The Red Sea trap: How Saudi Arabia’s pipeline gamble became a Houthi hostage crisis

The Red Sea trap: How Saudi Arabia’s pipeline gamble became a Houthi hostage crisis

Lance D Johnson

The world is watching the Middle East spiral into a multi-front conflict, but the real story is not being told in Washington’s press briefings. The Houthi declaration of a naval blockade against Saudi Arabia,following strikes on Sana’a Airport, is not an act of random aggression but rather, a calculated execution of a strategy that Iran and its proxies have been building for years.

The United States, having formed a 10-nation coalition to protect Red Sea trade, is now confronting a reality it helped create: a network of choke points, from the Bab el-Mandeb Strait to the Strait of Hormuz, that can be squeezed at will.

Key points:

• Houthis have declared a naval blockade of Saudi Arabia following airstrikes on Sana’a Airport.
• The Strait of Hormuz is effectively closed due to the US-Iran war, cutting oil flows by at least 10 million barrels per day.
• Saudi Arabia’s backup pipeline to the Red Sea port of Yanbu is now vulnerable to Houthi attacks in the Bab el-Mandeb.
• Global oil supplies face unprecedented strain as alternative shipping routes cannot replace lost capacity.
• The US-led Red Sea coalition risks direct confrontation with Houthi forces, potentially expanding the war.

The chokepoint war nobody anticipated

The Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree, in a video posted on X, condemned what he called an “unjust and oppressive siege” of the country. He declared a maritime embargo against Saudi Arabia,effective immediately, based on the equation of “an eye for an eye.” The spokesman warned that “any foolish act” by Saudi Arabia “will be met with a comprehensive and decisive escalation.” This is not empty rhetoric. The Houthis have demonstrated their ability to strike ships in the Red Sea with precision, forcing major shipping companies to take the longer route around Africa. The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations reported that four small boats carrying four to five people each approached a vessel off the coast of Djibouti with suspicious maneuvers, though no weapons were seen. The pattern is clear: the Houthis are probing, testing, and preparing.

The Strait of Hormuz, the world’s most critical oil chokepoint, is already effectively closed. Before the conflict, about 20 million barrels of oil passed through this waterway daily. Now, that number has plummeted to extremely low levels. Major oil producers like Saudi Arabia, Iraq, and Kuwait have been forced to cut their daily crude output by at least 10 million barrels because they cannot ship it out. The US launched strikes against Iran for a tenth consecutive night on Tuesday, with both sides signaling that the truce was effectively over. This is not a temporary disruption. It is a fundamental reshaping of global energy logistics.

Saudi Arabia has a backup plan, a 1,200-kilometer pipeline that moves oil across the country to the Red Sea port of Yanbu. The port is now exporting a record 4 million barrels of oil per day, up from 1.4 million before the crisis. This is the kingdom’s lifeline, its only remaining route to the global market. But the oil tankers leaving Yanbu must pass through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, which the Houthis have now threatened to blockade. The Red Sea coast is central to Saudi Arabia’s non-oil growth, including luxury tourism and manufacturing. Overcapacity in regional ports and weak investor interest are worsening the situation. The ambitious plans of Saudi Arabia to transform its economy and reduce dependency on oil revenues have encountered significant obstacles in the form of Houthi attacks on the Red Sea.

A US aircraft carrier strike group is already deployed in the Red Sea. A Houthi attempt to fully block the strait would risk a direct confrontation with US forces, which analysts suggest is a key reason they have not yet done so. But the Houthis have made their position clear. Albu Qaidi, a spokesperson for the Houthis, told Al Jazeera that they would challenge any US-led coalition in the Red Sea, pointing out that Yemen’s military establishment is present in areas under Houthi control and warning that they will continue to target ships passing through the Bab al-Mandeb Strait and the Red Sea. Their actions, they claim, are aimed at protecting people in Gaza. The top Houthi official Mohammed Abdul Salam, also a senior negotiator, said the Houthis’ attacks are not an act of defiance but a response to any new coalition’s potential aggression. This could lead to a broader conflict in the region.

The situation is creating an unprecedented strain on global oil supplies. While the Red Sea route offers a limited alternative for Saudi Arabia, other major Gulf producers like Iraq, Kuwait, and Qatar lack the pipelines to redirect their exports. The total amount of oil that can be shipped via alternative routes is estimated to be less than a third, or even a quarter, of what used to pass through the Strait of Hormuz. The world is waking up to a new reality: the energy supply chain, once thought invulnerable, is now held hostage by a network of regional conflicts that Washington cannot control and will not admit it created. The question is not whether the Houthis will tighten the noose, but whether the United States is willing to fight on another front to keep the oil flowing.

