Trump Says US May Join Saudi Strikes Against Houthis After New Riyadh Airport Attack

President Donald Trump said on Saturday that the United States is considering joining Saudi Arabia’s military campaign against Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels, raising the prospect of direct American combat involvement as the conflict in the region enters its most dangerous phase yet.

"We may. We’re going to look at it," Trump told reporters when asked whether the United States could take part in Saudi strikes, according to the Associated Press. "We just found out about the recent attack. So we’ll make a decision. We move very quickly."

The remarks followed a missile strike on Saturday on King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, the Saudi capital’s main international gateway. A missile struck the complex housing terminals 3 and 4, which serve domestic flights, according to two regional officials who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity. The terminal was evacuated, operations were suspended, and many people were wounded, the officials said. Saudi Arabia’s civil aviation authority confirmed that there were several injuries and said the airport would remain closed while damage was assessed, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The scene at the airport underscored the severity of the attack. Saudi officials told the Journal that ambulances and helicopters rushed to the scene to carry the wounded to King Fahad Hospital in Riyadh. People near the airport reported hearing multiple loud explosions and seeing smoke rising from the area. Flight-tracking service Flightradar24 showed arrivals cancelled or delayed across the board on Saturday afternoon; one passenger bound for Riyadh said his flight was diverted to Dammam instead. Canada, Germany and Ireland issued warnings to their citizens, with Canada saying military activity had disrupted flights and Ireland’s embassy describing a "serious incident."

The Saturday attack was the third on Saudi airports in less than a week. On Thursday, a strike on the same airport killed three Saudi citizens, including a pilot for the national carrier Saudia, and destroyed a passenger jet on the ground, according to reporting by Reuters, CNN, the AP and The Times. The Houthis claimed responsibility for those earlier attacks but had issued no immediate claim for Saturday’s strike.

Trump’s comments mark a significant shift in tone from Washington’s posture just weeks ago. In September, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman personally asked Trump for direct American military assistance against the Houthis, Reuters reported. Washington declined, offering instead intelligence sharing and targeting support for the Saudi campaign. The Trump administration has provided that intelligence and targeting assistance but has not committed American forces to offensive operations against the Houthis, according to the Associated Press.

The September request came as the Houthis made their largest territorial gains in years along Yemen’s Red Sea coast, reaching Mayun Island — also known as Perim — in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, a chokepoint for global shipping. Around the same time, Saudi Arabia shut its East-West oil pipeline after drone attacks that Riyadh and Baghdad said originated in Iraq.

What makes Trump’s Saturday remarks particularly notable is that he has already been to the brink once. The New York Times reported that Trump came close to ordering a new American bombing campaign against the Houthis roughly two weeks ago, after repeated Saudi appeals. According to that report, Trump told advisers on a Wednesday that he did not favour strikes, reversed course after speaking with bin Salman on Thursday, and instructed the Pentagon to prepare airstrikes — only to change his mind again by midday Sunday. The planned operation had reached an advanced stage, with military commanders approving target lists and munitions being loaded onto aircraft, the Times reported. Reuters separately confirmed that Washington had considered strikes after renewed Saudi appeals but that Trump ultimately called them off. The White House declined to discuss Trump’s deliberations on the record; a senior administration official told the Times only that the United States has a defence agreement with Saudi Arabia and "will always defend our allies."

The wider context is a regional war that has been escalating since a US-Israeli attack on Iran on February 28, 2026. The Houthis, who are backed by Iran, have expanded their operations from shipping attacks in the Red Sea and Bab el-Mandeb Strait to direct missile strikes on Saudi airports and airspace, declaring this week that Saudi airspace is now part of the battlefield. Saudi Arabia, which ended a seven-year war with the Houthis in 2022, re-entered the conflict over the summer backing a Yemeni government counteroffensive. The Saudi-led coalition launched a major offensive last weekend; the Houthi leader has warned of a "long conflict."

The stakes extend well beyond Yemen. The Houthis’ control of the Bab el-Mandeb Strait has threatened the main alternative route Saudi Arabia uses for oil exports that bypass the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran has partly blocked. Satellite data shows Saudi Arabia responding by pushing more oil through Hormuz — exports there reaching 2.9 million barrels a day in recent days, up from 700,000 in August — while Saudi loadings at its Red Sea port of Yanbu have halted, according to Reuters. Crude prices approached $110 a barrel last week before retreating closer to $100. In the United States, the retail price of diesel — politically sensitive for Trump with the midterm elections less than four weeks away on November 3 — hit another all-time high above $6.51 a gallon, according to Reuters.

