Yemen

"Limited military engagements can often create a lot of space by which the president can act without even really having to deal with Congress."

By placing the war [in Yemen] solely as an Iranian-created conflict, Trump is trying to absolve the Saudis of responsibility.

This [the decision to end refueling of Saudi-coalition aircraft in the war in Yemen] marks the first time that the United States has taken a concrete measure to rein in the Saudi war effort. Two administrations have basically given the Saudis a blank check to do whatever they wanted. Now it will be harder for the Saudis to carry out airstrikes deep into Yemeni territory, going after the capital, for instance.

The Saudis have escalated; they have intensified the war [in Yemen]. It is a very public rebuke of both the secretary of state and the secretary of defense by the Saudis. The administration has not said anything about that. But curtailing air refueling would be their response.