Houthi Attacks Expose Iran’s Desperation

Tehran saw its leverage slipping away — and expanded the battlefield to attack the United States and its allies from a different angle.

That’s the takeaway from this week’s fighting in Yemen, as Iran-aligned Houthi terrorists took aim at Saudi Arabia’s critical oil infrastructure and shipping routes.

When the US military proved it could escort tankers through the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway that leads to the Indian Ocean, the regime was in a bind.

It lost its ability to choke off the exports of its Gulf neighbors, while remaining unable to export its own oil due to the ongoing US blockade.

Without revenue from its oil sales, an Iranian financial crisis is imminent — so the regime, through its terror proxies, seeks to open a new front in the energy war.

For the last several months Riyadh has relied on its East-West pipeline to export over 4 million barrels a day — roughly 4% of global oil supply — via northern and southern routes out of the Red Sea.

But last week Iraqi militias — likely operating with Houthi coordination, under the guidance of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps advisers — attacked the pipeline itself, choking off that export option.