Tehran, Iran – The US has continued its attacks on Yemen, injuring people and causing great damage.
After he ordered a bombing campaign against the Hoosis, which killed at least 53 people since Saturday, President Donald Trump said he will be responsible for Iran for attacks by the group on shipments in the Red Sea.
The Iran and Yemeni Hooti movement has long been an ally and has been part of the regional “axis of resistance” against Israel and the United States.
However, the scope of the relationship is often contested. Some view Houthis as an Iranian agent, others view Houthis as an Iran-friendly group, but they are independent.
Iran’s top leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Friday that his country does not need a proxy and that the Houtis will act in his own interest.
According to his public comments, US President Donald Trump will be in his first camp.
He said Washington is watching “all shots” fired by the Houtis as shots fired by Iran that could have “disastrous consequences.”
Do Iran and the Houtis work hand in hand? Or is it even more subtle than that? Let’s take a closer look:
Who is Houthis?
Officially known as Ansal Allah (God’s supporter), the Houtis is a political and military movement that emerged in the 1990s but became internationally prominent in 2014 when it ruled Sanaa, the capital of Yemen.
After months of fighting with the Yemeni government and other troops, the Saudi-led military coalition, with support from the United States and the United Arab Emirates, intervened militarily against the Houtis, among other things.
However, the group still manages Sanaa and, if anything, has become stronger in the last decade.
Since the start of Israel’s war with Gaza, the Houtis has been attacking Israel-linked ships heading into the Red Sea, launching direct missile and drone attacks against Israel, and pressured them to end the war with the besieged enclave.
What kind of military support does Iran provide?
Tehran has publicly supported Yemeni armed groups for years, but has denied directly providing advanced weapons that have been used in combat over the past few years.
Houthis says they are making weapons domestically, and as a de facto condition of Sanaa and Yemen’s highly populous northwest, they have taken over the stockpile of weapons left by the government when they fled south.
The group attempted to diversify the arms manufacturing industry and created more weapons domestically, while partially relying on imported parts.
Israel said the Houthi projectile, which crashed on the territory in July 2024, killed one and injured several others, was an Iranian-designed suicide drone.
Houthi authorities said they themselves planned and carried out the strike, but Iran was not in the loop.
A panel of UN experts also said last year that the Housis was trained by Iranian and Lebanese group Hezbollah, and that the Housis “has no capacity to develop and produce without foreign support, without complex weapons systems.”
However, Western countries claim that Iran has transferred weapons and technology for ballistic missiles, anti-ship cruise missiles, and various drones. They also claim that Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard (IRGC) trains and militarily advises Hooti soldiers.
The US claims that amid fallout in the Moscow war in Ukraine, it attempted to purchase weapons and parts through Chinese companies while working to acquire antiship cruise missiles from Russia.
How close is Iran and the Houtis diplomatically?
Iranian diplomats frequently host Houthi officials, and Iranian state media welcomes the group as key members of the Tehran-led resistance axis.
The two sides were constantly in contact during Yemen’s civil war, with Iran denounced the coalition attack on Yemen amid what is called the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.
Houthis increased attacks on the Union after the 2020 US assassination of Qassem Soleimani, the top Iranian general and major architect of the axis.
How similar are the ideology of Iran and Houtis?
Houthis is known to employ similar geopolitical rhetoric as Iran and support the principles of Iran’s Islamic revolution, and the Iranian political system had a major impact on them.
However, Houthis differs from Iranian facilities in many ways.
Houthis follows a large Shia Islamic Zaidi school similar but different to the Twelver Shia Islam practiced in Iran.
Zaidi’s tradition has been in Yemen for over a thousand years, and Houthis saw itself as part of its heritage and grew organically as a local movement, not a foreign project.
The group has set independent political and military targets, particularly by gaining control over unified Yemen by the United States and Israel, and fighting foreign intervention.
Houthis has shown an willingness to attack Saudi Arabia and the UAE based on complaints in Yemen, particularly complaints that include air and lockdowns that have devastated local people.
Sometimes they have declared a ceasefire unilaterally and ignored Iranian advice, such as when they spoke with Saudi Arabia in 2019 when Tehran was believed to support military resistance.
What’s going to happen now?
Washington has indicated it intends to bomb Yemen in the coming weeks and even months.
Dozens of air across the country have so far hit, killing children and women along with Houthi fighters.
The attack came after the Houtis threatened to resume their strikes – stopped after the January 19th ceasefire in Gaza – opposes all humanitarian blocs to enter the enclave.
After Israel killed at least 436 Palestinians in Gaza on Tuesday and continued brutal attacks, Hooti leader Abdel Malik al-Haucci promised in a television speech to take military escalation to the highest level.
Houthis claimed a five-round missile and drone attack on US aircraft carriers against Harry’s Truman and his supporting warships.
They announced that they had fired a missile towards Israel’s Ben Gurion International Airport. Israeli forces said the missiles had been intercepted.
Iran has warned that if it is attacked, an all-out regional war could erupt.
Iran’s mission to the United Nations wrote to the Security Council this week to condemn Trump’s “reckless and provocative” statement.
Tehranian hardliners are increasingly suggesting that they will push to build nuclear bombs if the presence of Iranian facilities is threatened.