Will Iran’s Plan Of Tanking The Global Economy Cause The US To Pull Back?

Will Iran’s Plan Of Tanking The Global Economy Cause The US To Pull Back?

Erick Stakelbeck

Iran says it is now engaged in a “full-scale war” with the United States. Iranian President Mahmoud Pezeshkian, who is supposedly one of the more “moderate” figures among Iran’s fanatical jihadist leadership, made the remarks earlier today, and judging by events that unfolded over the weekend, the regime clearly wants to escalate.

In response to heavy United States airstrikes, Iran continued to bombard its Arab-Muslim neighbors like Kuwait, Bahrain, and Jordan with missiles and drones. You may ask. “Why would they attack their fellow Muslims?” It doesn’t make sense on paper, but there are a number of factors to consider.

First off, Iran wants to destroy the economies of these countries, which have friendly relations with America. In the process, they would tank the global economy and drive up oil and gas prices, which they believe would then force the US to stand down.

But there’s another factor where things really escalate. The U.S. has bases in several of these countries, making them ideal targets for the regime.

Over the weekend, we learned that two US soldiers were killed in an Iranian attack on Jordan, another was killed in Iraq, and several more were wounded.

By now, it should be very clear to all involved that Iranian leaders have no intention of agreeing to any sort of credible deal with the United States. For Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), it is all jihad all the time. This is who they are, and this is what they do.

First, Iran broke the ceasefire with repeated attacks on shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, and now they are back to killing U.S. troops. Folks, it is long past time to finish the job in Iran, and it appears that President Trump is now leaning in that direction. More U.S. military assets are heading to the region, and over the past nine days, the president has ordered massive airstrikes throughout Iran.

According to U.S. Central Command, “CENTCOM assets targeted Iranian military command centers, air defense and coastal surveillance sites, maritime capabilities, missile and drone launch sites, and communications networks to further diminish Iran’s ability to attack commercial vessels and civilian mariners transiting the Strait of Hormuz.”

Two big questions going forward are whether the US will start targeting what’s left of Iran’s leadership and whether Israel will rejoin the fight alongside the United States. We know that Europe and NATO have no stomach for the fight, and most of the Arab nations are also MIA despite being bombarded by Iran on a nearly daily basis.

Why are nations so reluctant when right now is a golden opportunity to cast the world’s number one state sponsor of terrorism into the ash heap of history, once and for all?

Secretary of State Marco Rubio, when asked what comes next for Iran, responded: “I don’t think it’ll be good for Iran. Iran’s economy is in shambles. They’re at 300 percent inflation, particularly on life-sustaining goods. They have dwindling revenues to meet even their own payroll. They have food shortages. They have a drought, which we didn’t cause. But they have a gasoline shortage and a fuel shortage. All these problems existed before all of this began. They’ve just gotten worse. They will continue to get worse.”

Rubio continued: “Iran is a rich country. One of the reasons why Iran is in shambles is because every penny that this regime there gets, be it through sanctions relief or through the oil they’re able to get out, they invested in [terror]. 

They spent billions of dollars supporting militias in Iraq, Hezbollah, and Hamas. They should be spending billions of dollars supporting the people of Iran. They should be spending billions of dollars building their country. But instead, they use it to sponsor terrorism. 

I think there’s a growing awareness of that inside of Iran. And I think there’s even a growing awareness of that among some of the people in their government… There’s a tension there. We’ll see how that plays out. I can’t tell you how it’s going to play out. It’s up to them.”

It has always been up to them, but for 47 years, they have chosen terror, mayhem, and war. They are driven by an apocalyptic Islamic End Times ideology. The president realizes this and is planning accordingly.

Secretary Rubio, questioned about whether he sees a “diplomatic off-ramp” with Iran, replied: “It has to be real. It has to be a deal that they’re willing to live by. Iran, a week ago, was supposed to put out a statement saying that the Straits of Hormuz would be open, that they would no longer attack shipping, and instead of doing that, they attacked three ships. I think that was last Friday or Saturday. So, I mean, their behavior has to change in order for ours to change.”

Iran’s strategy now clearly is to broaden the war and make the entire region and the world economy feel the pain. Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels just announced that they are enforcing a blockade on all naval traffic from Saudi Arabia passing through the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait—another crucial waterway where some 10 to 12 percent of the world’s trade flows through every day.

Create chaos and force America back to the negotiating table as it calculates the cost of continuing military action, especially with midterm elections right around the corner. That is Iran’s plan. But will it work?

Let’s pray for President Trump, for the administration, and Prime Minister Netanyahu. Big decisions lie ahead for two individuals, whom I have called a pair of modern-day Winston Churchills, in a sea of Chamberlains across the West. Pray that God would give them wisdom.

