[28/03/2024 08:55]

ADEN - SABA
Minister of Information, Culture, and Tourism Muammar al-Eryani has said that Iranian has been using Houthi terrorist militia as a cheap tool to test its abilities on threatening international navigation in the region.

In a statement to Saba on Thursday, al-Eryani explained that the frequency of piracy operations and attacks carried out by the terrorist Houthi militia on commercial ships and oil tankers since last November, along with their stockpile of guided ballistic missiles, drones, explosive-laden boats, and unmanned submarines, confirms that the Iranian regime has been equipping the militia with capabilities, equipment, and experts early to use them as a cheap tool to carry out its terrorist plots and undermine the safety of international shipping and the free flow of global trade.

Muammar al-Eryani further said that the events witnessed in the occupied Palestinian territories since October 7th and the brutal Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip were mere pretexts and opportune moments seized by Iran and the terrorist Houthi militia behind it to test the efficiency of these weapon systems, including weapons, experts, advisors, joint operations rooms, command and control centers.

He pointed out that the Yemeni government obtained intelligence information last year, prior to the events of October 7th, confirming that the Tehran regime was building a continuous bridge of weapons for the Houthi militia through specialized smuggling networks in preparation for carrying out wide-scale terrorist operations in the Red Sea.

We issued warnings about these terrorist plans at the time, which confirms that these piracy operations and attacks on international navigation routes would have taken place regardless of what happened in Gaza, he said.

He added that the international community turned a blind eye for years to the government's appeals and warnings about the dangers of Iran's interventions that destabilize Yemen's security and stability, regional and international peace and security, and its continued smuggling of weapons and experts to the Houthi militia, using it as a tool to spread chaos and terrorism.

Yemenis and the countries and peoples of the region paid a heavy price for this, and now the world finds itself directly confronting Iranian terrorism and its Houthi tool face to face in the Red Sea, the Bab al-Mandab, and the Gulf of Aden, he said.

Al-Eryani affirmed that the international community, especially the United Nations and the permanent member states of the Security Council, should not adopt a spectator's position towards the behavior of the Iranian regime and its continued smuggling of weapons to the Houthi militia in flagrant violation of Security Council Resolution 2216.

He called on the international community to immediately classify the Houthi militia as a "terrorist organization," dry up its financial, political, and media sources, and dedicate efforts to support the Presidential Leadership Council and the government in imposing their control and establishing security and stability throughout Yemeni territories.

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