The Iran-backed Houthi terrorist movement has yet to enter the conflict on Iran’s side, but has stepped up its rhetoric in support of Tehran in recent days, with leader Abdul Malik al-Houthi declaring the country was ready to enter war against the US and Israel if necessary.
“In terms of military escalation and action, we have our fingers on the trigger, ready to respond at any time if developments warrant it,” al-Houthi said on Thursday.
Thousands of people gather in Sabeen Square, controlled by the Tehran-backed Houthis in Yemen, to protest the assassination of Iranian leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Sanaa, Yemen on March 6, 2026. (Mohammed Hamoud/Anadolu via Getty Images)
The official slogan of the Houthi movement (Ansar Allah) is: “Allah is greater. Death to America. Death to Israel. Curse on the Jews. Victory for Islam.”
Al-Dawsari, who has written extensively about Yemen and the Houthis, said: “I think the Houthis will intervene at some point. The longer the war continues, the more likely the Houthis will intervene. I think what the Houthis want to do – and they have been eager to do this for some time – is to attack the Saudis. If the Saudis intervene, the Houthis will find a reason to attack the Saudis.”
HEGSETH DESTROYS THE BRITISH, SAYS IRAN’S CHAOTIC MOVE HAS DRIVEN ITS OWN ALLIES ‘INTO THE AMERICAN ORBIT’
Houthi terrorists walk over British and American flags during a rally in support of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, February 4, 2024, near Sana’a, Yemen. (Mohammed Hamoud/Getty Images)
The Islamic Republic of Iran formed an ‘Axis of Resistance’ prior to Hamas’s invasion of Israel on October 7, 2023. Iran’s axis coalition of Shia and Sunni terrorists includes Lebanon-based Hezbollah, Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad in the Gaza Strip, the Houthis and Shia militias in Iraq, and the now defunct Ba’athist regime in Syria.
Within the first few weeks of his administration, President Joe Biden launched a reset with the Houthis and pressured the Saudis to end the war against the belligerent Houthi movement. “The war in Yemen must end,” Biden declared in his first major foreign policy speech on the Middle East in February 2021.
TRUMP URGES TO SUPPORT YEMEN’S ANTI-HOUTHI FORCES AS TERROR GROUP ESCATES ATTACKS ON SHIPPING
Smoke over Tehran, Iran, after explosions were reported on March 2, 2026. (Contributor/Getty Images)
Biden’s reversal of US support for Saudi-led allies in their war against the Houthis was also accompanied by his administration’s delisting of the Houthis as a foreign terrorist organization. President Donald Trump quickly reintroduced the “terrorist” designation for the Houthis at the start of his second term and launched military strikes against the terrorists in Yemen.
Al-Dawsari said that another reason why the Houthis have not yet joined the conflict is that it is not in the interest of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) “to drag the Houthis into a suicide war.” She states: “If the Iranian regime collapses and a new regime emerges, I think the IRGC will regroup in Yemen or Somalia. Yemen is the most important ally.”
ISRAEL PUNCHES HEZBOLLAH OBJECTIVES AND DARES LEBANON TO RECOVER SOVEREIGNTY FROM IRAN-SUPPORTED TERROR PROXY
There has been discussion between the IRGC and the Houthis about why the survival of the “Houthis is of strategic importance to the IRGC,” she said.
“The IRGC cannot afford to lose the Houthis. Yemen is so important to them. They must keep the Houthis for tomorrow so that the IRGC can survive even after the regime,” Al-Dawsari continued.
This handout, made from a video, shows the takeover of the Galaxy Leader Cargo by Yemen’s Houthi fighters on the Red Sea coast off Yemen, on November 20, 2023. (Houthi Movement via Getty Images)
She noted that “Houthis have established themselves in the Horn of Africa. The IRGC is with the Houthis. Intervention could be symbolic for the Houthis.” She continued that Iran’s tactics now are to prolong and expand the war across the region and to put more pressure on the US.
In May 2025, Trump announced that the US would halt its aerial bombardment of the Houthis because, he said, the Houthis “don’t want to fight.”
“They just don’t want that, and we will respect that. We will stop the bombings,” Trump said. The Houthis had launched attacks on commercial ships in the Red Sea, as well as on the Jewish state, to support their ally Hamas in Gaza.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
Al-Dawsari said after Trump’s announcement that the Houthis have not attacked any American ships. ‘They know Trump doesn’t joke. They know they will suffer the consequences.”
Related article
