Saudi Arabia Urges Trump: Act as Iran-Backed Houthis Advance

Saudi Arabia is pressing Washington to launch direct military action against the Iran-backed Houthis after the group captured critical positions near Yemen’s Bab al-Mandab Strait on Friday, News Media learned.

The Houthis’ swift expansion along Yemen’s coast places them near one of the world’s most vital shipping choke points. The narrow Bab al-Mandab passage connects the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden and has served as an alternative route while the Iran war continues to heavily disrupt shipping — particularly oil traffic — through the Strait of Hormuz.

Friday’s advance prompted urgent high-level talks in Riyadh and Washington. A source familiar with the matter told News Media that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman urged President Donald Trump to take military action against the Houthis.

Four Yemeni government sources told Reuters on Friday that the Houthis moved onto the strategic island of Mayyun, also known as Perim, after government forces withdrew. The group also seized the mainland coastal town of Dhubab.

News Media independently confirmed key details of an Axios report through a source familiar with the matter. The source said bin Salman spoke with Trump several times during the previous 24 hours as the crisis in Yemen intensified.

The United States does not currently intend to take direct military action, according to the source. Trump, however, told bin Salman that Washington would provide Saudi Arabia with intelligence and targeting assistance.

The source also confirmed that U.S. Central Command chief Adm. Brad Cooper traveled to Saudi Arabia for coordination discussions.

The White House did not respond to News Media’s request for comment on the calls or on whether further U.S. military action is being considered.

The convergence raises the prospect of simultaneous pressure on two of the world’s most consequential maritime arteries: Iran disrupting traffic through Hormuz while its Houthi allies strengthen their position around Bab al-Mandab.

Behnam Ben Taleblu, senior director of the Iran program at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told News Media that the shift reflects Tehran’s effort to recover leverage as pressure around Hormuz changes.

“Trump’s success in pushing back on Iran’s maritime threat in the Strait of Hormuz and Persian Gulf has made the regime lose the maritime leverage it had, and now it is looking to double down on the Houthis who have proven to be able to impact Red Sea shipping and the Bab al-Mandab Strait in the past,” Ben Taleblu said.

“As Tehran loses leverage in the Strait of Hormuz, it is trying to wield a knife and a handshake at once: diplomacy with Arab states and a knife in the back via the Houthi offensive,” he added.

The latest advance follows the Houthis’ capture Thursday of the strategic Red Sea port of Mocha, which was previously held by forces aligned with Yemen’s internationally recognized government.

READ MORE: Hairdresser Accused in Tinder-Linked Murder Plot Against Ex

Former U.S. special envoy for Yemen Timothy Lenderking said Friday that the Houthis had spent the years since the 2022 U.N.-brokered truce rebuilding their military strength and are now exploiting the broader Iran conflict to increase pressure on Saudi Arabia.

Speaking during an on-the-record Middle East Institute virtual briefing, Lenderking said the April 2022 truce largely put Yemen’s civil war on pause but also “did allow the Houthis to regroup, retrain, refit, restock.”

“They’re extremely entrepreneurial. They use every opportunity to build their capability, to test their capabilities, such that they are now the most lethal non-state actor in the entire Middle East,” Lenderking said.

Lenderking traced the latest round of escalation in part to Iranian Mahan Air flights into Sanaa earlier this summer, which he said brought personnel and equipment intended to support the Houthi war effort, adding that the personnel were from Iran and were “probably IRGC members.”

Lenderking said the Houthis are now taking advantage of the wider conflict with Iran to increase their leverage over Riyadh.

“They’ve seized this opportunity, bringing these various lines of effort together, to put a great deal of pressure on the Yemen government and the Saudis specifically,” he said.

On Thursday, a senior Trump administration official told News Media: “The United States is focused on protecting our core national security interests — such as ensuring freedom of navigation in the Red Sea — while empowering our regional partners to take the lead in managing and resolving regional security challenges. We are in continuous dialogue with Saudi Arabia and the Republic of Yemen Government regarding regional stability.”

The stakes extend well beyond Yemen.

The Bab al-Mandab is only about 18 miles wide at its narrowest point and serves as the southern gateway to the Suez Canal. About 7% of global oil output passed through the strait in June, according to Kpler data cited by Reuters. Disruption can force ships to reroute around Africa’s Cape of Good Hope, adding significant time and cost to voyages.

Reuters reported Friday that only seven vessels transited the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday, compared with a prewar daily average of 125, underscoring the pressure already facing the region’s other critical maritime choke point.

Ben Taleblu said the speed of the Houthi advance exposed vulnerabilities in the Saudi-led effort to contain the group.

“The U.S. should help the Saudis stymie the Houthi advance,” he said. “The inability of the Saudis to prevent the Houthis from taking the strategic port city of Mocha, for example, does not bode well for what may come.”

Hisham Al-Omeisy, senior Yemen adviser at the European Institute of Peace, told News Media on Thursday that the danger extends beyond the territory captured. Retreating government forces, he said, left behind military equipment that could strengthen the Houthis on other fronts.

“People are focused on taking Mocha and those outposts on the Red Sea,” Al-Omeisy said. “But the military side is terrible, particularly the equipment, the munitions, the vehicles, the drones that were at those military camps, which they can now, in turn, use against the government forces elsewhere.”

The developments mark a dramatic reversal from the relative calm that followed the 2022 truce and leave Washington and its regional allies confronting a growing question: whether the Houthi advance can be contained without opening another direct U.S. military front as American forces remain focused on Iran and the Strait of Hormuz.