00:15A plane lands in Sanaa. Nobody's flown that route in over a decade. Days later, missiles are flying, a truce
00:24is dead, and Donald Trump is on the phone giving the okay for what happens next.
00:30This isn't a rumor, it's confirmed, and it could be the spark that turns the Yemen war back on, for
00:36real this time.
00:37For four years, Saudi Arabia and the Yemen's Houthi rebels have lived under an unofficial truce. No official ceasefire agreement,
00:45just an understanding. Both sides mostly held their fire.
00:49Then, an Iranian plane, a Mahan Air aircraft, which U.S. officials say is linked to Iran's Revolutionary Guard, lands
00:58in Houthi-controlled Sanaa. It's picking up a Houthi delegation. Their destination, the funeral of Iran's former supreme leader, Ali
01:06Khamenei.
01:07Saudi Arabia doesn't like this one bit. They'd blocked flights like this for over 10 years, worried they'd be used
01:14to smuggle weapons or Iranian military advisors into Yemen.
01:17Here's where it gets tense. The Houthis claim Saudi Arabia jets tried to stop the plane from landing and failed.
01:25They threatened to hit Saudi airports if it happened again.
01:30As the plane headed back to Yemen, Saudi forces struck Sanaa airport, forcing the plane to divert to Al-Hudaydah
01:37on the Red Sea coast. The Houthis didn't wait long to respond.
01:41They fired ballistic missiles and drones at Aba airport in southwest Saudi Arabia and warned every airline to stay out
01:49of Saudi airspace.
01:50Now, here's the part everyone's talking about. This wasn't Saudi Arabia acting alone. According to Axios, Saudi Arabia told the
01:59U.S. it was worried about the situation days before the strike and asked for support.
02:03The Saudi ambassador in Washington met with Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Then Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, MBS, personally
02:13called Trump to get U.S. backing for military action against the Houthis. Trump gave it.
02:20Why does that matter? Because the fact that MBS looped Trump in beforehand signals the Saudis know this could spiral
02:27into something bigger, something that will need American military and diplomatic muscle behind it.
02:32This isn't happening in a vacuum. The U.S. and Iran are already in a tense standoff. Now you've got
02:39a Saudi-Houthi truce collapsing, Iran's fingerprints all over the trigger event, and Washington openly backing military action in the
02:47middle of it.
02:48Analysts say the real fight isn't just about one flight. It's about Iran and the Houthis trying to break a
02:55decade-long air blockade and establish a direct link between Tehran and Sana'a, which could open the door to
03:01funneling weapons for future strikes on Israel and Saudi Arabia.
03:25Subscribe to One India and never miss an update. Download the One India app now.
03:35We'll see you next time.
Comments