In remarks to reporters on Saturday in Dublin with Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin, President Donald Trump said the Houthis had reached out asking Washington not to target them. He quoted their message as "don't want to fight with us," "don't want us to go after them," and that "they would much prefer not having us involved." Trump also confirmed he spoke with Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince, saying, "I have had a call with MBS. He's a good friend of mine," and adding, "I can just say everything's going to work out fine and dandy. It's going to be very good."
Clashes between the Houthis and Yemeni forces backed by Saudi Arabia have ramped up, featuring attacks on energy infrastructure and missile launches aimed at Saudi Arabia's southwest. Axios, citing two unnamed US officials, reported that on Thursday Trump received two calls from Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman requesting strikes on the Houthis. Trump confirmed the conversation but did not provide details. Asked whether Iran was behind a Thursday strike that led Saudi Arabia to shut its East‑West pipeline, Trump answered, "I think they are." Saudi officials have said drones launched from Iraq were responsible for the pipeline incident, which caused several injuries and led to a precautionary shutdown.
In the past few years, Houthi activity has roiled maritime trade and energy markets, and they are now advancing in an effort to capture Mokha, a Yemeni port seen as critical to energy trade. The conflict is adding to worries about a broader Middle East spillover and about the economic fallout, with the US war on Iran now roughly seven months old, which has already snarled oil and gas movements across the region. Before the fighting began in late February, about 20% of the world's oil and gas typically moved through the Strait of Hormuz. Both Tehran and Washington are girding for a longer slog, and on Saturday Trump repeated his recent view that a resolution might come after November's midterm elections.
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Skirmishes near the Bab al Mandeb Strait, combined with damaged refineries in Russia, are amplifying market jitters and feeding a record spike in US diesel, which has, for the first time ever, climbed past $6 per gallon. Diesel powers farm equipment, freight networks, and construction sites around the world, so rising costs can ripple quickly into prices for food, goods delivery, and building projects. Trump, while noting the Houthis' request that Washington stay out, played down the impact on maritime traffic, saying, "They're letting most ships go through." He added, "It's just one country that they're not too happy with, and we'll get that straightened out."
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