Yemen's foreign minister said the United States and European Union were so dead-set on courting Iran to revive a nuclear deal in recent years that they ignored his country's repeated warnings about the Houthi rebels, which are backed by Tehran.
Since the outbreak of conflict in the Gaza Strip, the Houthis — embroiled in a war with the Yemeni government since 2014 — have demonstrated they have the ability to launch ballistic missiles in Israel's direction and threaten trade networks by attacking ships in the Red Sea.
Ahmad Awad bin Mubarak, who represents the internationally recognized Yemeni government in Aden, told Politico Thursday that there have been warning signs for years that Iran was outfitting a dangerous proxy group with ballistic missiles and drones.
"We have been saying this a long time," he said while in Brussels. "I have been here three times before and always we said if we didn't do this ... the Houthis will never stop. The Houthis have an ideology, have a project. Iran has a project in the region and unfortunately, the others do not respond."
Bin Mubarak told the outlet he was frustrated that the U.S. and EU sunk their diplomatic resources into currying favor with Iran for a nuclear deal instead of pressuring Tehran to end their support of the Houthis, who, as fellow Shiite Muslims, were looking to establish a "theocratic, totalitarian" state.
The nuclear talks, which ultimately proved unsuccessful, were intended to deliver sanctions relief in exchange for Iran limiting its nuclear ambitions.
Western diplomacy, bin Mubarak told Politico, was supposed to focus on three components — Iran's nuclear program, the country's support for proxy groups, and its ballistic missile program. The U.S. and EU are now facing a well-armed adversary in Yemen, he said, because they fixated on the first element at the expense of the other two.
"[Iran's] Shahed drones, the first time we started hearing the European Union talking about it, they were being used in Ukraine," he said. "But before that, for years, we were saying Iran is supplying Houthis and drones are attacking Yemeni people. No one was believing [it]."
He also said that European and American diplomats were equally culpable in prioritizing the nuclear deal, as he encountered the same problems with Rob Malley, former U.S. special envoy for Iran, as he did with EU officials.
Western diplomats may have claimed they were "looking at" Iranian proxies and missiles, but the situation in Yemen said otherwise, bin Mubarak said.
"It was all about the nuclear program," bin Mubarak told Politico, adding that Iran's funding of militant groups and weapons programs were "totally ignored."
"We heard there is no connection between this discussion [on Iranian nuclear ambitions] and what is going on in the region," he said.
Nicole Weatherholtz ✉
Nicole Weatherholtz, a Newsmax general assignment reporter covers news, politics, and culture. She is a National Newspaper Association award-winning journalist.
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