Analysis: Why It Matters

Three elements of Saturday’s moment deserve a closer look, because each points to a different pressure bearing down on the president’s decision.

First, the target. The Thursday attack killed three Saudis and destroyed an aircraft; the Saturday attack hit a passenger terminal itself. There is a categorical difference — in the eyes of Riyadh, and now of Washington — between striking an airfield and striking the building where families wait for flights. The Houthis’ declaration that Saudi airspace is now "part of the battlefield" converts what began as a front-line campaign into a contest over civilian infrastructure and the economic lifelines of the kingdom. That escalation is precisely what moved Trump’s language from Thursday’s vague "It’s not good" to Saturday’s concrete "We may."

Second, the deliberation pattern. This is now the second time in a matter of weeks that Trump has publicly weighed American strikes — and the first time ended with a reversal at the last minute, munitions reportedly being loaded as he changed his mind. Adversaries study patterns. A Houthi leadership that watched Trump pull back in September may read Saturday’s "We may" as more brinkmanship, and brinkmanship only deters if the threat is believed. Conversely, the fact that the question keeps returning suggests that the internal pressure — Saudi appeals, the tempo of attacks on a close partner, the energy-price clock ticking toward the midterms — is not dissipating. Each cycle makes the next "yes" or "no" harder, not easier.

Third, the line between enabling and fighting. The September answer — intelligence and targeting support, no American bombs — drew a deliberate line. Crossing it would make the United States a direct combatant in a war that, according to Reuters, is already "deeply unpopular" with the American public after the February attack on Iran. The political arithmetic is unusually stark: diesel prices at record highs, midterms 24 days out, and a president who campaigned on ending wars now being asked to join one. The administration’s caution is visible even in its language — "We’re going to look at it" is not a commitment; it is a decision deferred in public.

There is also the question of what American involvement would actually accomplish. The United States bombed the Houthis for two months in early 2025, and Trump called those strikes off after reaching a ceasefire. The Houthis survived that campaign, survived the Saudi war before it, and have since seized more territory, more coastline and more leverage over global shipping. An air campaign designed to protect Riyadh’s airports would need to degrade a missile and drone arsenal spread across rugged Yemeni highlands — a target set that air power alone has repeatedly failed to eliminate. The 2015-2022 Saudi experience is the cautionary exhibit: years of bombing did not end the Houthi threat; it ended in a negotiated exit.

Finally, the regional framing matters. This is no longer a Yemen war; it is a front in the wider confrontation that began on February 28. Pakistan has already condemned the airport attacks and invoked its defence pact with Saudi Arabia while ruling out offensive troops; Britain has advised against travel to Riyadh; airlines are suspending service. Every additional flag that enters the fight — American, Pakistani, Turkish — raises the question of where the front’s edges are. Trump’s decision will signal to Tehran, Riyadh, Sanaa and the Gulf whether Washington intends to manage this war from a distance or own it.

What to Watch Next

First, whether the Pentagon shows signs of preparation — asset movements, carrier repositioning or refuelling-tanker flows — that would indicate "we’ll make a decision" is becoming a decision. Second, whether the Houthis claim Saturday’s attack or answer Trump’s remarks with a threat against American assets in the region; their silence so far is itself a data point. Third, whether Saudi Arabia makes a formal, public request for American participation, which would give Washington political cover — or whether Riyadh prefers the current arrangement of intelligence support. Fourth, oil markets: any sustained disruption at King Khalid International or further strikes on energy infrastructure will feed straight into crude prices and American fuel costs. Fifth, the domestic debate in Washington: direct US strikes in Yemen would almost certainly trigger a war-powers fight in Congress just weeks before the midterms — a fight the White House has every reason to avoid and every reason, if Riyadh keeps bleeding, it may not be able to.

Sources

• Wall Street Journal — “Saudi Arabia Closes Airport in Riyadh After Damaging New Houthi Attack”
• Associated Press (via The Reflector) — “Missile strikes passenger terminal at Riyadh airport and many are wounded, official says”
• Newsmax — “Trump Weighs US Strikes on Houthis After Saudi Attacks”
• Reuters — “Houthis push for control of Yemen highlands as Trump reported to have called off airstrikes”
• JBizNews (citing the New York Times) — “Trump calls off planned US strikes on Houthis at last minute after Saudi plea”