IRAN Just SPRANG A TRAP in the Red Sea Opening NEW FRONT Against the U.S.

Benjamin Hilton (0:00)

Iran just opened up another front in the fight against the United States, activating their one remaining effective proxy, basically for the first time in the course of this current war. And as we'll see in a moment, they've actually played this pretty smart, setting up a trap for the United States and for allies in the region.

In the early morning hours of last Thursday, gunfire and explosions shattered the silence in the city of Mocha in Yemen. It wasn't long before vehicles carrying dozens of Houthi terrorists were streaming into the city, taking control of one neighborhood after another. The city, already weakened by days of unprecedented missile and artillery attacks, fell almost without a fight. This attack was the beginning of a massive offensive launched by the Houthis to further expand their control of territory in Yemen. But as we'll see in a moment, this wasn't just about territory. This attack was launched at the explicit command and with the support of the IRGC.

And the main target of the attack wasn't strictly territory in Yemen.

Yes, large swaths of territory were in fact captured by the Houthis in Yemen, but something else happened as well.

A large scale attack was launched on strategic military bases in Saudi Arabia, and two islands in the middle of the Red Sea shipping route were captured as well. Publicly, the Houthis claim the attack is in response to Saudi airstrikes against the Houthis that have been happening over the course of last week, but when you dig a little deeper, it seems there is something more strategic happening as well.

The Strait of Hormuz is still a tough place to ship oil through. Even though the US has been conducting extensive operations to clear up the Strait, opening the route for oil shipments, many ships are still hesitant to make the trip. This means that Saudi Arabia has had to rely more heavily on the Red Sea shipping route to transport their oil exports. The route has still been dangerous due to the threat of the Houthis firing missiles at transport ships, but for the most part, Saudi air defenses are able to provide some level of protection for incoming threats. That is until now. As you can see in these maps here, by capturing these two islands in the middle of the Strait, the Houthis have effectively made any type of Saudi transport significantly more dangerous. Now, instead of a few minutes warning when a missile is launched from Houthi controlled Yemen toward a ship, it's possible there may now only be a few seconds if the missiles are launched from these islands. This is obviously a carefully coordinated effort by Iran. The Houthis are one of Iran's last surviving proxies that so far have been held in restraint by Iran over the course of this current war, but now that is changing. Just over the last little bit, we've seen a strategic military advisors from the IRGC flying into Yemen to work with the Houthis, and it's hard to say what kind of weapon support and tactical information they might now be receiving. And if Iran were to play a remaining card now against the United States, this really is the card to play.

Oil is one of the few sore spots remaining for the United States, because with every gas hike at the pump, public demand and the war against Iran grows. So the strategy is simple. Iran sends resources to the Houthis for them to mount the offensive against Saudi Arabia, capturing strategic locations in the Red Sea shipping lane. Now either the Saudis must act to defend themselves and their interests, or the US will have to step in and do it for them. Either way, attention and resources get drawn away from the Iranian front, and either way, the price of oil probably rises in the global markets. And so far, for whatever reason, the Saudis seem either unwilling or unable to defend their interests. The attack launched by the Houthis on the Saudi airbase supposedly caused an extensive amount of damage. Dozens of ballistic missiles and drones landed at strategic locations on the base, destroying aircraft hangars, radars, runways, and ammunition depots. Although, that information is according to reports by the Houthis themselves, so it's hard to say if that's accurate or not. But so far, the Saudis have not denied the report. And this attack is on the heels of the damage inflicted by the Houthis last week, where they also launched missiles and drones at Saudi energy infrastructure, wounding over 70 people and causing fires at oil facilities. And in response to the attack on the airbase and the capturing of these islands in the shipping lane, so far, the Saudi military has hesitated to launch a response. Instead, the Crown Prince, Muhammad bin Salman, called President Trump twice last week, urging the United States to launch airstrikes against the Houthis to destroy their dominance over the shipping lane. We'll get into Trump's response, along with what this means for the Iran war in a second. But first, guys, Christianity is in trouble right now in several ways. Our faith gets attacked and watered down every day, and a lot of young people are walking away from the faith they grew up with. That's exactly why we wrote a book called Facing Jerusalem. It comes out of years we've spent living and working in Israel. It has 4.8 out of 5-star ratings from readers, and it's short, just 122 pages, so you can get through it in a weekend. Like everything in our store, every dollar goes straight to helping our volunteer work on the ground in Israel. Grab your copy. The link is in the description below.