FIRST ON FOX: Despite recent setbacks in Gaza, Lebanon, and Syria, Tehran is leveraging its influence over the Houthi group in Yemen to advance its goals.
Sources within Tehran, affiliated with the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran, have revealed that senior Iranian military officials from the (IRGC) are involved in Houthi decision-making, with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei directly overseeing the group.
The report supports President Donald Trump’s warnings to Tehran regarding its Houthi support, stating that a high-ranking commander in the IRGC’s Quds Force is “directly commanding Houthi activities.”
According to the report by the Paris-based National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), Khamenei personally supervises all Houthi “political and military affairs” after they are approved by his regime.
The report stated that “Khamenei has personally emphasized the importance of Houthi attacks and the necessity of sending weapons and equipment for the Houthis to IRGC commanders and regime officials,” according to information received from within the IRGC.
Iran is increasingly relying on its proxies in Iraq and Yemen due to the weakening of its “Axis of Resistance” amid the conflict in Gaza, the Israeli operations against Hezbollah in Lebanon, and the instability in Syria.
Since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel, Houthi forces have launched more than attacks on commercial shipping vessels, prompting responses from groups like Hezbollah.
This week saw an increase in missile and drone exchanges between the Houthis and U.S. forces after the Houthis threatened to renew attacks on Israeli vessels following Jerusalem’s halt of aid to Gaza.
responded by promising “overwhelming lethal force” until the Houthi attacks stopped and warned Iran it would be held “fully accountable” for any attacks.
The report identified “[IRGC Brig. Gen. Abdolreza] Shahlai” as being “in charge of all military, political, and economic matters related to the regime’s intervention in Yemen, including all Houthi operations and attacks,” noting his close ties to Qassem Soleimani, the former Quds Force commander killed in 2020 under President Trump. Soleimani was responsible for the deaths of hundreds of American soldiers.
The report also revealed that the Iranian Embassy in Yemen is under “full control” of the Quds Force.
While the presence of intelligence operatives in embassies is not unusual, the report found no evidence of Iranian Foreign Ministry personnel at the embassy in Yemen.
Digital’s inquiries to the Iranian Embassy in Sana’a, Yemen, went unanswered.
Ali Safavi of the NCRI stated that “The mullahs’ regime is the root cause of war and instability in the region, sustained through repression at home and the export of terrorism and conflict abroad,” and that “The only viable solution to the Iranian crisis is the regime’s overthrow by the Iranian people.”
He added, “A decisive international policy toward Iran must recognize and support the legitimacy of the Iranian resistance, proscribe the IRGC as a terrorist entity, activate the U.N. Security Council snapback mechanism and endorse the Resistance Units’ fight against the regime.”