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Iran ‘Categorically Rejects’ Claims About Arms for Ansar Allah as America's Houthi Headache Worsens

Tuesday marked the four-month anniversary of the Yemeni militia’s brazen hijacking of an Israeli-owned commercial cargo ship in solidarity with Palestinians amid the war in Gaza, with the move kicking off a months-long campaign of ship seizures, missile and drone attacks which have seen freight volume through the Red Sea drop by 80 percent.
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Iran’s top United Nations diplomat has denied claims by his US, British and French counterparts accusing Tehran of “financing and arming” the Houthis and assisting the Yemeni militia in its ongoing maritime blockade of the Red Sea.

“The Islamic Republic of Iran categorically rejects these baseless allegations, considering them a pretext utilized by the United States and the United Kingdom to advance their short-sighted political agenda, as well as to justify and validate their ongoing unlawful actions and military aggression against Yemen,” Ambassador Amir Saeid Iravani wrote in a letter to Security Council President Yamazaki Kazuyuki, responding to allegations made by Western representatives in a March 14 meeting of the Security Council.

“Iran unequivocally condemns the ongoing military aggression and unlawful use of force against Yemen by the so-called US-led coalition, which flagrantly violates Yemen’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, international law, the UN Charter, and relevant Security Council resolutions, posing a serious threat to regional peace and stability,” Iravani said.

Iran is committed to Security Council Resolutions pertaining to the Yemeni security crisis, “and has not engaged in any activities that would contravene these resolutions, including the sale or transfer of arms or weaponry systems,” the diplomat said. Instead, Iran has consistently advocated “for the peaceful resolution of the Yemen crisis through diplomatic channels, and underscores its dedication to maritime security and freedom of navigation,” according to the diplomat.

The US and its allies have accused Iran of helping the Houthis for nearly a decade now, claiming Tehran provides the powerful Yemeni militia movement with military, technical and economic support. The Islamic Republic has not hidden its sympathies for the Houthi cause, with officials and media occasionally listing Ansar Allah as a member of the anti-US, anti-Israel ‘Axis of Resistance’ alongside Iran, Syria and Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement. At the same time, Tehran has vocally denied providing the Houthis with direct military assistance.
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The Houthis have waged a months-long campaign of hijackings, drone and missile attacks targeting Israeli-tied commercial ships in the Red Sea, vowing to continue their operations so long as Tel Aviv continues to wage its brutal military campaign in Gaza. The US formed a new ‘coalition of the willing’ to try and halt the Houthi attacks in December, and together with Britain has been bombing militia-controlled areas of Yemen since January. These actions have so far failed to degrade the battle-hardened fighters’ missile and drone capabilities.
The Houthis goal is to “drown the US, the UK and the West in the mire around the Red Sea so that they can be bogged down, weakened and unable to maintain the unipolar [world order],” Ansur Allah political bureau member Ali al-Qahoum wrote in an X post Saturday. “Yemen plans for the foreseeable future and prepares for the historic defeat of the US, the UK and the West, and the collapse of the colonial project and Western hegemony in the region and the world,” the official said.
A US Central Command spokesperson told Newsweek on Monday that the Houthis’ promise to expand their attacks beyond the Red Sea into the Indian Ocean constitute a “threat” and an “ongoing concern for all nations that engage in maritime commerce in the region.”
The spokesperson declined to comment on reports from last week that the militia was working on a hypersonic missile, saying CENTCOM’s “posture on Houthi capabilities remains an intelligence matter" and would not be disclosed.
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