Iran’s Houthi allies’ deadly attacks on Saudi Arabia create “a difficult dilemma for President Trump”

Updated on: October 13, 2026 / 12:39 PM EDT / CBS News

London — Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi rebels have dramatically upped the stakes in the complex Middle East war, killing at least 20 people — including an American — and wounding hundreds more with strikes on Saudi Arabia's airports over the last week.

The question is whether President Trump will order U.S. military action in support of Saudi Arabia, which has been at war with the rebels in Yemen for more than a decade.

Mr. Trump campaigned on ending wars, and he is likely aware, less than a month before the U.S. midterm elections, that opening a new U.S. front in the wider conflict sparked by the Feb. 28 joint U.S.-Israeli attack on Iran could be politically perilous.

If he did, he could argue that it is both to protect the Saudis, as a key U.S. ally, and to stop the Iranian proxy group from threatening global shipping in the vital trade routes of the Red Sea.

Mr. Trump rejected a request last month by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to join in the kingdom's strikes on the Houthis, two sources familiar with the matter told CBS News. He…

Original source: https://www.cbsnews.com/world/