FIRST ON FOX: Following a year of significant setbacks in the Middle East for Iran with its proxy forces flagging in the Gaza Strip, Lebanon and Syria, Tehran is leaning on its influence over the Houthi terrorist group in Yemen to carry out its offensive aims.
According to findings obtained by sources embedded in Tehran who are affiliated with the Iranian resistance group called the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran, not only are some of Iran’s most senior military officials in its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) involved in Houthi decision-making, but Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has his thumb on the deadly group.
President Donald Trump’s recent threats against Tehran over its sponsorship of the Houthis are supported in the report, which claims well-placed sources have confirmed that one of the most senior commanders in the IRGC’s Quds Force – the elite branch of the Iranian military – is “directly commanding Houthi activities.”
IRAN TRYING TO BOLSTER ITS ‘BATTERED DETERRENCE’ WITH RESPONSE TO TRUMP THREATS AGAINST HOUTHIS, EXPERT SAYS
Khamenei, according to the report compiled by the Paris-based National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) and first obtained by Fox News Digital, personally supervises all Houthi “political and military affairs” that are first approved by his regime.
“According to reports received from within the IRGC, Khamenei has personally emphasized the importance of Houthi attacks and the necessity of sending weapons and equipment for the Houthis to IRGC commanders and regime officials,” the report said.
The weakening of Iran’s “Axis of Resistance” amid the war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, the Israeli campaign against Hezbollah in Lebanon, and the fall of the Bashar al-Assad regime in Syria has increasingly pushed Tehran to lean on its proxies in Iraq and Yemen.
More than 100 attacks on commercial shipping vessels have been committed by Houthi forces since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terrorist attack on Israel, which sparked responses from surrounding terrorist networks, including Hezbollah.
The exchange of missile and drone fire by both the Houthis and U.S. forces escalated this week when the terrorist network threatened to renew strikes on Israeli vessels after Jerusalem cut off humanitarian aid headed for the Gaza Strip this month.
President Trump responded by vowing “overwhelming lethal force” until the Houthi attacks ceased and warned Iran that it would be held “fully accountable” for any attacks.
TRUMP’S SIGHTS SET ON IRAN AFTER US AIRSTRIKES DECIMATE MORE THAN 30 HOUTHI TARGETS
“[IRGC Brig. Gen. Abdolreza] Shahlai is in charge of all military, political, and economic matters related to the regime’s intervention in Yemen, including all Houthi operations and attacks,” the report said, noting his close ties to the former commander of the Quds Force who was killed by then-President Trump’s order in Iraq in 2020, Qassem Soleimani. Soleimani had the blood of hundreds of American soldiers on his hands.
The report also found that the Iranian Embassy in Yemen is currently under “full control” of the Quds Force.
While it is not necessarily unheard of for intelligence operatives to work out of embassies abroad, the report said it could find no evidence that any personnel from Iran’s Foreign Ministry were in its embassy in Yemen.
The Iranian Embassy in Sana’a, Yemen, did not respond to Fox News Digital’s questions.
“The mullahs’ regime is the root cause of war and instability in the region, sustained through repression at home and the export of terrorism and conflict abroad,” Ali Safavi, a member of the NCRI’s Foreign Affairs Committee, told Fox News Digital. “The only viable solution to the Iranian crisis is the regime’s overthrow by the Iranian people.”
“A decisive international policy toward Iran must recognize and support the legitimacy of the Iranian resistance, proscribe the IRGC as a terrorist entity, activate the U.N. Security Council snapback mechanism and endorse the Resistance Units’ fight against the regime,” he added.
Read the full article here