Image of claimed strike on oil tanker in Red Sea released by Houthi press agency on July 15, 2024
Fox & Friends host Brian Kilmeade has repeatedly advocated for attacking the Houthis in Yemen in what would amount to a significant expansion of the simmering Iran war.
The Houthi movement, known officially as Ansar Allah, has been in a protracted war with Saudi Arabia since 2015. The two parties established a fragile ceasefire in 2022, which the Saudis broke in July of this year when they bombed the airport in Sanaa, Yemen, to prevent an Iranian plane from landing. Both the Biden and Trump administrations waged unsuccessful bombing campaigns against the Houthis for blockading the Red Sea in protest of Israel’s genocide in Gaza.
Recently, the Houthis captured the key port city of Mokha and Perim Island, a crucial staging ground giving them near total control over the Bab al-Mandab Strait. Roughly 12% of global shipping travels through the strait, and although the Houthis have said they are only blockading Saudi ships, the effect on worldwide energy markets has been significant. Additionally, Saudi officials blamed an Iranian-backed militia in Iraq for an attack that destroyed parts of their East-West pipeline, and accused Houthi militants of aiding in the strike. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman reportedly asked President Donald Trump to bomb the Houthis in retaliation, but Trump denied him.
Kilmeade, one of Fox News’ loudest supporters of the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran, has responded to these developments by urging the Trump administration to come to Saudi Arabia’s defense.
“Let's talk about the Houthi rebels,” Kilmeade said on September 14. “They contacted the president and say look, my problem is not with you guys — don't bomb us. My problem is with the Saudis and the Yemeni government.”
“Well, that’s too bad, it is our problem — you are shutting down that other strait on the Red Sea, stopping oil from flowing while blowing up the Saudi pipeline which was redirecting oil out of the strait,” Kilmeade continued. “So it is our problem.”
The next day, Kilmeade was more explicit in calling for aid to the Saudis following a report on the Houthis’ “rapid gains” in Yemen. “I don't know why we just don't back the Saudis,” he said. “They are our ally.”
On September 16, Kilmeade again advocated for escalation. “Does it seem like we're leaving the Saudis out to dry?” Kilmeade asked.
“Why wouldn't we help an ally like Saudi Arabia being that they are bombing — they’re shutting off a strait that’s affecting our oil prices and they’re bombing a pipeline that’s affecting our oil prices?” he added.
On September 17, Kilmeade criticized opening diplomatic talks with the Houthis.
“U.S. officials met with Houthi representatives in Oman over the weekend and they’re reaching out to us trying to say hey, my problem is not with you,” he said. “But our problem is with them, because they've basically shut down the Bab al-Mandab Strait, which has 12 percent of the world's oil, which is rocketing up our price of oil. Are we really buying this line that they're not causing us a problem?”
The Trump administration’s bombing campaign against the Houthis in 2025 — most memorable to U.S. audiences for Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s “Signalgate” scandal — failed to meaningfully diminish the Houthis’ military capacity.
But when the Trump administration and the Houthis agreed to a ceasefire in May of that year, several voices at Fox News celebrated their supposed demise nonetheless.
Fox News host Sean Hannity said of the Houthis, “They seem to have now just given up and given in.”
Fox contributor Hugh Hewitt claimed: “The Houthis have thrown in the towel after President Trump turned up the heat.”
Fox contributor Marc Thiessen, who has reportedly advised Trump on the Iran war, said, “Iran has lost all of its terrorist proxies. Trump has pummeled the Houthis.”
On Jesse Watters Primetime, former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said at the time that Trump had “taken the Houthis out.”
As the journalist Spencer Ackerman recently chronicled, Ansar Allah has withstood a decade of war, and any simplistic calls to defeat them with a bombing campaign are likely futile on their own terms.
Even some people at Fox News acknowledge that fact. On September 15, Fox News anchor Martha MacCallum noted “the resilience of the Houthis, who have been in this battle for a long time, and we have tried to sort of intervene over different administrations — but they still seem to have gas in the tank, to put it one way.”
Whether MacCallum realized it or not, having gas in the tank separates Ansar Allah from a growing number of people in the United States. Kilmeade, as a host of the president’s favorite morning show, seems determined to expand the war that has already cost so much.
Reprinted with permission from Media Matters
- Trump 'Credits' Hegseth For Iran War -- And Sets Him Up As Scapegoat ›
- Speaker Johnson Moves To Obstruct Probe Of Hegseth Signal Chats ›
- Why Signalgate -- And Putting Troops At Risk -- Won't Bother Trump ›
- As Houthi Attacks Persist, Hegseth's Main 'Signalgate' Defense Fails ›
- White House Reportedly Aiming To Replace Embattled Defense Chief ›
- Trump says Houthis asked US not to intervene in Yemen | Middle East Eye ›
- US opts not to back Saudi Arabia in Yemen after meeting Houthi leaders | Yemen | The Guardian ›
- Trump rushes back to White House amid looming US military operation against Houthis ›
- ‘They called us’: Has Trump abandoned Bab al-Mandeb to the Houthis? | Houthis | Al Jazeera ›
- Trump leaves Saudis in the lurch with hands-off response to Houthi advances ›
Start your day with National Memo Newsletter
Know first.
The opinions that matter. Delivered to your inbox every morning
