An NPR article reports that nine months into the war with Iran, Trump's strategy is to keep things as they are — negotiations are stuck, the U.S. is escorting tankers through the Strait of Hormuz and blockading Iranian oil — as renewed war between Saudi Arabia and the Houthis spreads devastation across Yemen. IMF figures show Gulf economies in recession, while Iran says it will enter nuclear talks only after seven demands are met and Rubio calls those conditions absurd.