Yemen's Houthis have long warned of their ability to close the Red Sea oil route, but have by and large stayed on the sidelines of the expanding Gulf regional conflict which is focused on Iran since Operation Epic Fury began.
Things began changing dramatically this month, however, after Saudi warplane incursions into Yemen - which bombed Sanaa International Airport on July 13 - in an effort to prevent an Iranian commercial jet from landing there.
via Marine InsightThe Houthis responded by sending missile and drones on Saudi Arabian airbases and infrastructure, opening up the possibility of renewed Saudi-Houthi war (hearkening back to the more intense war of the prior decade).
Houthi rhetoric is growing, related to the US-Israel war on Iran:
The leader of Yemen’s Houthi movement has denounced US and Israeli collaboration as the source of the problems in the Middle East.
In a televised address, Abdel-Malik al-Houthi also blamed Saudi leaders for advancing US and Israeli objectives in the region. “The United States and Israel are the source of evil and instability in the world,” al-Houthi said.
In a rare moment of the now long-running conflict, on Thursday reports have emerged that Tehran is actively requesting that the Houthis join the war in the scenario that Washington begins attacking Iran's power infrastructure.
This is after President Trump told Fox News on Tuesday evening that "Next week it gets really
