Palestinian people. But labels aside, the Yemenis remain unbowed, their ties with allies unbroken, their resolve a glaring sign that America’s best shot misfired.

Shift to Tehran, where the leadership is likely smirking over their chai. The takeaway is stark: the U.S. military threat, for all its high-tech swagger, isn’t the unstoppable force it claims to be. If Ansarallah—outmatched in resources but not in spirit—can endure the B-2 onslaught, what’s to stop Iran from brushing off America’s warnings? Iran’s own underground complexes, from Natanz to Fordow, outstrip Yemen’s in depth and design. If the U.S. can’t crack Ansarallah’s tunnels, Tehran’s strategists must figure they can neutralize the danger with fortified bunkers, smarter defences, and a page from Yemen’s playbook.

This isn’t just Yemen’s story—it’s a glimpse of the Persian Gulf’s next chapter. The B-2 strikes aimed to deter Iran through its Yemeni allies, a show of muscle to keep Tehran in line. Instead, they’ve gifted Iran evidence that American airpower, even at its zenith, can be thwarted by ingenuity and terrain. Ansarallah’s endurance—200 strikes weathered, U.S. warships still harassed—hints Iran could fare even better, bolstered by its ballistic missiles and regional alliances. The U.S. faces a hard truth: its military menace might ring hollow when push comes to shove.

Here we are, the Red Sea still a battleground, Ansarallah still standing tall. The B-2s may have retreated, but their legacy lingers—a tale of ambition outpacing results. For Washington, it’s a bitter draught: even its arsenal’s crown jewels couldn’t subdue a determined force in Yemen’s hinterlands. For Iran, it’s an invitation to dig deeper, knowing the U.S. threat can be dodged, outlasted, defeated, and defied. The stealth bombers came, they saw, they bombed—but victory? That’s still buried in the tunnels, beyond reach.