As Saudi Arabia rallies against Yemen's Houthis, US stays focused on Iran

WASHINGTON – As Saudi Arabia gears up to head off any attempt by Yemen’s Houthi rebels to close the Bab al-Mandeb Strait through further attacks on commercial shipping, the Trump administration remains focused on maintaining the blockade of Iran, officials said Friday. 

The Saudi Defense Ministry announced Thursday that a 15th nation had signed onto its nascent naval coalition, which was established earlier this month in an effort to keep shipping lanes open in the Red Sea, Bab al-Mandeb and the Gulf of Aden. Al-Monitor first reported Riyadh’s plans to stand up the multinational coalition following a spate of recent attacks by Yemen’s Houthis.

While the latest participating nation has not been named, the maritime effort — which thus far includes Egypt, Turkey, Qatar, Pakistan, Bahrain and others — does not include a direct military commitment from the United States, a source familiar with the discussions said. 

Why it matters: The US military’s Central Command (CENTCOM), which supported a failed Saudi-led coalition bombing campaign to halt the Houthi rebels’ advance that began in 2015, remains heavily focused on the stalemated war with Iran.

CENTCOM sent its top US Marine Corps commander, Lt. Gen. Joseph Clearfield, to Riyadh for the July 30 security conference to discuss standing up the coalition. The top commander overseeing all American military forces in the region, CENTCOM’s Adm. Brad Cooper, is currently on a diplomatic tour of the region.

But details over contributions, command-and-control, legal authorizations and the overall scope of the multinational Saudi-led mission are still being hashed out, a source briefed on the discussions told Al-Monitor.

Background: A US-brokered ceasefire between Saudi Arabia and the Houthis in 2022 collapsed in mid-July after Saudi Arabia reportedly struck the grounds of Sanaa’s international airport after warning a flight carrying Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and Yemeni Houthi personnel not to land.

The Houthis announced a counter-blockade against Saudi Arabia in response to Riyadh’s strikes, carrying out several drone attacks on commercial tankers. Saudi Arabia in July reportedly began mobilizing Yemeni government-aligned forces in preparation for pushing back against Houthi forces on the ground in Yemen in response to the first Houthi ballistic missile attacks targeting Saudi territory in several years. 

Higher priorities: Faced with limited military options, the Trump administration has shifted the center of gravity of its effort against the Islamic Republic to economic warfare.

Washington's ostensible aim is to pressure Iran’s top leaders to re-open Hormuz and formally agree to end their nuclear enrichment program, which the US’ aerial bombing campaign physically damaged but did not completely destroy. The US is preparing to “apply measures like have never been seen in the history of the economic isolation of a country,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Newsmax on Friday. 

Key to the administration’s pivot to the economic campaign against Iran is sustaining the US military's two-aircraft-carrier naval blockade in the Arabian Sea, along with accompanying destroyers and aircraft.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Thursday told reporters the US joint force can sustain the naval blockade of Iran “indefinitely.” 

Meanwhile, attacks on shipping in the Strait of Hormuz have continued despite a lull in US airstrikes in Iran. On Thursday, the United Arab Emirates said two of its state-owned ADNOC tankers were attacked by Iran in the strait. US CENTCOM has not acknowledged carrying out any retaliation for those strikes, marking an apparent shift from recent months’ public threats by Trump.

The Washington Post reported Thursday that the US military had lost at least 45 MQ-9 Reaper drones — roughly 25% of the Pentagon's MQ-9 fleet, totaling at least $1.3 billion — in the war with Iran so far.

With or without a decision from the White House to assist the Saudi-led maritime coalition, the US Navy's multilayered blockade in the Arabian Sea has nonetheless largely cut off the IRGC's routes to resupply the Houthis with advanced missile components, US officials have said.

What’s next: The stalled US-Iran conflict shows no clear signs of an imminent off-ramp.

The State Department has requested US embassies across the Middle East develop plans for operating with reduced staff, while diplomatic personnel continue to receive offers to end their tours early, CNN reported Wednesday.  

Hegseth this week approved plans for the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS George Washington to relieve the USS Abraham Lincoln in the Arabian Sea. 

The Lincoln is expected to join the strike group led by the US Navy’s flagship carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford. The amphibious assault ship USS Boxer, carrying the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit, has been in the region since March. 

"That ship is moving right now and it’s being replaced with another ship,” President Donald Trump told reporters of the Lincoln on Friday, before opining that its nearly nine-month marathon deployment at sea has lasted “not nearly long enough.”

The Wall Street Journal first reported the Lincoln’s planned return on Thursday after Democratic lawmakers, including Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Rep. Reuben Gallego (D-Ariz.) called for Congressional testimony amid reports of poor living conditions among sailors aboard the carrier. 

USA Today first reported as far back as April on emerging morale complaints about the quality of food supplies aboard the Lincoln.