Iran-backed Houthi terrorists seized control of the Bab al-Mandab Strait — a critical global oil choke point — while Saudi Arabia’s $200 billion worth of U.S. military hardware sat idle.
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman called President Trump twice last Thursday begging him to strike the Houthis. Trump’s answer? No.
The White House said the United States is focused on protecting core national security interests while empowering regional partners to manage their own security challenges. Translation: Saudi Arabia needs to step up.
“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.”
The Houthis — a ragtag Iranian terror proxy whose slogan is “Allahu Akbar. Death to America. Death to Israel. A curse upon the Jews and victory to Islam” — humiliated the Saudis by taking the strait with speedboats. Saudi Arabia’s air force never flew a single sortie despite decades of American training and equipment sales.
The Bab al-Mandab Strait controls oil shipments to Europe and may be even more strategically important than the Strait of Hormuz. Iran’s strategy is clear: choke off Saudi oil exports by bombing pipelines and seizing shipping routes, forcing global oil prices higher.
Mecca itself — Islam’s holiest city — is now under drone attack from the Houthis. The Saudis, who claim the title of guardian of Islam’s holy sites, are powerless to stop it.
Pakistan and Turkey, supposedly allied with Saudi Arabia through the Mecca Defense Alliance signed weeks ago, are doing nothing. The vaunted Muslim defense pact collapsed the moment it faced a real test.
The Saudis are now quietly begging Israel — the nation they’ve condemned for years — to help them fight the Houthis.
Over 25 years, the United States sold Saudi Arabia more than $200 billion in defense equipment, training, and services. American taxpayers spent billions more maintaining military bases on Saudi soil to protect the kingdom from threats it couldn’t handle alone.
Those bases were originally installed to protect Saudi Arabia from Saddam Hussein. The Saudis couldn’t defend themselves then. They can’t now.
Iran is using Chinese-made weaponry funneled to the Houthis to strike the East-West crude oil pipeline running from the Persian Gulf to the Red Sea. Every strike cuts Saudi oil supply and drives prices higher — exactly what Tehran wants.
The Strait of Hormuz, which the United States largely reopened, is no longer under full Iranian control. So Iran pivoted to Yemen, where the Houthis can hit pipelines and block the Bab al-Mandab chokepoint instead.
Trump’s refusal to bail out the Saudis exposes a reality: without the West, Middle Eastern regimes fail. No oil infrastructure without Western technology. No defense without Western equipment and training. No financial systems without Western capital.
The UAE and Bahrain — the only Middle Eastern kingdoms fully embracing the West — are being alienated by the Saudis, who prefer to triangulate with Turkey, China, Pakistan, and even Iran.
That strategy is failing in real time.
Trump was right to target Iran’s economy with crushing sanctions. If Iran dominated the region, it would control global oil supply at will. The regime is already proving it by striking pipelines and seizing shipping routes while America’s supposed allies watch helplessly.
Iran remains the head of the snake. The president’s strategy — economic pressure, not ground troops — is working. The Iranian economy is cratering, and the mullahs know they’re negotiating from total weakness.
Saudi Arabia’s humiliation in Yemen proves Trump’s broader Middle East strategy is sound: let regional powers solve regional problems, and keep maximum pressure on the real threat.
