Saudi leader under siege as enemies close in, allies turn away

Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler Mohammed bin Salman is facing the gravest threat to his ambitious Vision 2030 economic programme, as simultaneous security crises converge on the kingdom from multiple directions, The Telegraph reports.

Iran-backed militias in Iraq have struck Saudi Arabia’s strategically critical East-West pipeline, while Houthi forces are advancing along Yemen’s Red Sea coast, threatening the vital Bab el-Mandeb strait. To the east, the ongoing Iran-US conflict has already disrupted the Strait of Hormuz — effectively encircling the kingdom’s most critical energy export corridors.

MBS reportedly called US President Donald Trump twice seeking American military intervention against the Houthis. Trump declined the airstrikes Riyadh sought, offering only intelligence assistance. Britain, according to Bloomberg, has dispatched military advisers but similarly stopped short of committing tangible military force.

The crisis strikes at the core assumption underpinning MBS’s entire economic revolution — that Saudi Arabia could insulate itself from the region’s wars while transforming its oil-dependent economy into a diversified global powerhouse.

That assumption no longer holds.