Saudi Arabia just told America it is falling apart
1 hour ago · 13 November 2026Share
President Donald Trump participates in an interview with the New York Post at Trump Turnberry golf course in Scotland on July 27, 2025. The White House · Public domain
Donald Trump just said Saudi Arabia is falling apart.
And he said the Saudis actually asked him for a pause themselves.
Here's the quote. Trump says Saudi Arabia asked him to, quote "just let it be the way it is now for a while because they're disintegrating".
He said it in an interview with Stephen A. Smith, filmed at the White House, released less than a day ago.
Then he named four more countries asking for the same thing.
Qatar. Kuwait. The UAE. Bahrain.
Trump says, quote "all of them would much prefer the waiting period".
So that's five of America's closest Gulf partners, by the president's own account, telling Washington to slow down.
Normally it works the other way. America sets the pace. Not this time.
And here's the twist. Trump says he's not even sure he agrees with them.
He says without their request, he'd probably have already escalated against Iran.
He says the US could wipe out Iran's energy infrastructure in a day. Its bridges in a day. Its manufacturing in a day. Three days total.
So why are five Gulf states asking their own protector to hold back?
Because they're the ones getting hit right now.
The Houthis, Yemen's Iran-aligned fighters, have been hitting Saudi airports, energy sites and cities. The pressure got so bad Saudi Arabia had to cancel conferences meant to promote its economy outside oil.
A ceasefire between the Saudi-backed Yemeni government and the Houthis collapsed over the summer. The fighting hasn't stopped since.
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Contains NASA satellite imagery of sand dunes in Rub' al Khali, Arabia's empty quarter. File photo. NASA/GSFC/METI/ERSDAC/JAROS, and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team · Public domain
It's still going today. The Houthis say they hit Saudi Aramco in the capital, an oil pumping station, a site in Yanbu, and military bases including Khamis Mushait Air Base and Sharurah Airport.
A Saudi-led coalition says it shot down two more Houthi drones aimed at Riyadh and the kingdom's Eastern Province.
So a Gulf ally is getting hit nearly every day, and asking its superpower protector to pause rather than make things worse.
Trump calls that weakness. His own secretary of state doesn't.
Marco Rubio has said this week that the economic pressure already on Iran is enough. No need for major combat operations, he says. Rubio also dismissed Iran's seven conditions for talks as absurd.
So two messages, same administration. Trump says Saudi Arabia is collapsing and needs mercy. Rubio says the pressure campaign is already working.
And here's why Trump might be listening anyway.
He says the Gulf states are tremendous investors in the US, spending trillions of dollars in the country. The US approved selling up to 48 F-35 jets to Saudi Arabia two months ago, a deal that could total $24 billion.
The same day, Trump posted on Truth Social that America doesn't need a deal with Iran anymore. He said America already has Iran's money — hundreds of billions of dollars — and has their strait.
He also told JD Vance, the vice president, to stop working Iran diplomacy and focus instead on alleged corruption in Democrat-run states and cities. That came a day after the Wall Street Journal reported Vance had been weighing direct talks with Mohsen Rezaei, who runs Iran's Supreme National Security Council.
Trump separately told Hugh Hewitt the same day that he would not hesitate to strike Iran again if it threatens US allies or Gulf shipping. He said Iran's regime is collapsing too, pointing to inflation above 300 per cent.
Iran's Assembly of Experts, which oversees Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, called this week for a review of Iran's membership of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, and a rewrite of its defence doctrine.
Trump said something else in the same interview. He said high gasoline and oil prices from the war cost Republicans votes in the midterms.
So what hasn't he said?
Saudi Arabia hasn't responded to being called disintegrating. Nobody has said whether this damages Trump's relationship with the Saudi crown prince. Nobody has said whether it gives the Houthis more reason to keep pushing.
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