Saudi Arabia tells Trump now is the time for military action as Iran-backed Houthis advance

Houthi rebels reportedly seize strategic Yemeni port as trade concerns mount

Fox News contributor Marc Thiessen joins Brian Kilmeade to discuss reports of Yemen's Houthis seizing a strategic Red Sea port. Thiessen warns of the ongoing threat from a nuclear-armed Iran and analyzes President Trump's past decisions on airstrikes. The conversation focuses on national security concerns and the broader geopolitical conflict in the Middle East.

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Saudi Arabia is urging Washington to take direct military action against Iran-backed Houthis, Fox News Digital learned after the terrorist group seized key positions along Yemen’s Bab el-Mandeb Strait on Friday.

The dramatic strengthening of Houthi's positioning along the coastline of Yemen is in one of the world's most important shipping chokepoints — a narrow passage that links the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden, which has been used a bypass as the Iran war continues to severely disrupt shipping, especially of oil, through the Strait of Hormuz.

The rapid advance on Friday triggered urgent discussions at the highest levels in Riyadh and Washington, and a source familiar with the matter tells Fox News Digital that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman urged President Donald Trump to take military action against the Houthis.

NEW RISK FOR U.S. CONSUMERS AS IRAN-BACKED ATTACKS THREATEN A SECOND MAJOR OIL CHOKEPOINT

Houthi supporters demonstrate in solidarity with Iran, amid a two-week ceasefire between U.S. and Iran, in Sanaa, Yemen, April 10, 2026. (Khaled Abdullah/Reuters)

The Houthis reached the strategic island of Mayyun, also known as Perim, after Yemeni government forces withdrew and also took the mainland coastal town of Dhubab, four Yemeni government sources told Reuters on Friday.

Fox News Digital independently confirmed key elements of an Axios report with a source familiar with the matter, who said the crown prince spoke with Trump a few times over the past 24 hours about the escalating situation in Yemen.

The U.S. does not want to take direct military action for now, but Trump told bin Salman that Washington would assist Saudi Arabia with intelligence and targeting support, according to the source.

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

The White House did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment on the calls or whether additional U.S. military action is under consideration.

IRAN'S BIGGEST WEAPON AGAINST THE U.S. MAY BE SLIPPING AWAY, EXPERTS SAY

U.S. President Donald Trump walks with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman during an official state arrival ceremony at the Saudi Royal Court on May 13, 2025, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia (Win McNamee/Getty Images)

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 el-Mandeb.

Behnam Ben Taleblu, senior director of the Iran program at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told Fox News Digital 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-Mandeb 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.

IRAN CALLS ON HOUTHIS TO PREPARE TO CUT OFF RED SEA GATEWAY — CAN THE TERROR GROUP DO IT?

A satellite imagery shows Bab el Mandeb Strait, a key shipping waterway and the gateway to the Red Sea, as Iran threatens using Yemen's Houthi allies to shut the Bab el-Mandeb gateway to the Red Sea, in this handout picture dated July 12, 2026. (Nasa Worldview/Handout via Reuters)

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

Former U.S. Special Envoy for Yemen Timothy Lenderking said Friday that the Houthis had spent the years since the 2022 UN-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."

IRAN-BACKED HOUTHI THREAT IN RED SEA COULD LEAD TO MAJOR U.S. POLICY SHIFT, ANALYSTS SAY

Members of the Saudi-backed Yemeni government forces fire a tank during what they say to be clashes with Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis in a location given as near Al-Hazm, Yemen, in this screen grab obtained from a handout video released September 9, 2026. (Media Centre Of The Yemeni Armed Forces/Handout via Reuters)

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 Fox News Digital: "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 el-Mandeb 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 chokepoint.

EXPERT WARNS OF 'GENERAL ESCALATION' OF FIGHTING IF HOUTHIS RESUME RED SEA CAMPAIGN

A vehicle burns after being attacked by Houthis during fighting with Saudi-backed forces at a location given as Al Jawf, Yemen, in this still image taken from a handout video released September 9, 2026. (Al Masirah/Handout via Reuters)

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 Fox News Digital 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."

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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.

Efrat (Effie) Lachter is a reporter for Fox News Digital with more than 15 years of experience covering conflict, global affairs, human rights and political accountability. She has directed and produced more than 200 documentary segments across more than 40 countries, documenting conflicts, humanitarian crises, corruption, human trafficking, gender-based violence and the human stories behind major world events. 

Lachter’s reporting has taken her into conflict zones and crisis areas across the Middle East, Europe, Asia and Africa. Her work has included uncovering human trafficking networks, revealing an ISIS underground torture prison in Syria, documenting the war in Ukraine and interviewing senior political figures and world leaders. She was also among the Western journalists who entered Russia after the war began to bring testimonies from Putin’s opposition. Lachter is the recipient of the 2022 Peres Center for Peace Award and was a 2023–2024 Knight-Wallace Journalism Fellow at the University of Michigan. She also won two Rockower Awards for Excellence in Reporting. She holds a bachelor's degree in communication and a master's degree in political science.