US CENTCOM begins 11th consecutive night of strikes on Iran

US CENTCOM begins 11th consecutive night of strikes on Iran

REUTERS, JONAH DAVIDOV

The US military said late on Tuesday it began its latest strikes on Iran, marking the 11th consecutive night of American attacks.

"The strikes are designed to continue degrading Iran's ability to threaten commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz," the US Central Command said in a statement on X/Twitter.

Loud explosions were heard in parts of Iran's Bushehr County, according to the IRGC-affiliated Tasnim News Agency.

Bushehr is home to the Bushehr Power Plant, Iran's first and only commercial nuclear reactor. The region also houses a naval base that is critical for the functioning of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy (IRGCN).

Regime-affiliated Fars News Agency cited East Azerbaijan officials saying that a military site was struck near Tabriz in a US air attack.

Iranian state TV also said that air defenses were activated throughout the capital of Tehran.

When Every Streetlight Becomes A Surveillance Tower

When Every Streetlight Becomes A Surveillance Tower

PNW STAFF

For years, Americans were told that the greatest privacy battles would happen online. The debate centered around social media, smartphones, and internet tracking. Few imagined that one of the most controversial surveillance technologies would instead appear quietly on neighborhood streets, mounted atop poles at busy intersections and neighborhood entrances.

Today, those poles have become a flashpoint in a much larger debate over technology, artificial intelligence, and the future relationship between citizens and government.

The growing controversy surrounding Flock Safety cameras illustrates that Americans are becoming increasingly uneasy with the rapid expansion of surveillance technologies. The company's recent decision to cancel its experimental "human distress detection" audio feature following overwhelming public backlash demonstrates something important: there are still limits to what many citizens are willing to accept in the name of public safety.

That debate is only beginning.

Today's Cameras. Tomorrow's AI Observers.

Most people understand surveillance cameras as devices that simply record video.

Modern AI systems are becoming something entirely different.

License plate readers can already document where vehicles travel, how frequently they visit particular locations, and reconstruct travel histories. Artificial intelligence increasingly allows computers to identify unusual movement, recognize patterns, search enormous databases in seconds, and correlate information gathered from multiple sources.

Today's system may identify a license plate.

Tomorrow's could identify every vehicle regularly parked outside a church, every attendee at a political rally, or every person who visits particular organizations on a recurring basis.

The technology itself is largely neutral.

How it is used is not.

History repeatedly demonstrates that powers created for one purpose often expand well beyond their original justification.

Governments rarely surrender surveillance capabilities once they exist.

The Expansion Problem

One of the greatest concerns surrounding technologies like Flock is not necessarily what they do today.

It is what they could do after the next software update.

Facial recognition can be integrated.

Behavior prediction can be added.

Real-time AI tracking can be expanded.

Private camera networks can be linked together.

Government databases can be cross-referenced.

Insurance companies, financial institutions, advertisers, and countless third parties could someday seek access to similar information if legal barriers weaken.

Every technological capability tends to invite new uses.

What begins as finding stolen vehicles can gradually evolve into tracking outstanding warrants.

Then identifying protest participants.

Then monitoring political gatherings.

Then locating individuals who have committed no crime whatsoever but simply fit a government watch list.

The history of surveillance is filled with examples where "temporary" powers quietly became permanent.

Public Patience Is Wearing Thin

The remarkable aspect of the Flock controversy is not simply that citizens objected.

It is the intensity of the resistance.

Across America, reports of cameras being vandalized, spray-painted, disabled, or cut down have become increasingly common. Online communities dedicated to opposing surveillance networks continue to grow, treating those who disable the devices as symbols of resistance rather than criminals.

Whether one agrees with vandalism or not, the public reaction reveals something deeper.

Americans are growing suspicious of technologies that appear to be imposed without meaningful public debate.

The same frustration has emerged elsewhere.

Artificial intelligence data centers have sparked fierce opposition from local communities concerned about enormous electricity demands, water consumption, environmental impacts, property values, and the rapid industrialization of rural landscapes. In some areas, opposition has escalated beyond town hall meetings into lawsuits, organized protests, sabotage allegations, and increasingly hostile rhetoric directed at technology companies.

These controversies are connected by a common thread.

Many people feel that technological change is accelerating faster than democratic oversight.

More...

Terry James: Trump-Turkey Ties Troubling

Trump-Turkey Ties Troubling

Terry James

President Trump appears to have just made a seriously flawed decision in cozying up to one of the central nation-entities whose evil will bring God’s wrath from Heaven in a burst of godly anger. I refer to the nation Turkey, the nation that will join in the Gog-Magog attack assault on God’s chosen nation Israel.

