Trump's Iran War Destabilizes Middle East, Houthis Threaten Saudi Oil Routes
As U.S.-Iran conflict escalates, proxy battles multiply: Houthis now control the Red Sea, closing Saudi Arabia's second export path.
What to know
- The U.S.-Iran war under Trump is cascading into proxy conflicts across the Middle East, with the Houthis now controlling the Red Sea and blocking Saudi oil exports.
- Saudi Arabia now faces both the Strait of Hormuz (closed for months) and the Red Sea blocked, creating a severe economic crisis for the kingdom.
- Iran's strategy is to inflict enough pain on U.S. allies to force the end of the war; each U.S. attack on Iran triggers Iranian attacks on Gulf emirates.
- Analysts warn that once great-power stability breaks, multiple crises multiply rapidly and can persist for years with no quick resolution in sight.
Trump's Iran War is reckless and destabilizing, creating long chains of chaos that will take years to resolve.
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“Simply put, when dumb leaders do impulsive things and then leave the consequences to others to clean up, things can degenerate really, really fast.”
MarcAbrahams · Mastodon ↗
“Put simply, the Saudis can export oil through the Strait of Hormuz or the Red Sea. The former has been mostly closed for months. Now the Houthis are in de facto or near control of the second. That's a big crisis for the Saudis.”
Josh Marshall, Talking Points Memo columnist · Talking Points Memo ↗ · Sep 20
Donald Trump U.S. President; architect of Iran WarHouthis Yemeni rebel government; Iranian clientsSaudi Arabia Regional power; U.S. allyIran U.S. adversary; regional player
How it unfolded 2 developments, newest first · click a bar or a number to jump articlesposts
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Marshall warns that breakdown of great-power stability produces long cascades of chaos
Josh Marshall argues that when a great power stops guaranteeing regional stability, multiple breakages can multiply rapidly. He cites the Iran War as a textbook example of how letting things deteriorate can spawn extended periods of disorder across an entire region.
“Once the great power starts letting things break, those breakages can start multiplying very fast. Eventually you'll find a new equilibrium, of course. But eventually can take a long time.”
— Josh Marshall -
"the Saudis and the other Gulf emirates are Trump’s guys. They’re supposed to be top oligarchic players in the new Trumpian, regional, spheres-of-influence world. But they’re getting hosed too." talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/thing... Things Fall Apart (in the Midd...
2 more of the top 3 · 3 posts in this stretch
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«But the supply of oil rests on that promise that the U.S. will take care of things if its regional allies — with their generally feeble militaries — get into trouble. The U.S. is now failing that promise two or three times over: by starting the war in the first place, by letting the Gulf kingdoms deal with the blowback on their own. That’s…
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"Simply put, when dumb leaders do impulsive things and then leave the consequences to others to clean up, things can degenerate really, really fast. And that's exactly what's happening." https:// talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/t hings-fall-apart-in-the-middle-east-the-donald-trump-story
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New York Times details Houthi control of Red Sea as fallout of U.S.-Iran conflict
A New York Times piece over the weekend documented how the ongoing U.S. war with Iran is driving a resurgence of the Saudi-Houthi conflict in Yemen. The Houthis, Iranian clients, have now partly cut off Saudi Arabia's access to the Red Sea—one of two critical oil export routes.
“As a knock-on effect of the U.S. war with Iran, the ongoing battle between Saudi Arabia and the Houthi rebel government in Yemen has again become hot.”
— Josh Marshall
Also covered reported alongside — the timeline has no entry for these yet
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first by Mastodon, 2d ago · also Talking Points Memo