Freedom of Navigation in the Red Sea

"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."

White House statement

US President Donald Trump met with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Riyadh on May 13, 2025, during the president's multi-nation tour of the Gulf.  Win McNamee/Getty Images

 

"The failure this time is not with the Yemenis. It’s a disaster made in [Washington] DC and Riyadh."

"There was not one air strike throughout the day yesterday [by Saudi support forces], although there were minute-by-minute updates."

"It’s a Saudi-American f**k up of epic proportions."

Unnamed regional source

 

"It doesn’t make sense. I mean, you have the main backer of the militaries on the ground [UAE, ordered to leave south Yemen by the Saudis] … who are really doing all of this work for 10 years, and suddenly you ask them to leave, and you don’t fill that vacuum." 

"It’s just lack of strategy and poor management [not to have filled the UAE military absence with Saudi troops]."

"[The Houthis] don’t need to use advanced weapons to close Bab al-Mandeb. They can just use a cannon on a car."

"It’s a leverage that they have without using advanced weapons. And they will keep it."

 Amr Al-Bidh of Yemen’s Southern Transitional Council   

In a large-scale operation meant to expel Saudi-backed forces from the Red Sea coast of Yemen that included areas providing leverage over the Bab al-Mandab Strait, a key waterway for Saudi oil exports, Houthis, backed by Iran claimed resounding success. This new state of affairs enables the Houthis to claim territory that has now changed hands enabling them to threaten and block at will, energy and other cargo shipments through the Bab al-Mandab in the Red Sea, to join Iran's blockaid of the Strait of Hormuz in the Persian Gulf.

 

Saudi-led military coalition forces in their hundreds were killed, injured or taken prisoner in the fighting, exulted Houthi spokesman Yahya Saree. Control was seized of 2,000 square miles of land along the western coast of Yemen. A senior Yemen analyst for the International Crisis Group, added that the Houthis had made substantial advances since Thursday, as they pushed forward from the city of Mokha to capture the strategic town of Dhubab and Perim Island.

Fighters gather near damaged vehicles in the after what a Houthi-owned TV network says were strikes on pro-government forces in Yemen. Photograph: Al-Masirah Tv/Reuters

 

Iran congratulated its proxy militia. Threats to target Saudi ships were made by the Houthis who have searched for vengeance against Saudi Arabia for what they claim is a blockade on their country. Saudi Arabia supports the internationally recognized government in the south. A truce in the war that Saudi Arabia launched against the Houthis had left the Houthis in control of Yemen's north. A ground offensive was launched in recent days by the Houthis to capture key port cities along the Red Sea. 

"[There must be an end to the] illegal and inhuman blockade [of Yemen, imposed for years by Saudi Arabia]."

"[There must be an] immediate resumption of dialogue [to end the] unprecedented oppression and expansionism of the Israeli regime with US. complicity."

Iranian Foreign Ministry 

A Yemeni official explained that Yemen's Saudi-backed coalition forces had withdrawn. His government had hoped that the U.S. would strike the Houthis just as had occurred in 2025, but whether it plans to do so remains uncertain.  

"The moment represents a huge opportunity for the Houthis to negotiate from a position of power."

"They have a tremendous amount of momentum behind them."

Adam Baron, fellow, Future Security Program at New America, Washington think tank

 

"[The Houthi advance] is not just about Saudi but many countries and means that Iran can activate the Houthis against U.S. interests in the region."

Ahmed Nagi, Yemen analyst, International Crisis Group, Brussels 

 A sunken vessel is seen at the surface of the water in the port of Mocha the day after an attack by the Houthis on August 9, 2026. Strikes by the Iran-backed Houthi rebels have been happening on Yemen's west coast for weeks.  Khaled Ziad/AFP/Getty Images