By Faisal Abu Bakr | 2025-08-09

ADEN -- The Houthis continue to threaten global trade and security by engaging in maritime terrorism in service of the Iranian regime's regional agenda under the pretext of "supporting Gaza," analysts and experts said.

The Iran-backed group attacked two cargo ships in the Red Sea in July, sinking the Magic Sea on July 6, and the Eternity C on July 7. Four Eternity C crew members were killed and others were wounded.

According to political analyst Faisal Ahmed, the Iranian regime is using the Houthis to serve its own interests "by threatening international navigation and undermining the stability of the region."

The group is trying to justify its actions "under the guise of supporting the Palestinian cause, when in reality, it is harming this cause," he told Al-Fassel.

Its indiscriminate targeting of ships, without regard for their identity or the nature of their cargo, "represents a direct threat to international trade and the global economy," Ahmed said.

He noted that Eternity C has no connection to Israel, which reflects "the random nature of these attacks."

Implementing IRGC's agenda

"The Houthis' total alignment with the Iranian regime's agenda is not merely a political alliance," director general of the Sanaa human rights office Fahmi al-Zubairi told Al-Fassel.

"It is rather actual implementation of the policies of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in the south of the Arabian Peninsula," he said.

This threatens Yemen and the stability of the region, he said, "as the Houthis operate as military and security arms of Iran outside the framework of international law."

The indiscriminate targeting of commercial vessels violates "international maritime law and the Geneva Conventions relating to hostilities at sea, and constitutes a form of maritime terrorism," he added.

Any previous understandings with the United States regarding a halt to the targeting of ships were not respected by the Houthis, al-Zubairi noted.

The Houthis "resumed their attacks without announcement or distinguishing between ships, demonstrating a lack of credibility and their use of sea lanes as a tool for political blackmail and to threaten global supply chains," he said.

The group's exploitation of the Palestinian cause is nothing more than a cheap politicization of the suffering of the Palestinian people, he added.

"The Houthis' behavior does not serve the Palestinian cause, but rather uses it as a cover for illegal actions that increase tensions and undermine the prospects for peace, as part of an Iranian project aimed at creating chaos," he said.