Escalation: Saudis (Finally) Take Gloves Off With Houthis, Iran

Donald Trump said last week that the ceasefire is over. Looks like Saudi Arabia and the embattled official Yemeni government agree. 

Iran attempted to fly IRGC officials into Hodeidah today to meet with Houthi leadership as part of their strategy to escalate the war into the Red Sea. The recognized government in Aden partnered with the Saudis to bomb the airport in an attempt to prevent the plane from landing. That turned out to be futile, but both the Yemenis and the Saudis made it clear that any coordination with Tehran by the Houthis would prompt a rapid escalation:

Saudi Arabia struck the runway of the Houthi-controlled Sana’a International Airport to prevent an Iranian plane from landing, Yemeni media reported on Monday afternoon.

At the same time, the Yemeni Defense Ministry issued a statement warning that its “patience has run out,” saying that it would respond to any Iranian and Houthi violations of Yemen’s airspace.

The Yemeni armed forces put out a video statement warning Iran and the Houthis in Sana’a that it considered this an escalation in itself, and that they would not tolerate further Iranian violations of their sovereignty:

#Breaking: The Yemeni Armed Forces have issued a strong statement over Iran’s blatant violation of Yemen’s airspace and sovereignty, delivering a stern warning to Tehran and vowing severe consequences in response. pic.twitter.com/EEfCDNJUQG

— Salman Al-Ansari | سلمان الأنصاري (@Salansar1) July 13, 2026

The plane did land, but the message came through clearly enough for the Houthis to respond. They threatened to escalate against the Saudis, sounding a lot like the IRGC’s blustering at the Americans:

The “response will be decisive,” Houthi spokesperson Yahya Saree said in a statement following the strikes, according to the Houthi-aligned Al-Masirah. 

“This aggression will not pass without a response and punishment,” Saree went on, according to Al Mayadeen, adding that the attack was “bringing an end to the de-escalation phase” in his group’s confrontation with Riyadh.

Decisive? The Houthis have been unable to complete their own coup against the Yemenis, even with interference from the US. Until this conflict with Iran went hot, the UN – especially during the Biden Regency – pushed the Saudis to stop their war against the Houthis. Last year, the Saudis reached some sort of accommodation with both sides in the Yemeni civil war, effectively extending the IRGC’s strategic reach into the Red Sea. 

Now that the Iranians are trying to use both the Strait of Hormuz and the Red Sea for strategic domination over the Gulf states, that accommodation seems to have come to an end. The decision by Donald Trump to toss out the MOU has given the Saudis an opening to attack the IRGC’s proxies on its own border, not unlike what Israel is doing in Lebanon and Gaza, and for the same reason. The Iranian encirclement strategy aimed at the entire Middle East, not just Israel, and this flight to Sana’a was the clearest indication that Iran intends to escalate through its proxies even more. 

Frankly, this seems long overdue, especially after the IRGC targeted Saudi energy production in March. The Saudis got pressured by the UN and the Biden Regency into the accommodation with the Iran-backed Houthis in the first place. Mohammed bin Salman clearly would prefer to avoid a full-out ground war in Yemen, but this conflict makes it pretty clear that all MBS has managed to do is put the war off rather than avoid it. Better to take it on now while Iran’s strength declines and the US decimates the IRGC’s military-industrial infrastructure. And that’s why it’s important for Trump to avoid useless MOUs and discussions that go nowhere with the terrorist pirates that hold both Tehran and Sana’a in their grip.

Editor’s Note: For decades, former presidents have been all talk and no action. Now, Donald Trump is eliminating the threat from Iran once and for all. 

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