That attacking entity is, of course, referred to as Togarmah in Ezekiel’s prophecy found in chapters 38 and 39 of the book by the prophet’s name.

Togarmah is the ancient name of that region of the Middle East where modern-day Turkey is located. Turkey’s resentment against Israel is demonstrably growing in these days so near the end of this dispensation, the Age of Grace (Church Age).

Most prophecy watchers who observe these times from the pre-Trib, premillennial perspective believe the Gog-Magog attack that will involve Turkey as a central participant will begin just after the Rapture occurs, or a little later. All indicators that this is the wind-up of this age now seem in view. It is the time, we believe, very near the moment that will instantly begin moving the world into the Tribulation era (Daniel’s seventieth week).

This being the case, with Israel at the center of growing animosity by much of the international community, this action by Mr. Trump is one to watch carefully.

I believe this unusual man was placed in the world’s most powerful geopolitical position by our Lord. God has preserved Mr. Trump, as we have seen in the assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania, and by weathering every media assault that the prince of the power of the air could throw at him. So we can be assured that Trump reaching out to warmly embrace Turkey’s dictator, a man vociferously against Israel, hasn’t taken our God by surprise.

However, the fact that the president has done so is troubling. It is troubling because of our ignorance—we who watch—of how God will use the situation to bring about the plans for humanity He knew as far back into eternity past as is imaginable.

So the troubled cogitation is tempered by the knowledge that all will go very well for those who are in God’s family through the Lord Jesus Christ. However, for those outside God’s family, Bible prophecy paints a dire future indeed. God’s wrath will destroy all but one-sixth of those nations and peoples who come south toward Israel in the Gog-Magog attack.

A report of Trump’s strange action follows.

ANKARA, July 7 (Reuters) – President Donald Trump announced on Tuesday he would lift U.S. sanctions imposed on Turkey over its purchase of Russian defense missiles, and signaled a willingness to sell the NATO ally F-35 fighter jets, a move likely to face strong resistance in Congress.

In the first visit ‌to Turkey by a U.S. president in 11 years, Trump was welcomed by President Tayyip Erdogan at the airport with a lavish state ceremony during which Turkish soldiers riding horses ‌escorted Trump’s motorcade to the presidential palace.

Both leaders sang each other’s praises in their public remarks. Under Trump, Turkey’s deteriorating human rights track record has never been a topic of much concern for Washington.

Speaking to reporters at the Turkish presidential palace, Trump ​repeatedly praised Erdogan, saying he had “chemistry” with him and that the relationship with Ankara had never been better…

Trump also indicated his possible support for letting Turkey buy F-35 stealth fighter jets even as he did not say how exactly such a transaction would take place given objections from the U.S. Congress. “Trump says US will lift sanctions on Turkey, heaps praise on Erdogan,” By Humeyra Pamuk, Gram Slattery and Huseyin Hayatsever, Yahoo News, July 7, 2026)

The Ezekiel states (see Ezekiel chapters 38 and 39) that Togarmah (Turkey), along with Rosh (Russia) and Persia (Iran) and many other peoples with them, will be led by Gog (apparently the leader of Rosh-Russia) to come “like a cloud to cover the land”:

Thou shalt ascend and come like a storm, thou shalt be like a cloud to cover the land, thou, and all thy bands, and many people with thee. (Ezekiel 38:9)

One can’t help but wonder if that “cloud” will be full of American F-35 Stealth fighter jets, loaded with destructive power intended for the inhabitants of Israel.

That assault, thankfully, will be preempted by God Himself, and the attackers will be met with supernatural obliteration.

Therefore, thou son of man, prophesy against Gog, and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal: And I will turn thee back, and leave but the sixth part of thee, and will cause thee to come up from the north parts, and will bring thee upon the mountains of Israel: And I will smite thy bow out of thy left hand, and will cause thine arrows to fall out of thy right hand. Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel, thou, and all thy bands, and the people that is with thee: I will give thee unto the ravenous birds of every sort, and to the beasts of the field to be devoured. Thou shalt fall upon the open field: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD. (Ezekiel 39:1–5) 

The three primary peoples mentioned in Ezekiel’s Gog-Magog prophecy have in very recent years become a coalition-like group of nations. These are just north of God’s chosen nation. Russia, Iran, and Turkey comprise that forming coalition.

Now our president is, as I termed it, cozying up to Turkey. It’s a puzzle, but not to our Lord, who knows all there is to know from eternity past to eternity future.

Make sure you are on God’s side, Mr. President. And that goes for me and the rest of us, too!

Here is how to assure that you’re on God’s side:

“Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved.” (Acts 16:3)