Iran is sending increasingly sophisticated weapons to its Houthi allies in Yemen, senior Western officials and advisers told the Wall Street Journal today (Wednesday), improving their ability to attack merchant ships and disrupt international trade, despite weeks of US-led airstrikes.
Documentation of the American coalition attack against the Houthis in Yemen // Reuters
The Houthis, once derided as a small militia operating in Yemen's arid hinterland, have emerged as one of Iran's most influential proxies, these officials and analysts say, due to the flow of weapons from Tehran and their use.
Among other advanced equipment, Iran has provided the Houthis with drone jammers and parts for rockets and long-range missiles. The Iranians and their Lebanese Hezbollah allies have sent advisers to Yemen to help the Houthis plan and launch their attacks.
The Houthis' missile and drone attacks on American merchantmen and warships, which they say come in retaliation for Israel's war on Hamas, have caused two weeks of attacks by the Americans and the British. These, for their part, risk drawing Washington into a long-term military campaign and escalating the US's proxy war and Iran.
As the Houthis come under pressure from US strikes, Western officials see signs that they are adapting militarily, and they say the new technologies may increase the effectiveness of their attacks on ships and Israel.
The Iranian weapon was seized on board the Dow, photo: US Army
On January 11, the day before the first counterattack by the West, US Navy forces seized a vessel loaded with the most advanced Iranian military technologies.
These included assembly kits for an Iranian anti-ship missile, with a range of more than 200 miles, which the Houthis had not used before, engine parts for a ballistic missile that could target Israel more effectively, and optical extensions designed to improve the accuracy of drone strikes.
Tehran employs smugglers to bring the weapons to Yemen from Iran, and brokers to purchase spare parts through front companies.
Engineers in Yemen and other countries in the region help assemble and operate the missiles and drones, and shipping industry workers provide live intelligence on which vessels to target.
Biden and Sunak.
Cooperation against the Houthis, photo: AP
"Iran is a supplier to the Houthis, and has provided equipment, training and expertise to other proxy organizations in the region," a senior US defense official said late Monday.
Iran's aid to the Houthis is handled by some of the most elite officers in the Revolutionary Guards.
The head of Tehran's operations in the country is Abdulreza Shahlai, who previously oversaw attacks on American troops in Iraq, security advisers and Western officials said.
He is now wanted by Washington with a $15 million reward.
Western security advisers and officials said the transfer of ballistic missile technology and training is overseen by Unit 340, which trained the Houthis in Iran and Lebanon and is led by Hamid Fazli, the former head of Iran's space-rocket program.
Houthi fighters in Yemen, photo: Reuters
"Resistance has its own tools"
Iran insists that it has no involvement in the Houthis' actions and that the group's actions are motivated solely by anger over the war in Gaza.
"The resistance has its own tools, and it acts according to its decisions and capabilities," said Ali Bagri, Iran's deputy foreign minister, in December, referring to its allies in Yemen and throughout the Middle East.
But analysts in Iran said that while the Yemeni faction is operating largely autonomously, Iran is allowing the situation to escalate because it serves its agenda to pressure Israel and the US without fear of direct retaliation. "Iran's military DNA is to deny responsibility and make others do the the dirty work," said Saeed Golkar, a lecturer on Tehran's security services at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.
The Houthi rebels in Yemen launch a missile, photo: Arab Networks
To wear down the Houthis' arsenal, the US and its allies have bombed missile launch sites and weapons depots in Yemen, and patrolled the sea to disrupt the flow of arms to the Houthis. This includes the January 11 operation in which they seized the last Iranian-made missile parts who sailed for the Houthi rebels in Yemen, where two Navy Seals were lost at sea.
However, the Houthis and their Iranian allies are adapting to the pressure.
After U.S. warships entered the Red Sea, Yemeni rebels began targeting vessels eastward in the Gulf of Aden, where the U.S. has no presence, senior shipping officials say.
The bombing site of the Houthi rebels in Yemen, photo: AP
The Houthis are also moving around equipment and personnel to avoid attacks and appear to be receiving weapons in floating packages rather than in ship-to-ship transfers that would be more visible from the air, the Western officials and advisers say.
Meanwhile, an Iranian spy ship providing information on targets in the Red Sea has abandoned, apparently to avoid being a US target, they said.
Behanem Ben Tablo, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies think tank in Washington, said the Houthis have the deadliest long-range strike capability of any Iranian proxy group, and are the only ones using anti-ship ballistic missiles.
"The Houthis used on at least one occasion a missile later found in Iran's arsenal, representing the first known instance of a proxy ballistic missile proliferation to a patron," he said.
An American missile ship fires at the Houthis in Yemen, photo: AFP
"There is evidence to suggest that Yemen is an important battleground for Iranian weapons testing and potential development. Iran has both an arsenal at home and an arsenal in exile," he warns.
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