Houthi terrorists meet Iranian officials, coordinate Middle East policy

A Houthi official met with the Iranians this week, according to Houthi-linked media in Yemen. Mohammad Abdul Salam, who is the head of the Iran-backed Houthi negotiating delegation, met with Mohammed Ghalibaf in Iran, the report said. Ghalibaf is on Iran’s Shura Council and is an important figure.

Salam also met with Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and other officials. The Houthis discussed policies against Israel and other issues in the region.

Salam has handled relations with Iran in the past. In 2018, when his role was Houthi spokesman, he met with then-foreign minister Javad Zarif to discuss the civil war in Yemen and the involvement of Iran and Saudi Arabia. In more recent years, he has been a chief negotiator for the Houthis.

Salam also issued statements about Houthi attacks on ships and threats to Israel, meaning that his meeting with the Iranians this week is significant. The Houthis carried out several attacks over the weekend and this week, including missile attacks and using small boats to harass a ship. Other reports say an Iranian destroyer is now in the Red Sea.

According to reports at Al-Masirah, a Yemeni news channel owned by the Houthis, Salam and Abdollahian “discussed issues of common interest between the two countries, the peace path, UN negotiations, the Israeli aggression against Gaza, and the necessity of strengthening the steadfastness of the valiant Palestinian resistance,” and they held other meetings about “Yemen and Palestine.”

Houthis want to increase role in Middle East

Salam also met with Ali Akbar Ahmadian, the secretary of the Iranian Supreme National Security Council.

Meanwhile, the entry of an Iranian warship into the Red Sea has increased tensions, while the Houthis launched more missiles on Tuesday night against ships.

The Houthis slammed the killing of Hamas leader Saleh al-Arouri in Beirut. They want to increase their role in the region. It also appears that pro-Hamas networks in the West began to issue calls of support for the Houthis, globalizing the rebel group’s role.

That Houthi media has highlighted the current meetings with the Iranians shows this is not clandestine, but rather an open call to unite the various “arenas” in the region as part of Iran’s regional policy against Israel and the US.

Seth Frantzman is the author of Drone Wars: Pioneers, Killing Machine, Artificial Intelligence and the Battle for the Future (Bombardier 2021) and an adjunct fellow at The Foundation for Defense of Democracies.