Secretary of State Marco Rubio made clear on Saturday that America stands by its friends. Asked at the G20 foreign ministers’ meeting in Atlanta whether the U.S. will join Saudi strikes against the Iran-backed Houthis, Rubio said military decisions belong to the commander in chief, then made the U.S. position plain.
“Suffice it to say that we have defense agreements with Saudi Arabia,” Rubio said. “We’ve lived up to those commitments and will continue to live up to those commitments, particularly those that are defensive in nature. Beyond that, those are decisions for the president to make.”
Rubio said the two countries are in “regular and continuous contact… not just here today, but on the phone and in conversations, including between the Crown Prince, His Highness, and the President, very recently and multiple times over the last month. So we’re tracking all that very closely.”
“We have defense understandings with Saudi Arabia. We intend to continue to live up to those commitments that have been made,” he said. “And we’re happy to see that other countries have also participated and joined in helping defend the Kingdom against these attacks.”
Then Rubio named the real culprit. “We remind everybody that at the end of the day, the Houthis… would not have the capabilities they have today had it not been for the direct support of the Iranian regime that allowed them to grow in their capabilities and continue to destabilize the region.”
Under President Trump, America’s word means something again. Allies know where the U.S. stands, and Tehran knows who is being held responsible.
