Michael Rubin
@mrubin1971 · Think tanks & analysts — US/UK
Michael Rubin is the director of policy analysis at the Middle East Forum and a foreign-policy scholar.
Trump is ‘getting desperate’ with his Iran blockade | Andrew Neil x Michael Rubin - YouTube https://t.co/3psOnTh6Ex
“How long will it take Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to realize that President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan wants to ‘internationalize’ Mecca and Medina under Turkish control?”
Translated from TurkishBefore the ‘Gulf of America’ There Was the ‘Arabian Gulf’ https://t.co/qzt2yLRCtK #Iran
Starlink in Yemen could weaken the Houthis. The country’s mobile-phone towers and all of its major internet-service providers are under Houthi control. September 3, 2026 Michael Rubin Middle East Forum Watch / Washington. On September 21, 2026, the Houthis will commemorate the twelfth anniversary of their seizure of Sana’a, Yemen’s capital. Prime Minister Mohammed Basindawa resigned, and the Houthis seized government and military facilities. They soon imposed a reign of terror reminiscent of the first years of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein’s rule. The remaining members of the internationally recognized government fled to Aden, where they regrouped. UN Security Council Resolution 2216 unanimously affirmed recognition of the legitimate government, with Russia alone abstaining. On April 7, 2022, Yemen’s partners formed the Presidential Leadership Council to assume theoretical control after Yemeni President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi resigned; he spent the rest of his life in Saudi exile until he died of a heart attack on May 28, 2026. The Presidential Leadership Council is neither presidential nor demonstrative of leadership. Inside Yemen, it is merely an illusion, intended to give a legitimate face to a disparate group of political factions whose only commonality is that they are not Houthi. The only members who controlled and governed territory were Aidarus al-Zoubaidi of the Southern Transitional Council and Tariq Saleh of the National Resistance, but Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman carried out a coup against Zoubaidi because the Southern Transitional Council refused to subordinate local interests to the interests of bin Salman and his Muslim Brotherhood proxies in Yemen. The other faction leaders prefer luxurious lives in exile, to the extent that Yemenis call the Presidential Leadership Council the “Hotel Government,” and they paralyze governance with their internal disagreements while focusing more on undermining one another than on defeating the Houthis. Before the Houthis seized Sana’a, Yemeni leaders deliberately centralized the country. The late Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh sought to undermine the development of southern Yemen, deliberately weakening Aden’s commercial prospects in favor of Hodeidah, for example. Rather than engage with the former South Yemen’s different political culture, a succession of northern politicians sought to crush it while concentrating Yemen’s prospects in Sana’a. This is especially true of telecommunications. The Yemeni government centralized the mobile-phone network in Sana’a, causing key infrastructure such as phone towers and systems to fall under Houthi control. All of the country’s major internet-service providers are likewise under Houthi control. The logical response would be for the Presidential Leadership Council to approve a new telecommunications network for southern Yemen, so that the Houthis would literally be unable to easily monitor every call made and every text message sent. The problem is that northern politicians on the council, and perhaps Saudi Arabia as well, fear establishing new infrastructure based in the south; Saudi Arabia’s primary criterion in appointments to the internationally recognized government appears to be a willingness to prioritize opposing southern political expression and independent southern infrastructure over defeating the Houthis. Ending the Houthis’ ability to control and infiltrate Yemen’s communications must be the priority. In this context, the best move for the Trump administration is to bypass the questionable priorities of the “Hotel Government” and Saudi Arabia and move forward with supporting Starlink. Technically, Starlink was launched in Yemen two years ago when SpaceX and the internationally recognized government based in Aden signed an agreement. But the infrastructure did not follow easily, and the cost of the systems is beyond the reach of most Yemenis. That cost, however, is a tiny fraction of what would be required to drive out the Houthis by military means alone. Some Yemenis may complain about “digital sovereignty,” but ending the Houthis’ ability to control and infiltrate Yemen’s communications must be the priority. Neither rhetoric nor money alone will defeat the Houthis. Instead, the United States needs to address the Yemen problem precisely, identify the specific problems, and solve them. Supporting Starlink in Yemen would be a good start, and perhaps the only place to begin.
Translated from ArabicStarlink in Yemen Can Undermine the Houthis https://t.co/8ymPPBOyYj
The Next Iran Crisis: Starvation - https://t.co/ZlbA6g1Nf7
Has #Azerbaijan played a double game during the Iran war? ...Other countries, however, play a double game but still manage to fly under the radar. Consider Azerbaijan: It positions itself today as an energy alternative to Russia and Iran, but it sells both Russian and Iranian oil through its pipelines and has become the region’s top money laundering hub. Azerbaijan’s cheerleaders in Washington and Jerusalem often point to its assistance to Israel during the Iran War, a fact undoubtedly true, but they ignore that Baku seeks to be just as helpful to Iran. Consider Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, who attested to just how helpful Azerbaijan was to Iran during the war with Israel and the United States in a recent Persian television interview. Azerbaijan “accompanied us and provided assistance with everything that was necessary,” he said.
ICYMI, from Times Radio: Trump Says Iran Is ‘Begging’ For A Deal — But Tehran May Be Playing Him ... https://t.co/YfR295CkHg
Dr. Michael Rubin Shares an Iranian War Update as It Reaches the Six-Month Anniversary: https://t.co/zOiMPjFP0u
Middle East Tolerance Requires Attention to Pre-Islamic Past https://t.co/5Dx3arXyeu
After Trump\u0027s threats .. Armed attacks target Iran\u0027s field officers | Ras Al-Satr
Translated from ArabicDemocrats need to offer alternatives rather than just partisan opposition to Iran war https://t.co/FnFmCzNRiq
In the headlines today but, ICYMI, from June: Trump Must Expect an Iranian October Surprise https://t.co/I0s13f5gD2
ICYMI, with the #Iran kamikaze drone attack on Masour Barzani's office in Erbil, this essay from a year ago in @meforum has special resonance: "Get Ready for Assassinations in Iraqi Kurdistan" https://t.co/bVkwgjH2tE