A potential Houthi blockade of Saudi Arabian ports could open a new front in the regional conflict, placing additional pressure on US military resources already stretched across the Middle East.
Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi movement said on Monday it would prevent ships from loading or unloading at Saudi ports, a move that could disrupt Saudi oil exports and put an additional 7% of global oil supplies at risk.
Saudi Arabia, which hosts US military forces, has not requested assistance from Washington. However, President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that any Houthi attempt to disrupt shipping in the Red Sea could prompt a US military response.
“If something like that happens, we’ll take care of it. We’ve done that with the Houthis before,” Trump told reporters.
The Houthis are widely regarded as experienced and resilient fighters who have withstood years of Saudi-led and US air campaigns. Any renewed confrontation would require Washington to divide military assets already committed to the conflict involving Iran and the enforcement of a blockade on Iranian ports in the Gulf.
“You’re bifurcating your admittedly fairly robust resources in the region between two active fronts,” said Jason Campbell, a former senior Pentagon official.
Campbell, now a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute, said the US could be forced to redeploy warships from the Gulf closer to Yemen to conduct operations against the Houthis and defend against missile and drone attacks.
Any direct Houthi involvement would broaden a conflict that Trump initially portrayed as a limited military campaign focused on Iran.
It could also heighten concerns over US stockpiles of missiles and air defence interceptors if American warships and aircraft are required to counter sustained Houthi drone and missile attacks.
The Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Houthis have remained resilient despite years of air strikes by a Saudi-led coalition that failed to dislodge the group from large parts of Yemen, as well as more recent US military operations.
“The Houthis have proven many times in the past that they have the ability and willingness to obstruct maritime traffic in the Red Sea and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait,” said Michael Mulroy, a former US deputy assistant secretary of defence for the Middle East during Trump’s first administration.
Under former President Joe Biden, the United States launched air strikes against Houthi targets in an effort to safeguard commercial shipping through the Red Sea. Trump later intensified those operations after the group targeted US warships and commercial vessels off Yemen’s coast.
However, neither campaign succeeded in eliminating the Houthis’ ability to threaten maritime traffic.
A two-month US military campaign last year required significant resources, including two aircraft carriers, additional warships, fighter jets and strategic bombers such as the B-2.
Although the US military remains the world’s best-funded, officials say it is facing growing resource constraints, with many of the assets that could be needed in Yemen already committed elsewhere in the Middle East.
“We’re pretty busy already,” one US official said, noting that some warships have remained deployed longer than planned because of the high operational tempo, first in the Caribbean and now in the Middle East.
Extended deployments place additional strain on service members, while naval vessels also require periodic maintenance and resupply.
More than 20 US Navy warships and hundreds of military aircraft are currently operating across the Middle East. Additional forces are also being deployed to support operations related to the conflict involving Iran, a second US official said.
That could reduce the resources available for any confrontation near Yemen, which officials say would require substantial naval and air power. It would also require intelligence agencies to reassess the Houthis’ capabilities, which may have evolved since last year.
Mark Cancian, a retired US Marine Corps officer and senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, agreed that a second front in the Red Sea would place additional pressure on US naval forces.
Cancian, however, said the Houthis could struggle to sustain a prolonged campaign because the ongoing blockade of Iran has constrained supplies from their principal backer.
“The US blockade is not 100% effective, but it is highly effective. As a result, the Houthis may be hard-pressed to sustain a prolonged campaign,” Cancian said.
Ojo Triumph
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