Observers recognize that US President Joe Biden’s administration, unlike previous ones, does not place Middle East crises as a high priority. This is partly because this administration is more focused on domestic issues than anything else.
It is specifically turned to tackling China’s growing global influence. But President Biden, who since the beginning of his presidential term has wielded the slogan “America is back,” is certainly well aware of the link between stabilizing Yemen on the one hand and the Iranian ayatollahs’ stranglehold on that Arab country on the other.
Comments by US Special Envoy to Yemen Tim Lenderking were a clear and vocal recognition of the ayatollahs’ role in stoking the Yemeni crisis by supporting the Houthi movement.
Lenderking told the House Foreign Affairs Committee that “Iran’s support to the Houthis is quite significant, and it’s lethal” and that it helps them “fine-tune” their drone and missile programs. He sees no sign that Iran is supporting a political solution in Yemen.
“What I see is continued aiding and abetting an army of Houthis by the Iranians so that they can continue attacking Saudi Arabia, and unfortunately those attacks have risen quite strongly in the last couple of months.”
This conclusion, reached by the US envoy upon taking office, is meant to shape a US position that reflects the Biden administration’s commitment to a political settlement of this crisis. The ayatollahs have abandoned their role in supporting the Houthis. They are now talking about military activities to prop up the Houthis against Saudi Arabia.
Gen. Rostam Ghasemi, economic assistant to the commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, said in an exclusive interview with RT that the IRGC provided weapons to the Houthis at the outbreak of the war in Yemen. The IRGC has trained elements of these forces in weapons manufacturing.
Source » iranbriefing