Saudi crown prince approached Trump for US military help with Houthis — sources

ISTANBUL/WASHINGTON - Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman sought assistance from President Donald Trump on Thursday to help fight Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis, two sources familiar with the matter said on Friday, as the Houthis stepped up their threat to the Red Sea.

Trump held at least two phone conversations with the Saudi leader on Thursday, sources said. In the end, Washington told Riyadh that it was not willing to take direct military action for now but would help with intelligence sharing and targeting, the two sources said.

The White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The Saudi embassy in Washington declined to comment.

Admiral Brad Cooper, commander of U.S. Central Command, traveled to Saudi Arabia on Thursday for talks, one of the sources said.

News of the request to Trump was first reported by Axios.

SAUDI APPEAL MARKS CHANGE OF APPROACH

Houthi control of the Red Sea's Bab el-Mandeb Strait, which is on the opposite side of the Arabian Peninsula from the Strait of Hormuz, could give their backer Iran a critical advantage in its war with the U.S., reducing supplies through a second major transit corridor and sending oil prices surging.

Saudi Arabia, the world's largest oil exporter, has relied on the Red Sea route since the Iran conflict effectively closed Hormuz, through which a fifth of global oil used to flow.

The escalation dates back to early July, when the Houthis ⁠said ​their forces confronted Saudi "warplanes" that were attempting ​to prevent an Iranian civilian aircraft from landing at Sanaa International Airport.

But back then, Saudi Arabia told the United States that it could fight the Houthis on its own and emphasized to Washington that the war should not escalate. Saudi officials urged their U.S. counterparts to increase economic pressure on Iran.

The U.S. and Israel attacked Iran on February ​28 and Iran responded with its own strikes on ​Israel and ⁠Gulf states that host U.S. bases. U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran and Israeli attacks on Lebanon have killed thousands and displaced millions.

Trump's war with Iran has recently entered its seventh month with no immediate end in sight. The war has driven up prices of global oil and U.S. gasoline, sending the president's approval ratings to a record low ahead of the November midterm elections.

-Reporting by Samia Nakhoul in Istanbul and Humeyra Pamuk in Washington, additional reporting by Bipasha Dey in Bengaluru; editing by Philippa Fletcher/Reuters