Mohammed bin Salman called Donald Trump twice on Thursday. The ask, according to people familiar with the calls, was direct: American strikes on Houthi positions as the group closed on the Bab el-Mandeb. The answer was no. Washington offered intelligence sharing and targeting support instead, and sent the CENTCOM commander to the kingdom for coordination talks rather than a strike package. Forty-eight hours later the question was moot. The Houthis took Mokha on Thursday, pushed down the coast through Dhubab, and by Friday had fighters on Mayyun, the volcanic island that splits the strait’s navigable channel into two lanes.