As Yemen teeters, the region lives ‘Iranian days’

What the Arabic language media is saying about Iran and the Houthis in Yemen. Translated by Carla Mirza

Yemeni supporters of the Shiite Houthi movement shout slogans during a rally against a US and Saudi intervention in Yemen in the capital Sanaa. AFP PHOTO / MOHAMMED HUWAIS

The Iran-backed Houthi takeover in Yemen has led the country into turmoil. The GCC countries have agreed to host talks on the issue in Riyadh this week to bring the crisis to an end.

Mashari Al Thaidy, writing in the pan-Arab daily Asharq Al Awsat, described it as a case of “Iran knocking on Sanaa’s door and Riyadh answering the call”.

The Houthi militia took over large parts of northern Yemen and put the president, prime minister and defence minister under house arrest. However, president Abdrabu Mansur Hadi and his defence minister both escaped the Houthis, made their way to Aden and made it their seat of power. Now it is the Houthis who are besieged, along with their invisible partner, ousted president.

With reference to Iran’s reaction, he wrote, “Iran is good at showing off and parading like a peacock.” He quoted Ali Younsi, religion and minorities affairs adviser to Iranian president Hassan Rouhani: “Iran is an empire once again, as it has been throughout history, with Iraq as a capital.”

Al Thaidy concluded with a question: “Has the Persian miniature found its end in Sanaa, before it is complete?” In the Sharjah-based daily Al Khaleej, Yousif Makki wrote that most Arab countries, including those that are part of the GCC, continue to champion a unified Yemen. That was right from the start of the southern movement until today, he wrote.

“In the meantime, Iran has worked on creating separatist enclaves in Al Saada governorate and the South,” he noted. “Yemen’s preoccupation with the war on Al Qaeda and the prevailing chaos in the aftermath of the Arab Spring and the inability of the official Arab order to provide any real support to the Yemeni state allowed regional and international powers to expand the scope of their movement, leading to chaos and the failure of security.

“Iran’s goal always was to get closer to the Bab Al Mandeb strait,” he wrote. “So long as this has been achieved, through the Houthis and Ali Abdullah Saleh by controlling northern Yemen, the southerners need not move closer to the Strait, for they may be in Tehran’s way.”

With Aden becoming the temporary capital of Yemen, the southerners no longer need Iran’s support to achieve their independence, he concluded.

In the pan-Arab daily Al Hayat, Ghassan Charbel said it was no exaggeration to say that the world is “living Iranian days”. While Tehran kept western countries busy with negotiations about its nuclear programme, it skilfully built its regional role. “The Middle East is living Iranian days. Any analysis of the situation will confirm such a reading,” he wrote.

“If one would like to see president Hadi return to Sanaa and to relaunch the dialogue between Yemenis, one has to discuss the matter with the leader of ‘Faylaq Al Quds’, Brigadier General Qassem Suleimani.

“This would mean admitting that Iran has first say in Yemen.”