By Faisal Abu Bakr | 2025-03-21

ADEN -- The Iranian regime is abandoning the Houthis as they come under fire in Yemen, just as it did with its other proxies, Lebanese Hizbullah and the Syrian regime, during their respective times of crisis, regional analysts said.

The United States is continuing an "open-ended" campaign to strike Houthi targets in Yemen that began March 15, with operations set to continue until objectives are met, according to the Pentagon.

US President Donald Trump has explicitly linked the actions of the Houthis to those of the Iranian regime, which arms and funds the group, warning Tehran it will "suffer the consequences" of further attacks by the Houthis.

In a March 17 post on social media, he accused the Iranian regime of planning the "hundreds" of attacks carried out by the Houthis.

Iran's regime has repeatedly sought to deny its role in arming the Houthis, most recently on March 16, when Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) chief Hossein Salami insisted the Houthis made their own "independent" decisions.

Tehran creates proxy forces not as true allies but as "followers and soldiers," abandoning them, as it has done with Hizbullah and the Syrian regime, when they come under threat, political analyst Fares al-Beel told Al-Fassel.

'Followers and soldiers'

Yemen is "a hostage in the hands of Iran," Yemen's Information Minister Moammar al-Eryani said in a March 16 post on X.

The Houthis implemented "Iranian dictates" from the start, he said, with every attack on shipping lines and false-flag battle resulting in Yemeni casualties.

Al-Eryani emphasized Tehran's comprehensive support, including weapons, training and strategic planning, that made the Houthis a "tool for implementing its agendas" and creating regional chaos.

"Tehran seeks to achieve its interests regardless of destroying the region's peoples to accomplish its strategic goals," Arab Democratic Center in Berlin research director Abdulqader al-Kharraz told Al-Fassel.

But there is ample evidence of the Iranian regime's direct support of the Houthis -- via weapons smuggling, military training operations, deployment of IRGC military experts and money laundering activities, al-Kharraz said.

The Iranian regime has invested heavily in the Houthis and its other proxies to expand its influence militarily and culturally, creating conflict zones far from Iran's borders, al-Beel said.

If Iran's leader Ali Khamenei considers the Houthis' actions "heroic" and "resistance the only path to victory," why doesn't the Islamic Republic itself lead the confrontation, al-Eryani questioned on X.