Yemen’s ambassador in Qatar, in an interview with Al Jazeera, announced that the Islamic Republic is behind the renewed fighting in this country and that it is using the Houthis to increase its control over shipping routes in the Red Sea.

Rajih Badi described the Houthis as the cause of the outbreak of the recent clashes in the region and noted that their surprise attack, to seize strategic areas along the Red Sea, was carried out with the aim of helping the Islamic Republic.

He emphasized that the Houthis are one of the main regional arms of the Islamic Republic, alongside Hezbollah and the Popular Mobilization Forces, and that by increasing pressure on Tehran’s proxy forces, the Islamic Republic has relied on the Houthis as its only remaining lever even more than before.

With reference to warnings by previous Yemeni leaders about the Islamic Republic’s activities, the Yemen ambassador in Qatar added that the government seeks to control the Bab al-Mandab and the Strait of Hormuz, and that their control over these two strategic choke points would be more dangerous than any nuclear arsenal.