State Department Restricts US Officials' Use of Saudi Airports as the Houthis Threaten Aramco and US Interests

On 13 October the State Department began requiring US government employees to get special authorisation before using any airport in Saudi Arabia. Saudi authorities suspended operations at King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh through 17 October, after a Houthi strike there on 10 October killed at least 13 people, including a US citizen.

The President still hasn’t said whether the US will join Saudi strikes on the Houthis in Yemen. “The Houthis are behaving very badly,” he posted on 13 October, adding that he had spoken to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. He said he “might” ask Turkey’s President Erdoğan, “a great friend,” to help.

The escalation

The Houthis have widened their threats. A spokesman named Aramco’s Dammam headquarters, its Riyadh refinery and the Riyadh airport as targets, and the group told civilians near all Aramco facilities to evacuate. A Houthi official told AFP that a “swift and painful response” against US interests would follow if Washington joins the campaign.

The Saudi-led coalition confirmed strikes on oil sites in Sanaa, Dhamar and Saada and warned residents of part of Sanaa to prepare for evacuation. It intercepted two ballistic missiles aimed at Dhahran and Harad. Debris injured four people in Riyadh, and a fire broke out at an Aramco administrative building in the Eastern Province. Reuters reported that Saudi Arabia’s public missile warning system had gone silent days before the attacks; Riyadh has opened an investigation.

Hormuz

In the Strait of Hormuz, a tanker and a container ship were hit by unknown projectiles, according to the UK’s maritime trade agency. The Institute for the Study of War says Iran appears to be targeting ship-to-ship oil transfers. Iran says it has an “understanding” with Oman on a temporary shipping route, though a similar announcement in August didn’t change much. Brent crude settled at $105.69 on 13 October.

Saudi Aramco says it could add 1.2 million barrels a day of export capacity bypassing Hormuz within seven to eight weeks, via its pipeline to the Red Sea. That route now runs through the area the Houthis are threatening.

Why it matters

The airport restriction is the first formal US government limit on travel inside Saudi Arabia since the war began. It reflects the risk to the tens of thousands of Americans who live there and to US personnel at bases such as Prince Sultan Air Base. Joining the Saudi campaign would open a new front for US forces already stretched by the Iran blockade, covered in our earlier post. Not joining leaves a US citizen’s death unanswered weeks before an election. Either choice will be made by the President alone while Congress is away.