In the past, the United States has dismissed allegations that the Islamic Republic was meddling extensively in Yemen. But US Ambassador Gerald Feierstein says that has changed recently.
“We do see Iran trying to increase its presence here, in ways that we believe are unhelpful to Yemen’s stability and security,” Feierstein said in an interview with Reuters. “I think that we are seeing increasing Iranian outreach to various actors.”
For the last two years, many in Yemen, Saudi Arabia and around the Arab states of the Persian Gulf have complained of deep Iranian involvement in Yemen, chiefly by supporting Houthi rebels in the north who are Shiites. The United States has consistently said that it did not see a major Iranian hand in the Houthi uprising.
Ambassador Feierstein said things had changed recently and that Iran was meddling in Yemen far beyond the Houthi rebels.
The northern Houthi rebels, who draw their name from a tribal leader, control Saada province bordering Saudi Arabia, which intervened military in Yemen in 2009.
There is ongoing fighting between the Houthis, who are members of the Zaydi branch of Shiite Islam, and Salafis, Sunni Muslims whose puritanical creed mirrors doctrines widespread in Saudi Arabia, and classes Shiites as heretics.
“We do definitely see a rise in Iranian finance, efforts on the part of Iran to increase its influence not only with Zaydi Shia elements but with Sunni elements as well,” Feierstein said.
“We do think that we have evidence of Iranian activities that will build up military capabilities as well. It’s a relatively recent phenomenon. Iran is taking advantage of this period of political instability and loss of government control over large parts of the country.”
The US ambassador also said that while there were signs that the Houthis were willing to engage in dialogue to bring some stability to the country, the group was also expanding its territorial control.
“But we’re also concerned about conflicts between Houthis and others in the north and a fairly aggressive effort on their part to expand their territory and their control and so we hope that through this process of national dialogue they will engage politically and work in a positive way that will end this conflict.”
In addition to the Houthi rebellion in the north, Yemen faces an active wing of Al-Qaeda, an economic crisis that has brought it to the brink of famine, a southern secessionist movement and general chaos brought about by the clash between government supporters and opponents in the middle of the country.