Amid all-around pressure from Iran-backed proxy forces and an energy crisis, the leadership of Saudi Arabia's de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, faces a critical test.

This is assessed as the greatest trial he has faced since once falling into diplomatic isolation after being designated as the mastermind behind the October 2018 assassination of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Yemen's pro-Iran Houthi rebels seized the key Red Sea port city of Mocha and the strategic choke point of Perim Island on September 10, bringing them to the verge of controlling the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.

The Bab el-Mandeb Strait, located at the entrance to the Red Sea, has played a decisive role in Saudi oil exports following Iran's blocking of the Strait of Hormuz.

If even this area completely falls into Houthi hands, all maritime export routes for Saudi Arabia would be blocked.

In addition to maritime routes, a drone attack from the north on September 11, presumed to be the work of pro-Iran militias inside Iraq, halted the operation of Saudi Arabia's vital East-West oil pipeline.

The British daily Financial Times (FT) pointed out on September 15 (local time) that the current crisis threatens not only the oil supply capacity of Saudi Arabia, once the world's largest crude exporter, but also Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's ambitious plans to build a global investment hub backed by oil money.

Neil Quilliam, a researcher at the London-based think tank Chatham House, diagnosed that the Saudi kingdom is "facing challenges on many more fronts" than it did in 2018, calling the current situation "a test of his leadership within the kingdom, as well as a security and economic challenge."

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who intervened in the Yemeni civil war in 2015 to lead a coalition against the Houthi rebels, has spent the past four years trying to extricate himself from the costly Yemen conflict.

However, with his oil export routes now directly threatened by the Houthis, he is forced to rethink his level of response.

Firas Maksad, a Middle East analyst at global political risk consultancy Eurasia Group, told the FT, "Riyadh faces a policy dilemma: It cannot capitulate to increasingly assertive Houthi demands under military pressure, but it also cannot afford to escalate the war and fight on two fronts simultaneously."

This is because doing so could impact half of the production capacity of Saudi state-owned oil giant Aramco.

Experts believe that whatever choice Saudi Arabia makes in the current situation entails enormous costs.

Cinzia Bianco, a Middle East expert at the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR), told CNN, "Saudi Arabia has very limited options indeed in its conflict with the Houthis."

She warned that one option is to intensify the confrontation with the Houthis, but this could develop into an endless conflict similar to the civil war in Yemen.

In particular, an all-out war between Saudi Arabia and the Houthis is highly likely to draw in Iran.

Bianco analyzed that in this case, the conflict would not remain confined to Yemen but could become an expanded version of a U.S.-Iran war, with Saudi Arabia appearing to jump directly into the war on the side of the U.S.

Reaching a negotiated settlement with the Houthi rebels is no easy task for Saudi Arabia either.

Mohammed Al-Basha, a Yemen expert and risk consultant, told CNN that even if a deal is struck, it would amount to a complete surrender to the Houthi rebels' demands.

"It's a very expensive capitulation, basically tantamount to surrender," he said.

The Houthis have demanded that Saudi Arabia pay salaries for civil servants in areas they control, guarantee access to Yemen's oil revenues, and provide compensation for war damages.

While Saudi Arabia wants the United States to intervene in the current crisis, analysts think the likelihood of direct intervention from Washington is low.

A diplomat told the FT that the Saudi government had requested U.S. air support, but Washington responded that it has no intention of intervening for the time being as it is focused on the war with Iran.

CNN previously reported, citing sources, that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman urged U.S. President Donald Trump during two phone calls on September 10 to launch U.S. airstrikes in response to the Houthis, but President Trump refused.

However, sources told CNN that the United States has deployed about 100 military advisers to the ground to provide intelligence for Saudi military operations.

(Photo: AP, Yonhap News)