President Donald Trump dismissed the threat of the Iran-backed Houthis blocking the Red Sea, telling reporters that “if something like that happens, we’ll simply have to deal with it,” CNN reports.

“So far it hasn’t happened. It could happen, but we know how to handle things,” he said from the Oval Office. “We’ve dealt with the Houthis before, and ever since we did what we initially did, we haven’t heard anything from them.”

A naval blockade of the Red Sea could open a new front in the U.S. war with Iran, further reducing oil supplies from the Middle East.

Houthi forces in Yemen warned Saudi vessels to refrain from using the Red Sea, sending the relevant message to ships in this strategic waterway on Monday.

Trump declined to specify exactly how the United States would respond to Houthi attempts to block shipping, citing previous strikes on the group.

“It was about 45 days of very powerful action against the Houthis, and after that we had no problems with them,” he noted. “They haven’t had any problems with us for a long time, including during the current conflict.”