U.S. President Barack Obama and before him George W. Bush described the security of Yemen as “vital” to the U.S.
On the contrary, Fadel Alrobai wrote on the west saying that U.S. brought its forces to Yemeni and Arab regional water to weaken the Iranian existence in the region. The region witnesses an extreme struggle between the west and Iran, and Yemen is in the middle of the problems.

The western existence
Until the early eighties, Arab regional waters were empty of any warships, as they would only be found in the deep oceans. However, during the Iraqi-Iranian war in the eighties, trade ships in the Arab Gulf were exposed to Iranian fire. The ships then had to raise a U.S. flag to be saved from an attack; accordingly they were accompanied by the U.S. navy to protect them. This was the first existence of the western navy in the region. Then the western navy surged during the 1990 crisis and left military bases and navy forces behind in the region and across the Yemeni coast. The Yemeni-U.S. relations reached culmination in 1998, and both countries signed cooperation agreements, held training, and commander in chief of the U.S. forces in the region frequently visited Yemen.
If we observed the existence of western navy in the region, we would conclude that events in the region are employed to make their existence seem logical.
Western forces gradually surged into the region through different stations; the Iraqi-Iranian war, Kuwait gulf war, Somali chaos, U.S. embassies bombing in Dar-Alsalam and Nairobi, September 9/11 attacks, and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to name a few.
It was thought that the region would be clear of any navy existence after the cold war because the Soviet Union is no longer a danger to the Gulf. However, the region saw more and more navy forces.

Here is the story
Iraq as a new rising force was the cause for concern and that was why it was demolished in the period of 1990 to 2003 through two wars. The second rising force was Iran, which was part of the axis of evil (North Korea, Iraq and Iran).
It is clear that a war of words has been ongoing between the presidents of the two countries Iran and the U.S., and from a clear policy of the west, America thought the best way to limit Iran’s power is to set a military siege on Iran so that it cannot grow stronger.
No one knows exactly how many forces there are in the region and across the Yemeni coast in particular. The Yemeni President after the U.S.S. Cole incident told CNN “the American authority did not tell us about the coming of U.S.S. Cole. We would have provided them with safety measures.”
In 2005, Yemen signed an agreement with France that would allow French forces to exist in Mayan Island which overlooks Bab Almandab. In the same year, Spanish forces seized a Yemeni ship that carried scud missiles bought from North Korea and then released after investigating its cargo. In the bombing of Lamberg across Hadramout coast, the French forces were faster than Yemeni coastal guards to the area of the accident.
All the above incidents indicate the strategic role of Yemen to saving the interests in many countries in the region.

Iran and its existence in the Red Sea
After the revolution in 1979, an ambitious and ideological Islamic system was planning to export the revolution to the entire region. It developed a long-term program by improving its arm capacity and has largely succeeded in developing traditional top of the art air and sea weapons.
The Security Council allowed the member countries of the UN to protect its trade ships from Somali pirates that exist in the Arab Sea and Gulf of Aden, which gave Iran a better chance to expand in Yemeni regional waters.

Persia, Rome where is Sheba..?
Yemeni authorities are absent in the struggle of controlling the sea routes and having bigger influence in the region, though it has a vital strategic role to play. Expect Yemen to play the Houthi card right this time because Houthis are now fighting Saudis. Yemen now has a chance to force Saudi to treat it like a neighbor and not like a child. President Saleh will enjoy these days and would not mind letting the Saudis feel what he has been going through over the last 5 years in Sa’ada fighting the Houthis.
In this regard Houthi is just a play-card in the hands of Iran to use it against the western ambitions in Yemen. That is the affairs of Persia and Rome, so where is Sheba?