Donald Trump’s pick for Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, has taken a hardline position against Yemen’s Ansar Allah movement, advocating policies aimed at reigniting the conflict between Riyadh and Sana’a. Critics warn that his approach could risk dragging the United States into a direct confrontation, escalating tensions in an already volatile region.

As vice chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Marco Rubio has carved out a reputation as a steadfast proponent of hardline policies, particularly against Yemen’s Ansar Allah-led government and its allies. Rubio, who has received over $1 million from pro-Israel donors, has consistently aligned himself with neoconservative hawks. Until the political tides shifted under Donald Trump, Rubio remained one of the few Republican stalwarts still publicly defending the invasion of Iraq—a position he quietly tempered once it became a liability.

Since the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack on Israel, Rubio has doubled down on his narrative that Iran and its regional allies, which he pointedly calls “proxies,” are the true architects of instability in the Middle East. This framing has bolstered Rubio’s push for an aggressive U.S. stance toward Tehran and its partners, including Ansar Allah.

Well, new Trump Secretary of State pick Marco Rubio told everyone what he’s going to do to the Palestinians as Secretary of State.

Is this what America wants. pic.twitter.com/4NMxlVQkGO

— Ed Krassenstein (@EdKrassen) November 12, 2024

On June 27, the incoming Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, published an op-ed in the National Review titled “President Biden’s Misguided Policy toward the Houthis Hurts Americans.” In it, Rubio made the case for a significantly more aggressive U.S. stance against Yemen, specifically targeting its blockade of ships bound for Israel’s Port of Eilat. He called for an intensified air campaign, framing Yemen’s actions as a direct threat to American and Israeli interests that demanded a decisive military response.

“Until Biden corrects course and imposes a real cost on the terrorist group, we should expect prices to continue to rise and more Americans to be put at risk,” Rubio declared in his op-ed. Yet the Biden administration had already launched Operation Prosperity Guardian in December 2023—a multinational naval mission aimed at dismantling Ansar Allah’s blockade and free passage of ships to Israel.

Initially, the Yemeni Armed Forces (YAF) focused their efforts exclusively on targeting Israeli interests, with the blockade clearly intended to pressure Tel Aviv into halting its war on Gaza. However, the Biden administration’s aggressive response not only failed to lift the blockade but also escalated the conflict, leading to broader disruptions in international shipping as Yemen retaliated against what it perceived as unprovoked acts of aggression.

Despite these developments, Rubio advocated for arming and backing Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates in renewed attacks against Yemen’s Ansar Allah. Such a move would almost certainly collapse the fragile ceasefire that has held since 2022.

If the United States finalizes a security agreement with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, such a strategy—especially under a potential second Trump administration—could risk pulling America into direct involvement in the conflict.

While the Trump administration designated Ansar Allah—referred to as “The Houthis”—as a foreign terrorist organization, President Joe Biden rescinded the designation in 2021, signaling his administration’s intention to end the war in Yemen.

However, the Biden administration abandoned its initial anti-war stance. Following Ansarallah’s support for Gaza, the group was added to the U.S. “specially designated global terrorist organization” list—a move Rubio criticized as insufficient. On November 1, Rubio, alongside Democratic Senator Jacky Rosen, spearheaded a bipartisan push to reclassify Ansarallah, penning a formal letter to President Biden urging action.

Following a November 2018 Senate vote to limit U.S. involvement in the Saudi-led war on Yemen, Rubio defended Washington’s support for Riyadh, arguing for continued logistical assistance and arms supplies to the Saudis and framing the U.S. role as indirect and insufficient to invoke the War Powers Act, which requires presidential consultation with Congress on military actions.

Once again, the Yemen war powers resolution has unnecessary, gutting language in it that renders it largely toothless. The following language is a word-for-word copy of Ken Buck’s amendment to the House’s resolution. Marco Rubio got it into the final bill without a recorded vote. pic.twitter.com/HbUnCeb3Uc

— Follow me on BlueSky and Threads (@WalkerBragman) March 15, 2019

If Rubio maintains his hard-line stance on Yemen as he transitions into the role of Secretary of State under Trump, his calls for intensified airstrikes and the provision of lethal weaponry to Gulf nations as proxies could spark a catastrophic regional war—one that threatens not only stability in the Middle East but also the safety of U.S. assets and military personnel.

Feature photo | Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., left, walks off the stage with President Donald Trump after a speech in 2017, in Miami. Lynne Sladky | AP

Robert Inlakesh is a political analyst, journalist and documentary filmmaker currently based in London, UK. He has reported from and lived in the occupied Palestinian territories and hosts the show ‘Palestine Files’. Director of ‘Steal of the Century: Trump’s Palestine-Israel Catastrophe’. Follow him on Twitter @falasteen47

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