Iran documents its support for Houthis: Terrorist militia’s weapons from Tehran

Amira Sherif

In explicit documentation that Iran funds and supports the Houthi terrorist group in Yemen, Tehran acknowledged its participation in the Yemen war by providing military support to its Houthi allies for the first time after years of denying the repeated accusations directed against it by the internationally recognized Yemeni government and the Saudi-led Arab coalition, thereby prolonging the war.

The assistant commander of the Quds Force for economic affairs, Rostam Ghasemi, stated that the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has provided weapons to the Houthi militia in Yemen and trained its members.

In an interview with Arab media, Ghasemi revealed the presence of Iranian officers with the Houthis in Yemen, adding that “what the Houthis possess in terms of weapons is thanks to Iran’s assistance.”

Commenting on these statements, Yemeni Information Minister Moammar al-Eryani said on Twitter that “the clear confessions of the Iranian regime’s leaders, the latest of which is the statement of the Assistant Commander of the Quds Force, Rostam Ghasemi, about Tehran’s role in the coup, its military support for the Houthi militia, and its involvement in the fighting alongside the Houthis on the ground – a flagrant violation of international laws and conventions, and a flagrant challenge to the will of the international community.”

Eryani explained that “the statements re-highlight Iran’s destabilizing role in the security and stability of Yemen, its responsibility for the human tragedy left by the war, Tehran’s use of the Houthi militia as a tool to implement its expansionist agenda, the policies of spreading chaos and terrorism in the region, and threatening international interests in the Red Sea and Bab al-Mandeb.”

“The international community, the United Nations and the Security Council are called upon to fulfill their responsibilities in accordance with the charters and principles of the United Nations, and to pressure the Iranian regime to stop its interference destabilizing the security and stability of Yemen and the region and its role in undermining the efforts made by brotherly and friendly countries to calm down and resolve the crisis in a peaceful manner,” he stressed.

It is noteworthy that Tehran has never hidden its support for the militias in Yemen. Rather, it confirmed through a number of its officials that. In a statement last September by the spokesman for the Iranian Armed Forces, Brigadier General Abu al-Fadl Shikaraji, he confirmed, “The defensive technologies for the production of missiles and marches were put at the disposal of the Yemenis,” in reference to the Houthis, Tehran’s allies who carried out a coup against the country’s legitimate government and took control of the capital, Sanaa, in 2014.

The commander of the Quds Force, Esmail Ghaani, had admitted on Tuesday that the former Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani and deputy commander Mohammad Hejazi, had established together a number of militias in the region.

Ghaani said that Soleimani and his companion Hejazi established what he described as “resistance fronts,” referring to the armed factions and militias supported by Iran in Lebanon, Syria, Palestine, Iraq and Yemen.

The Iranian confessions came hours after new US accusations made by Washington’s envoy to Yemen, Timothy Lenderking, during which he said that Iranian support for the Houthis was “significant and decisive.”

Lenderking, who was appointed mid-February as an envoy to Yemen, said in a briefing to Congress that the Iranian regime “has shown no indication of its desire for a constructive solution to the Yemeni conflict, and we would welcome any role if they are ready for that.”

There was no comment from the Houthi militia, which has always boasted that the military development taking place in its ranks is the result of pure Yemeni experiences, although its leader, Abdulmalik al-Houthi, had previously expressed special expressions of thanks and praise for the support provided by Iran to them, without disclosing his identity and whether it was militarily, informally, or financially.

Earlier, a report prepared by United Nations experts and presented to the Security Council confirmed that Iranian entities were involved in sending weapons to the Houthi militia in Yemen.

“There is an increasing amount of evidence proving that individuals or entities from inside Iran are involved in sending weapons and their components to the Houthis,” said a report by independent experts monitoring the Yemen sanctions regime.

It is worth noting that Reuters quoted four sources, including an unnamed diplomat, that Iran promised to use its influence to stop the Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia and requested in return that Riyadh support the nuclear negotiations during talks it had earlier this month with the Saudi side in Baghdad, and a second round is scheduled to take place soon.