🚨 BREAKING: MBS called Trump twice in one day begging for US strikes on the Houthis. Trump said no, twice.
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman called Thursday as Houthi forces launched a major offensive, seizing the port city of Mocha and the strategic island of Perim, sitting at the narrowest point of the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. During the second call, MBS explicitly asked for direct US strikes against the advancing forces.
Trump refused both times.
The reasoning, according to two US officials: Washington's priority stays locked on Iran and the Strait of Hormuz. Officials have told their Saudi counterparts directly that American forces need to stay focused there, not open a second front in Yemen.
Instead, the US is offering intelligence and targeting data on Houthi positions, plus roughly 200 military personnel already in Saudi Arabia providing non-kinetic support. CENTCOM commander Adm. Brad Cooper flew to Saudi Arabia Thursday for coordination talks.
The stakes are why this call happened at all. Bab el-Mandeb isn't a side issue, it's the gateway connecting the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden, a critical artery for Suez Canal shipping and Saudi oil exports. With Iran already disrupting traffic through Hormuz, Houthi control over this second chokepoint would hand Tehran leverage over two of the world's most important waterways at once.
This marks a real reversal. Back in July, Saudi Arabia told Washington it could handle the Houthis alone. Now, as the fighting escalates, and after a Houthi attack in southern Saudi Arabia injured 73 people, Riyadh is asking for exactly what it said it didn't need.
Trump is drawing a hard line: help from the sidelines, not another war.
#Yemen #Saudi #Trump #Houthis #Geopolitics