President Donald Trump approved Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's request for U.S. backing before a military strike targeting Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi movement, according to two U.S. officials cited by Axios.
The Saudi strike on Sanaa International Airport on Monday prompted a Houthi missile barrage targeting Saudi Arabia, marking the most significant cross-border escalation since 2022 and raising concerns that the four-year unofficial truce between Riyadh and the Houthis could collapse.
According to Axios, Saudi officials warned Washington last week they were considering military action.
Saudi Ambassador Princess Reema bint Bandar met with Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Thursday.
Rubio then spoke with Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan on Friday, and Trump later spoke directly with MBS, who sought and received the president's support for the operation.
The latest tensions stem from an Iranian Mahan Air flight that attempted to land in Houthi-controlled Sanaa after transporting senior Houthi officials home from Tehran, where they had attended the funeral of former Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
Saudi Arabia has long opposed direct flights between Iran and Sanaa, arguing they could be used to transfer weapons or military advisers.
The Houthis blamed Saudi Arabia for the airport strike, although Yemen's internationally recognized government claimed responsibility, saying it acted to prevent the Iranian aircraft from landing.
Houthi political bureau member Mohammed al-Bukhaiti warned of retaliation, telling Al Jazeera that Saudi Arabia's actions "give Yemen the right to strike their airports and to impose on them a siege just as they have done to us."
Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree declared that the attack had ended Yemen's "de-escalation phase," while the group pledged further action and vowed to maintain flights between Tehran and Sanaa.
Al-Bukhaiti also suggested the Houthis could target international shipping if the conflict widens, calling the Bab al-Mandeb Strait "a strategic asset that Yemen has the luxury of utilising."
He said the group would use the waterway against countries involved in hostilities while sparing nations not participating in the conflict.
Any renewed fighting between Saudi Arabia and the Houthis could deepen regional instability, broaden tensions between the United States and Iran, and threaten maritime traffic through both the Bab al-Mandeb Strait and the Strait of Hormuz, two of the world's most important shipping chokepoints.
"We will use this card against nations that are actively transgressing on us. We will use Bab al-Mandeb in a way that will bring no harm to nations that are not involved in hostilities toward Yemen," Al-Bukhaiti added.