In response, the Saudis pumped as much oil as they could – about five million barrels a day – through their east-west pipeline to their Red Sea export terminal on their opposite coast at Yanbu.

From there it was loaded onto tankers heading south to the Arabian Sea and markets in Asia.

So far, so good.

But on July 13, the Saudis bombed the Sanaa airport, just outside the Yemeni capital. The attack was claimed by Yemen’s government, supported by Saudi Arabia, which said it wanted to prevent the landing of an Iranian plane. In retaliation, the Houthis attacked Saudi regional airports in Abha and Jizan.

What is more worrying for Riyadh is that the Houthis have begun attacking Saudi shipping in the Red Sea, making it extremely dangerous for ships to pass through the Bab El Mandeb Strait at the southern end of the Red Sea. This, in turn, stifles Saudi oil exports to Asia.

Saudi Arabia spent seven years trying to bomb the Houthis into submission and failed.

The war that devastated Yemen was one of the worst humanitarian disasters of our time and its effects are still being felt.

In 2022, Saudi Arabia agreed to an uneasy truce with the Houthis and there were reports of bribery, but now the region’s richest country, Saudi Arabia, once again faces the threat of drone and missile attacks from its southern neighbor, at the same time as attacks from Iraq to the north.

None of this was foreseen in the Vision 2030 plans.