Azerbaijan, Baku, Dec. 18 / Trend U. Sadikhova / The U.S. and Saudi support Yemen in its conflict with the Huthi rebels, yet this does not mean Washington or Ar-Riyadh want to a new front to fight Iran financing Shia rebels, former senior staffer at the the U.S. National Security Council, Professor Raymond Tanter said.
"The U.S. and Saudi support for Yemen in its conflict with Huthi rebels does not represent a U.S. or Saudi desire to open a new front with Iran. Rather, Iran's support for the Huthi rebels is a reflection of Iran's desire to undermine Arab governments in the region (the Persian Gulf)," he wrote Trend in an e-mail. Tanter is currently Iran Policy Committee president at Michigan University. Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh referred to secret documents proving that the Houthi are receiving support from Iran for a military showdown. Meanwhile, Washington argues that it has no evidence implicating Tehran.However, the Yemeni Husi rebels have waged a multi-year struggle with the central Yemeni government for autonomy, having accused the U.S. of interfering in the armed conflict on the border with Yemen and Saudi Arabia, the Arab news agency ANA reported.
Support for rebel or terrorist groups is nothing new to the Iranian regime, Tanter said.
He rules out a possible regional war between pro-Iranian and pro-U.S. forces in the Persian Gulf as support for the Huthis is a continuation of Tehran's previous policies. "Iran has used the conflict for terrorist attacks in Arab countries for a long time, and therefore support of Huthis is rather a continuation of this policy, rather than an attempt to provoke a new war.
A regional war is not in the interests of the U.S. and the Council of the Gulf Cooperation," Tanter said. He added that as opposed to Saudi Arabiam, which is legitimately fighting against the Huthis, aggravating the controversial Saudi-Yemeni border, Iran is using this conflict to undermine Ar-Riyadh. Militants of the Husi group have penetrated into Saudi Arabia and established several bases, and arms and ammunition depots, which resulted in armed clashes between the rebels and the Saudi army in early November.
The U.S. fully supported the Yemeni government, and even sent warships to Yemen's border water to prevent rebels receiving arms. Head of the U.S. Central Command, General David Petraeus said in an interview with the Arabic television channel Al Arabiya said the U.S. ships are not designed only to fight against arms imports for the Huthis, but also to provide security to America's Gulf allies. U.S. military policy in the Gulf region focuses first and foremost on stability in Iraq and stopping the export of the Iranian Islamic Revolution to the Arab Gulf states, especially Saudi Arabia, Tanter said.
"Finally, the U.S. and its allies in the region are intensifying their efforts to prevent Iranian arms shipments to terrorist allies, such as Hezbollah and Hamas, as well as to rebel groups like the Houthi," Tanter said. Yemen's Zaidi Shia accuse the Saudi government of discrimination against the Shiite minority. They stand for restoring the Shiite Imamate in the country abolished by the 1962 September Revolution, and call on the formal recognition of their rights
Yemen authorities accuse the rebels of seeking to proclaim the theocratic state by violating the constitution. According to the authorities, the rebels terrorize the local population and sabotage the the work of the regional authorities. Do you have any feedback? Contact our journalist at: [email protected]