Report: Iran Allegedly Guided Houthi Blitz on Yemen's Red Sea Coast

Are the Houthis an Iranian proxy taking orders from Tehran or an independent force making its own decisions in Sanaa?

Published 1 day ago

Report: Iran Allegedly Guided Houthi Blitz on Yemen's Red Sea Coast

story

Above: Yemeni protesters raise weapons in Sana'a, Yemen, on July 17. Image credit: Mohammed Hamoud/Getty Images

The Spin

Anti-Iran narrative

IRGC officers stood on Yemeni soil directing the blitz that handed the Houthis the Red Sea coast in under 48 hours, and pretending otherwise is willful blindness. Tehran supplied the missiles, drones, satellite intelligence and battlefield commanders that turned a stalled militia into a force choking Saudi oil exports. Indeed, the link between Iran and the Houthis must be broken at all cost to prevent further Houthi advances.

CFR BBC News The Associated Press The Times of Israel

Pro-Iran narrative

Calling the Houthis an Iranian puppet is a comforting fiction that guarantees failure. Even U.S. spy agencies found no evidence that Tehran dictates their operations, and the group has openly defied Iranian pleas to de-escalate, built its own weapons from Chinese parts and struck unilateral cease-fires against Iran's wishes. Squeezing Tehran solves nothing when the decisions are made in Sanaa.

Iran International Thecradle.Co

Metaculus Prediction

There is a 20% chance that state-based conflict between Iran and Saudi Arabia will cause at least 1,000 deaths in a single year before 2070, according to the Metaculus prediction community.