Despite the widespread claims from the US and several European countries that the Houthis are indeed directed by Iran, US intelligence agencies dismissed the idea in new reports.
According to new reports carried out by several US intelligence agencies, Yemen’s Ansarullah is in fact an “independent movement” and it does not take orders from Iran despite claims by Washington and many European countries.
One report published in the New York Times (NYT) cited officials as saying that “American spy agencies believe the Houthis are an independent organization and that Iran is not dictating their day-to-day operations. In other words, there is no direct evidence … that senior Iranian leaders — either the commander of the elite Quds Force or the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei — ordered the recent Houthi attacks on ships in the Red Sea.”
For weeks since the Houthis began seizing ships in the Red Sea in support for Palestine, White Housse and European capitals blamed Iran for masterminding Houthi attacks. In one of his latest comments in this regard, US President Joe Biden said this Friday that he’s delivered a message to Iran with Thursday’s airstrikes on Houthi rebels in Yemen, which he now is calling a terrorist group despite his administration’s 2021 decision to revoke that label.
“I’ve already delivered the message to Iran. They know not to do anything,” Biden said when asked his message during a tour of a coffee shop in Allentown, Pennsylvania, adding also that “we will make sure we respond to the Houthis if they continue this outrageous behavior along with our allies.”
Iran’s alleged arms transport to Yemen, too good to be true!
But that’s not all. The White House has even claimed to have evidence that Iran is providing weapons to the Houthis. But this claim doesn’t make any sense simply because for nine years, Yemen has been under a tight blockade by a US-backed Arab coalition headed by Saudi Arabia, and that Yemen’s main port and airport remain besieged.
Rejecting the White House claims in this regard, the new report continued to say that “the Houthis appear able to make many of their own [weapons], including drones assembled from parts obtained from China and other suppliers. The Sanaa government is also in possession of a significant number of Soviet era-weapons.”
Labeling the Houthis as Iran’s obedient puppet is not at all a new rhetoric promoted by the western media, especially the United States. For years, Washington has been claiming that the Houthi group is an Iranian proxy that receives directives from the Islamic Republic. Western media push similar ideas about Hezbollah and the Iraqi resistance as well.
In response to such claims, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said in a speech on 3 January that “in the Axis of Resistance, no party dictates to another, and each individual party makes its decisions in a manner consistent with the strategic vision and interest of its country.”
“There are no slaves [in the Axis]: There are only proud, free men who create victories for their people,” Nasrallah added.
