To have an interesting discussion it's fundamental to have a common shared and agreed definition of the situation with an historic perspective.
let's start
1. who are the houthis?Yemen is a country with multiple divisions and factions, even in the best of times. It was divided into two countries, North and South, until it officially unified in 1990. Tribal and religious differences continue to divide the country, with Houthis in the north fighting for more authority and Sunnis in the south fighting for independence. Various rebel groups have long held power over different areas of the country, and both AQAP and ISIS are fighting the government for control of territory.
The Houthis follow a branch of Shia Islam called Zaidism. Zaidis make up approximately one-third of the population of Yemen and are heavily concentrated in the northern part of the country. The south of Yemen is primarily Sunni.
2. is Iran a state of shia theocracy ?
Article 11
In accordance with the sacred verse of the Qur'an ("This your community is a single
community, and I am your Lord, so worship Me" [21:92]), all Muslims form a single
nation, and the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran has the duty of
formulating its general policies with a view to cultivating the friendship and unity of
all Muslim peoples, and it must constantly strive to bring about the political,
economic, and cultural unity of the Islamic world
Article 12
The official religion of Iran is Islam and the Twelver Ja'farî school [in usul al-Dîn and
fiqh], and this principle will remain eternally immutable. Other Islamic schools,
including the Hanafî, Shafi'î, Malikî, Hanbalî, and Zaydî, are to be accorded full
respect, and their followers are free to act in accordance with their own
jurisprudence in performing their religious rites. These schools enjoy official status in
matters pertaining to religious education, affairs of personal status (marriage,
divorce, inheritance, and wills) and related litigation in courts of law. In regions of the
country where Muslims following any one of these schools of fiqh constitute the
majority, local regulations, within the bounds of the jurisdiction of local councils, are
to be in accordance with the respective school of fiqh, without infringing upon the
rights of the followers of other schools.
We can come to an intermediary conclusion :
1. Houthis are Zaydi
2. Iran is an expansionist shia theocracy
conclusion The Houthis are Iranians.
3. What the Saudis to do?Could they let the Iranians (houthis) take over the south of the peninsula? Would you ?
I thin that the raise of iran as shia theocracy, reveal again the impotence and totally idiciocy of those following the westphalian border concepts.
In this case Iran is a borderless entity, that will seek first to expand in all area of shia influences (irak, lebanon, syria, yemen) to consolidate it's position, and contrary to the sunnis (and all their attacks on the west) will move to first attack all the sunnis (with the eventual help of the turks), once it will have consolidate the entire islamic countries (and defeat turkey who will plan something along the line to reinstaure the ottoman control over mecca) then they will fully turn on the rest of the world...
Again what the saudis to do?
Win the war in yemen.
4. what the us to do?Prepare for attacks by iran (and all its groups outside of iran (It doesn't make a difference to them).
And chose if they want to trade energy with iran and be boycotted by the saudis or boycott iran (and allies) energy.
You can jump to my poll here :
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5186279.0 to answer this simple question : Would you buy iranian oil if it meant no delivery from the Saudis and allied?
It's afterall a war against the petrodollars... and the liberty of the western world.
I am curious to read if anyone of you has a better reply to this topic than this one:
Made a nice profit on oil stocks.
Ready for the next news/crisis I can profit from
Congratulations !